In January, Twist Bioscience, a San Francisco–based DNA manufacturing company, announced a $61-million series D funding round from a bevy of crossover investors enticed by the emerging field’s per - ceived growth potential. As Twist and other young startups in the DNA synthesis arena construct longer DNA fragments for their customers and prices tumble, they antici- pate demand for synthetic DNA will spread to new markets such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, industrial chemicals and data storage. “The writing part of the equation should be as big as the reading,” says Keith Crandell of Chicago-based Arch Venture Partners , one of Illumina’s seed investors in the late 1990s, and recently one of Twist’s backers. “This is Illumina 2.0, although it’s obviously early.”