Google is still tightly intertwined with 23andme, a company that helps consumers understand and decipher their genomes. 23andme has raised another $2.6 million from Google out of a total $24.26 million it is trying to raise in a Series B round of funding, according to regulatory filings. This brings the total amount raised from this round to $13.6 million, after May’s $11 million funding round. At the time, Mohr Davidow Ventures divested its stake in 23andme after investing in a direct competitor Navigenics.
The juiciest disclosure in the filing is that Brin loaned the startup an additional $10 million which is being converted into Series B preferred shares. Earlier in 2007, he had loaned the company $2.6 million which was repaid from the proceeds of Google’s subsequent $3.9 million stake in 23andMe in May, 2007. The debt was repaid after the Google investment. It appears that Brin once again had to dig into his own pocket to help keep the company afloat.
The filing also says one of the investors in the Series B round in May was New Enterprise Associates, which also invested in 23andme’s Series A round. And it mentions that Google has entered into a lease agreement with 23andme, possibly for office space, but it is unclear what exactly is being leased.
23andme, which was co-founded by Sergey Brin’s wife, Anne Wojcicki, raised $9 million in a Series A round of funding from Google, Genentech, New Enterprise Associates, and Mohr Davidow Ventures in 2007. The company maps consumers’ DNA and helps them find information about their ancestry and their risks of getting certain diseases (Michael tried it last year).
Neat science fair projects rarely become viable companies.
Oh well.
I wonder when Google’s board will start cutting this relationship. It doesn’t align with the company’s objectives.
http://www.trad...spx?symbol=goog
As genome sequencing continues to drop in price (as it has exponentially over time), more people will have it done, which exponentially increases the information we can get out of the genome sequence.
Within five years we should see an explosion of information from this kind of genomics. 23andme is at the forefront of that.
All In the Family?
Absolutely: We’re all going to share 1 Big Brother, soon.
poor guy would probably get divorce if he doesnt pitch in to keep her company afloat.
Who cares? She’s ugly and he’s one of the richest people on the planet.
Easy dude that is his wife you are talking about – don’t talk trash like that.
She still aint a looker.
I remember I took honors calc back when I thought I was smart.. and these hots girls walked by. I was the only one that looked. All the other guys were more excited by some proof. Math people are different..
You kidding? She’s got sex appeal and smarts and probably has a great personality.
It is true svd… I mean she divources him he loses a $100 million or more..lol.. cheaper to keep her happy.. woman.. they just take our money and spend it..lol Truth is you men in the states have it bad.. the rings you got to buy your wives are huge. Here in Canada the girls accept a nice small diamond. The best part is girls here get mad when you try to pay for everything. The girls I have dated in the states expect you to pay for everything.. flexible equal rights crap.. but then again in the states it is easier to find a trophy wife..
Is wife is hot. Your obviously single and a twitter. Idiot
If I was a Twitter, twiterrer….. twittererrrr…………whatever, I would have the link to my profile in my name like the rest of the people do on here, second of all, no I’m not single and third of all you have no taste.
So your girlfriend or wife is hot? post a picture up. Let us be the judge. My wife is hot and I would be willing to post her picture up for others to judge. My guess is your not hot nor is your wife/girlfriend. So leave Sergeys wife alone, she is hot!
No, I’m not going to do that, I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate it. Besides even if I posted a picture of Adriana Lima you would still bash her because you have negative feeling towards me. Anyway, you need to relax and get off Sergey’s balls, as much as you may like them. I know he’s rich but he’s probably not going to include you in his will
.
Lets put this in perspective, if your wife asked for $100 for her little side venture would you say no?
Then again, Google probably has nice couches if it came to that.
Great point. What is a mere 10 mil to the guy who invented Google?
I totally get helping the wife out with a few bucks for the company, but when you start funneling that help through your company (ie Google), then things start to look pretty shady.
For me, the minute I saw Brin involved personally, and Google as the pseudo-launderer, I saw big red flags with 23andme as a company. If they had stronger principles and prospects, they would have gotten their money from somewhere else.
Silicon Valley is not always a meritocracy.
Yeah.. He should have given it from his pocket money.. Why shareholders money ?
Anyways this company looks interesting..
If it’s not viable, why others (than goog) will fund it ?
23andMe was a lot of fun for my family and I to do. If they can get to some kind of critical mass on data acquisition, they should be able to make some interesting scientific findings.
VERY sketchy of MDV.
