23andMe

23andMe, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Biotechnology
Founded	4/06
Founder	Anne Wojcicki and Linda Avey
Headquarters	Mountain View, California , United States
Key people	Esther Dyson, Board Member
Products	Genetic test
Services	Genetic testing
Number of employees	683 (2019)
Website	23andMe.com

23andMe is a privately held personal genomics and biotechnology company based in Mountain View, California that claims to be developing new methods and technologies that will enable consumers to understand their own genetic information. The company is named for the 23 pairs of chromosomes in a normal human cell.

The 23andMe website is currently split into four categories: Health and Traits, Ancestry, Sharing and Community, and Research. They currently test or are researching over 100 diseases, conditions, and traits.

23andMe was founded to "empower individuals and develop new ways of accelerating research." The initial cost of 23andMe's product was $999. In late 2010 23andMe introduced an alternative pricing option of $199 with a required one-year subscription of $5 a month, and in March 2011 $99 with $9/month (for at least one year). This subscription would provide subscribers with updates on discoveries made about their DNA over time. A single-fee payment of $399 without subscription is also available.

Both Google and New Enterprise Associates have invested in 23andMe. Google has invested $3.9M and recently another $2.6M in 23andMe, whose co-founder Anne Wojcicki is married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Genentech is also reported to have invested in 23andMe.

Media

23andMe has been featured on Oprah and in The New York Times, The Economist, San Jose Mercury News and San Francisco Chronicle, and has been covered by other high-profile media groups.

Thomas Söderqvist wrote in 2007:

There has not been much news about the company yet (see Blaine Bettinger’s blog The Genetic Genealogist and Attila Csordas’ Pimm), but my guess is that we will hear more about it in the near future. Whatever its future prospects, however, it’s already a good example of how converging technologies ... are emerging at the start-up company level. Recently Oprah did a show featuring 23andMe giving new exposure to people who otherwise would not have heard of them before.

The marriage between Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki is thus not just a romantic Silicon Valley story; it’s also today’s counterpart to traditional politically motivated marital alliances and gives a new meaning to the concept of converging technologies.

Linda Avey, co-founder

Kevin Kelleher in GigaOM writes:

A case could be made that there is a good reason for Google to make this deal. And although I realize I may end up regretting it, I am going to make that case. [...] An investment in 23andMe lets Google chart yet another collision course with Microsoft’s ambitions. [...] If Google wants to really organize the world information, it needs to consider DNA, the most personal of data. And what 23andMe is purporting to sell is the ultimate in navel gazing.

In April 2008, New York State's Department of Health sent warning letters to six online genetic testing companies, including 23andme, notifying them that they cannot offer New York state residents genetic tests without a permit nor can they offer them without authorization from a physician. In June 2008, the California Department of Public Health issued 'cease and desist' letters to 23andme and to other genetic testing companies notifying them that they must stop offering tests until they provided proof of state and federal clinical lab certification and until genetics test results were issued only when ordered directly by a physician. The company responded that they were already in compliance with California law and would continue to operate in California. However, much of the issue of compliance pertains to whether the genetic testing is regarded as 'educational,' as 23andme argues, or 'diagnostic,' in which case the process is governed by much stricter regulations. Currently, only 25 states permit direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests without restriction.

In August 2008, two companies that offer consumers information about their genes, 23andme and Navigenics, received licenses that allow them to continue to do business in California.

In 2008, Time magazine named 23andMe's DNA-testing service "Invention of the Year" for pioneering retail genomics.

See also

• Genetic testing
• Single-nucleotide polymorphism
• Maps of American ancestries
• Personal genomics
• Pharmacogenomics
• Genetic counseling
• Genomic counseling
• deCODE genetics, a company offering a service similar to 23andMe
• FamilyTreeDNA
• Navigenics, a company offering a service similar to 23andMe
• DNA Tribes, a company offering personal DNA analysis based on Autosomal DNA (STRs)

External links

• Official 23andme website
• Official 23andme blog
• Venture Beat story
• mention in "The Genetic Genealogist"
• Wired Magazine article Nov 2007
• CrunchBase Company Profile
• Community Manager Chia Hwu Interview, Social Networking Watch, Oct 2009
• "Genomics" article