Hesaam Esfandyarpour dreamed of researchers, doctors and patients unlocking the genetic codes behind deadly or debilitating diseases thanks to a small, low-cost machine.
Central to it all is Esfandyarpour, who agreed in November 2020 to step down as CEO but remained on GenapSys’ board. He continued to own at least 31% of the company’s stock as it entered bankruptcy proceedings this summer. With the memory of a family member being misdiagnosed at an early age, Esfandyarpour and his team worked on developing a new method for sequencing DNA — reading the components of the self-replicating carrier of genetic information — by using electronic signals. That compares to optical-based technologies traditionally used to identify genetic markers.
NGS is a process that in some cases can take a couple of days. Esfandyarpour said GenapSys’ Genius device would give researchers the ability to accurately sequence an entire human genome within hours. It included two electronic microfluidic chips — with 1 million and 16 million sensors — and ultimately a second-generation chip of 144 million sensors that Esfandyarpour said would give scientists and doctors unprecedented power to diagnose diseases.
With GenapSys foreshadowing genetic sequencing that would be quicker and cheaper, investors took notice. The company raised $230.3 million in secured debt and preferred equity, according to a bankruptcy court filing, though Esfandyarpour’s LinkedIn profile says the company raised more than $270 million and funding tracker Crunchbase puts GenapSys’ haul at $319 million.
In a lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court four months later against GenapSys and Esfandyarpour, Foresite said it learned about the news “with the rest of the market” in a GenapSys press release. The public version of the complaint is heavily redacted, but it is clear Foresite felt GenapSys and its founder, chairman and CEO, Esfandyarpour, were not telling a complete story.
The cross-complaint alleges Foresite and Tananbaum, among other things, breached their contract with GenapSys in regard to a nondisclosure agreement and the Series C funding round, misappropriated trade secrets and interfered with prospective GenapSys investors. Esfandyarpour, who claimed in his brief that he was subject of “character assassination,” said he had been willing as early as spring 2020 to step down as CEO in favor of a commercially focused CEO. Disputes with Foresite, however, complicated management of the company, he said.
“The moat to climb here seems to be Hesaam’s credibility, which in part the CEO search should help,” Zollars told the board, according to the July pre-trial brief by company and the director defendants. Esfandyarpour, in his pre-trial briefing in July in the Chancery Court case, said he had “super-majority” voting rights.
By the end of November 2020, an ill Esfandyarpour, according to his pre-trial brief this past July, agreed as part of the “side letter” deal to resign as CEO, receive $414,000 a year and keep his board seat. Moghadam, Zollars and Nazem returned to the board, according to the company and director defendants’ pre-trial brief.
By early 2022, GenapSys was having trouble raising money due to the overhang of the Foresite litigation. Yet Farallon in March delivered an equity term sheet that included loaning and/or investing money as part of a Chapter 11 filing plus additional cash by other investors, according to Russell’s declaration.In Esfandyarpour’s April suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery, he claimed the “side letter” deal was revoked and that some members of GenapSys’ board were not validly appointed.
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