RainDance Technologies
Inc., the leader in sequence enrichment and single-cell analysis, today
announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Sirshendu Roopom Banerjee
as President and Chief Executive Officer. RainDance Technologies provides innovative
microdroplet-based solutions that accelerate research and development for human
healthcare and industrial markets. The company provides resolution of molecular,
biological, and physiological events from large population samples to unprecedented
single-cell analysis, all inside a contained microenvironment that enables quantification,
single-molecule sensitivity, and preserves sample integrity with no bias or
contamination.
About the appointment, RainDance Director and Managing Partner of Mohr Davidow
Ventures Bill Ericson said, “Roopom brings a depth of knowledge and is
highly respected in the life science tools and diagnostics industry. Roopom’s
leadership will enable us to further accelerate the momentum built over the
last few years in the adoption of our highly innovative RainStorm™ technology,
as well as sharpen our focus on new product and technology opportunities in
the fields of sequence enrichment and single-cell analysis.”
Most recently, Mr. Banerjee was a Director of Healthcare Investment Banking
at Leerink Swann, where he led the Life Science Tools and Diagnostics sector.
Previously, Mr. Banerjee was with McKinsey and Goldman Sachs advising Fortune
500 healthcare companies globally on corporate and growth strategy, product
development and launch strategy, international expansion, and mergers and acquisitions.
Mr. Banerjee has successfully completed over 50 transactions, including private
placements, IPOs, Followons, PIPE/RDs, and fixed income as well as mergers and
acquisitions.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Banerjee worked at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute,
the Whitehead Institute/M.I.T. Human Genome Project, and at the Massachusetts
General Hospital Cancer Center. Mr. Banerjee holds an M.P.P. from the Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard University and dual B.S. degrees in Biology
and Economics from M.I.T., where he was elected a Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Scholar.
"This is a significant time to join RainDance, with the company experiencing
breakthrough sales growth. We are seeing strong customer demand for our novel
products in sequence enrichment, such as rare variant analysis, as well as future
applications in methylation and ultra-deep sequencing. RainDance is truly platform-agnostic
and capitalizing on the explosive growth across next-generation sequencing,"
said Banerjee. "Beyond sequence enrichment, we have demonstrated unique
capabilities in digital PCR as well as protein, antibody, and single-cell applications.
I am excited to be joining a high-caliber team with a proven track record of
execution in these areas.”
Christopher McNary, who has served RainDance as CEO since November 2007, will
join Mr. Banerjee on the senior executive team as Chief Commercial Officer and
will focus on moving the company into high-growth commercialization. Mike Hunkapiller,
General Partner at Alloy Ventures and Director at RainDance said, “Chris
has brought strong leadership and operating experience to guide RainDance from
technology-stage through commercial launch of our flagship RDT 1000 product.
We are excited that Chris is turning his focus to leading the commercial charge
for RainDance. RainDance is uniquely poised to unlock large latent markets and
address unmet customer needs for single-cell analysis.”