Interesting scientific findings? No, absolutely not. Scientifically, 23andMe is replicating what deCODE has already done, but with less coverage (they test about 50 genetic variations), less accuracy (they only test SNPs, a minor source of genetic variance, especially as it relates to disease), and they rely on self-reporting of disease symptoms (a scientifically invalid method of data collection).
Very sketchy of MDV? Not exactly. Google also invested in Navigenics when MDV did (Nov 07).
The only question is, when will Google and Brin let 23andMe die? The company’s “genetic test” is of no practical use (their founders / senior scientists go to great lengths to emphasize that the test is for “educational purposes only”). If they had any business sense, they’d give away the test for free and sell the aggregated raw data on a subscription basis to biotech and pharma companies, who are just starting to ride the pharmacogenomics wave.
is google ever going to stop with this antitrust stuff? if i was a google shareholder i would be pissed that theyre spending millions for some random company…
Can you say nepotism?
Ok i don’t get it, why cant Sergey Brin just give his wife this money? 10 million is chicken change to this guy.
The main reason Sergey is so keen to invest in 23andMe probably has to do with the fact that he was diagnosed to carry genes that put him at high risk for Parkinsons, so it probably is more of a personal cause for him to support this field. Theoretically, some interesting knew knowledge can be gained if 23andMe can acquire a lot of data from a variety of individuals. In practice, making meaningful, replicable discoveries from such data is extremely challenging, but still worth trying if you can afford it. Since he has money to throw around this seems like a pretty good “investment” for Sergey.
Oh yea, the advantages of marrying rich….
What a giant waste of money!
The guy has a right to spend his millions the way he want to spend it.
And we have the right to think he is a putz for it
VIP bottle service. He’s a good looking guy.
This may be a stupid question but why doesn’t Brin simple finance the venture 100% to keep control within the family and avoid series A, B, C.
This is a naive question and I am not trying to be cute here but he is worth billions of dollars (granted not all of that is liquid) and can afford it.
Theoretically, a broader pool of investors also increases your advisory pool (and it’s good to have a variety of eyeballs).
Then again, Brin is well-connected enough that he could probably grab any advisors he wants for a company.
It could also be that he really does have a genuine interest for wanting the business to succeed, because he thinks it’s a good cause. We can only guess as to his real reasons for wanting to keep it afloat, so why bother?
If he wants to throw his wife a couple bucks that’s his business.
Wow, if I was Sergey instead of being married, I’d be up in VIP with some hot bitches every night.
Was that really necessary?
Fortunately, Sergey DOES have style.
In the genomics industry and among those in the know and who publish papers, 23andme is the laughing stock. I can’t tell you how many of the professionals roll their eyes and snicker with “pop science infotainment” criticisms whenever the topic of this company comes up.
Sounds like a financial rabbit hole on those merits alone.
Huh? It’s actually cheaper for our lab to go to 23andme then it is to buy the chips directly from illumina..
Complete nonsense.
Genomics for the general public is going to be instrumental in health. 23andme is one of the few ‘mainstream’ companies that’s getting a head start for when complete genetic mapping becomes affordable.
It sounds like your bias is slanted by people who haven’t a clue about this industry and/or who are merely envious.
Even when there are businesses that are the most heated rivals, you see rivals dismissing the other’s approaches or claims. You will even see them downplaying the value of their efforts.
But what you never see is outright laughter over the purpose of their business.
I’m watch The Tudors Season 2 right now. Brin’s investments remind me of King Henry from the show (and reality.) Everyone knows what he’s doing is wrong but they ignore it cause hey…he’s the freaking King!
The genomics industry is a very appealing and modern topic but I don’t know if Google can stick its hands there too.
Found this hope it helps.. It was buried in deep backlinks..
http://www.yout...h?v=znrjbo9QRLk
can’t really figure out why google has invested in this company.
whipped!
So will google surface your genomes on their search engine? Kind of like an insurance agent searching for “find all people with heart conditions and make sure we never cover them”.
So I guess don’t do evil unless it is your spouse? Hmmm…
The comments on here saying “make the tests free” are right on. That is how you monetize this. People sign an agreement saying their genetic profile can be sold(unlinked to their personal identity, of course) with ethnic tags attached, and in return they find out about their genetic makeup.
I think too many people place far too much importance on genetics. I am an identical twin, and my brother has relatively high body fat compared to myself. How many times do you hear its all genetics? Too often, this can become a self fulfilling prophecy, a la Gattica(best sci-fi movie I can remember)
23andMe is an exciting company. I just hope their technology gets affordable sooner. I am sure lot of people would lot of people would like to unfold secrets in their genomes.
The details are here:
http://www.bsne...google-23andme/