Arima Genomics Appoints Genomics Industry Veteran Tom Willis as Chief Executive Officer and Closes $22 Million Series C Financing

llumina Ventures leads round to accelerate Arima’s clinical expansion 

CARLSBAD, CA – June 17, 2025 – Arima Genomics, Inc., a company leveraging whole-genome sequence and structure information to provide comprehensive cancer therapy selection insights, today announced the appointment of Tom Willis, PhD, as chief executive officer and the close of a $22 million Series C financing led by Illumina Ventures. The round includes participation from genomics pioneers John Stuelpnagel and Mostafa Ronaghi, PhD, as well as existing backers Co-Win Ventures and Berkeley Catalyst Fund. The leadership transition and new capital mark a strategic pivot as Arima strengthens its focus on transforming oncology testing.

“During my decade at Illumina Ventures, I evaluated countless genomics innovations, yet Arima’s approach stands out for its ability to illuminate aspects of the genome most tests never see,” said Willis. “I’m joining from the inside because I believe Arima is uniquely positioned to help save patients’ lives by enabling access to highly effective therapies today and new treatment paradigms going forward.”

Arima’s proprietary platform captures how DNA is organized inside the nucleus, uniting chromatin architecture with sequence data in a single readout. The technology is already reaching patients through the company’s CLIA-certified Aventa clinical testing laboratory, which routinely uncovers gene fusions and rearrangements overlooked by other clinical tests—insights that define diagnosis, prognosis and therapy selection across multiple cancers. Under the leadership of Willis, Arima will build on a decade of discovery-driven research to launch a focused pipeline of clinical assays that expand this technology’s impact.

“Arima has spent years perfecting its assays and setting the pace for the field,” said Malek Faham, MD, PhD, chief scientist at Illumina Ventures. “With Tom at the helm, the company is poised to turn that mastery into a definitive diagnostic platform—one that captures the genomic drivers of cancer at every scale and delivers actionable answers for more patients.”

Willis brings more than 20 years of company-building experience to Arima. He founded and was CEO at ParAllele BioScience (acquired by Affymetrix) and Sequenta, whose ClonoSEQ® minimal-residual-disease assay became a National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)-endorsed standard after Sequenta merged with Adaptive Biotechnologies in 2015. Earlier, he directed technology development at the Stanford Genome Technology Center during the Human Genome Project. Willis earned a PhD in Physics from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Yale University.

Founder and former CEO Sid Selvaraj, PhD will continue in an executive role as the president and chief operating officer.

“Guiding Arima from concept to a category-defining platform that is already benefiting patients through the Aventa lab has been the privilege of my career,” said Selvaraj. “Tom’s proven ability to take breakthrough tests and turn them into standard of care makes him the ideal leader for our next phase, and I look forward to partnering with him as we collectively attempt to turn cancer into a manageable disease.”

About Arima Genomics
Arima Genomics is redefining cancer diagnostics using whole-genome sequence and structure information. Arima’s assays enable a new era of comprehensive, clinically actionable therapy selection insights. The company serves oncologists through its CLIA-certified Aventa clinical testing laboratory in Orlando, Florida, and supports discovery-stage researchers worldwide with advanced kits and informatics. Learn more at arimagenomics.com and aventatest.com, and follow us on LinkedIn and X.

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