Verily, the Google LLC sister company focused on life sciences, has raised an additional $700 million from parent Alphabet Inc. and external investors.

Announced Thursday, the raise follows a $1 billion round in 2019. Verily plans to use the new funds to advance a number of life sciences programs it’s currently pursuing in the areas of surgery, pathology and immunology. The capital will also help the Alphabet subsidiary accelerate the roadmap of its commercial businesses, which are developing various technology-driven healthcare solutions. 

Perhaps the highest-profile of Verily’s commercial bets is Baseline. It’s a collection of tools and services designed to make it easier for individuals to participate in clinical research. Baseline is helping to support multiple medical projects, including COVID-19 testing initiatives in the U.S. that Verily says have so far helped nearly 2 million people across the country get screened and tested.

The Alphabet subsidiary plans to use another portion of the new $700 million round to expand its Healthy at Work offering. The offering helps organizations implement programs to return employees to the workplace safely by providing COVID-19 testing services, population analytics tools and related resources. 

Two more Verily businesses set to receive a boost are the Onduo and Coefficient units. Onduo allows organizations to give their employees access to a health tracking app that they can use to manage their routines and communicate with physicians. Coefficient, meanwhile, provides so-called stop-loss insurance, which enables companies to receive reimbursements for health benefit claims from workers.

The coming year “will be a year of significant and focused growth for Verily’s operations as we continue to drive innovation in our core programs, launching more studies and study tools on Baseline to support decentralized research, and expanding our Health Platforms product offerings,” said Verily Chief Executive Officer Andrew Conrad. Health Platforms is the group responsible for the Healthy at Work program that aims to help organizations safely return employees to the workforce.

Besides Alphabet, the $700 million round included the participation of multiple outside investors such as Silver Lake, Temasek and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. All four were also participants in Verily’s previous $1 billion round last year.

In Alphabet’s earnings reports, Verily falls under the so-called Other Bets segment. Other Bets also includes the search giant’s Waymo autonomous vehicle unit, the Wing delivery drone group and other emerging technology ventures. Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai stated at the start of 2020 that the vision is for most Other Bets units to take on external investments similarly to Verily.

Waymo started down that path this year. The group raised $750 million in May, following a hefty $2.25 billion round announced a few months earlier that was provided by investment firms T. Rowe Price Associates, Perry Creek Capital and Fidelity Management & Research.

Photo: Verily