# Swamy Vijayan

> Swamy Vijayan is the CEO and cofounder of Zafrens, a San Diego biotech reinventing drug discovery by shrinking a 96-well plate down to 200,000 microwells that image and sequence single cells at once. A physicist by training who admits he was driven less by a love of biology than by dissatisfaction with theoretical physics, he is a serial founder whose previous company Omniome sold to Pacific Biosciences for up to $800 million. His stated goal is not a quick exit but a foundation for smart people to do important things for the next 100 years.

- **Role:** CEO and Cofounder at Zafrens
- **Organizations:** Zafrens, Plexium, Omniome, Illumina, BioNanomatrix
- **Nationality:** Indian-American
- **Education:** PhD, Physics, University of Pennsylvania, B.Sc, Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Executive Perspectives for Scientists and Engineers Diploma, UC San Diego
- **Known for:** Cofounded and led Omniome, acquired by Pacific Biosciences for up to $800 million in 2021, Serial founder/CEO of three interdisciplinary technology companies (Omniome, Plexium, Zafrens), Built the Z-Screen platform that replaces 96-well plates with 50,000-200,000 microwells, each capable of imaging and single-cell sequencing

## Career timeline

- **2007** — Earns PhD in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania
- **2008** — Joins BioNanomatrix as an Integration Scientist, bridging optics, nanofabrication and biology
- **2011** — Becomes Nanobiology Group Leader at Illumina, leading research on novel sequencing technologies
- **2013** — Cofounds Omniome to simplify DNA sequencing instrumentation; serves as CEO
- **2021** — Omniome acquired by Pacific Biosciences for up to $800 million
- **2019** — Leads Plexium as CEO, building a 150,000-well screening platform for DNA-encoded library drug discovery
- **2021** — Cofounds Zafrens with Yi Zhang in San Diego
- **2023** — Zafrens exits stealth with $23M Series A led by Prime Movers Lab
- **2025** — Zafrens secures a Series A extension (reported ~$8M added)

## Achievements

- Cofounded and led Omniome, acquired by Pacific Biosciences for up to $800 million in 2021
- Serial founder/CEO of three interdisciplinary technology companies (Omniome, Plexium, Zafrens)
- Built the Z-Screen platform that replaces 96-well plates with 50,000-200,000 microwells, each capable of imaging and single-cell sequencing
- Raised $23M Series A for Zafrens from Prime Movers Lab and a syndicate of deep-tech and bio investors
- Pioneered, while at Plexium, a 150,000-well format for DNA-encoded library screening

## Latest updates

- **2025-02** — Zafrens raised additional Series A extension funding to advance its multimodal drug-discovery platform.
- **2024** — Vijayan featured as a speaker at the Precision Medicine World Conference representing Zafrens.

## Links

- Website: https://zafrens.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swamy71/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/swamy71

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/swamy-vijayan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-04