23andMe
23andMe Holding Co. is an American personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva sample that is laboratory analysed, using single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping, to generate reports relating to the customer's ancestry and genetic predispositions to health-related topics. The company's name is derived from the 23 pairs of chromosomes in a diploid human cell.
Founded in 2006, 23andMe soon became the first company to begin offering autosomal DNA testing for ancestry, which all other major companies now use. Its saliva-based direct-to-consumer genetic testing business was named "Invention of the Year" by Time in 2008.
The company had a previously confrontational relationship with the United States Food and Drug Administration due to its genetic health tests; as of October 2015, DNA tests ordered in the US include a revised health component, per FDA approval. 23andMe has been selling a product with both ancestry and health-related components in Canada since October 2014, and in the UK since December 2014.
23andMe became a publicly traded company in 2021, via a merger with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company, and soon had a market capitalization of US$6 billion. By 2024, its valuation had fallen to 2% of that peak. In March 2025, 23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and CEO Anne Wojcicki resigned. Due to the sensitive nature of data stored by 23andMe and privacy concerns due to bankruptcy filing, the attorney general of California subsequently issued a consumer alert for its customers.
On May 19, 2025, Regeneron agreed to buy 23andMe out of bankruptcy for $256 million, but in June TTAM Research Institute, a non-profit founded by Anne Wojcicki, made the winning bid of $305 million.
On July 14, 2025, TTAM announced that it had completed the purchase of 23andMe's assets.
History
, Paul Cusenza, and Anne Wojcicki founded 23andMe in 2006 to offer genetic testing and interpretation to individuals. Investment documents from 2007 also suggest that 23andMe hoped to develop a database to pursue research efforts. In 2007, Google invested $3.9 million in the company, along with Genentech, New Enterprise Associates, and Mohr Davidow Ventures. Wojcicki and Google co-founder Sergey Brin were married at the time.Cusenza left the company in 2007 and Avey left in 2009.
In 2012, 23andMe raised $50 million in a Series D venture round, almost doubling its capital of $52.6 million. In 2015, 23andMe raised $115 million in a Series E offering, increasing capital to $241 million.
In September 2017, it was rumored the company was raising another $200 million with a $1.5 billion valuation. As of that time, the company had raised $230 million since its inception. Afterwards, it was reported the company raised $250 million, at a $1.75 billion valuation.
On July 25, 2018, 23andMe announced a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline to allow the pharmaceutical company to use test results from 5 million customers to design new drugs. GlaxoSmithKline invested $300 million in the company. In January 2022, this partnership was extended until July 2023 with an additional $50 million payment from GlaxoSmithKline.
The company was based in Mountain View, California, initially in North Bayshore and then downtown, until 2019, when it moved to a larger headquarters in Sunnyvale. In January 2020, 23andMe announced it would lay off about 100 employees in its consumer testing division.
In July 2020, 23andMe and GlaxoSmithKline announced their partnership's first clinical trial: a joint asset being co-developed by the two companies for cancer treatment. In December 2020, the company raised around $82.5 million in a series F round, bringing the total raised over the years to over $850M. The post-money valuation was not reported.
In February 2021, the company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Sir Richard Branson's special-purpose acquisition company, VG Acquisition Corp, in a $3.5 billion transaction. In June 2021, the company completed the merger with VG Acquisition Corp. The combined company was renamed to 23andMe Holding Co. and began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on June 17, 2021, under the ticker symbol "ME".
In October 2021, 23andMe announced that it would acquire Lemonaid Health, a telehealth company, for $400 million with the deal closing in November.
After 23andMe became a publicly traded company in 2021, it reached a market capitalization of $6 billion. By 2024, its valuation had fallen to 2% of that peak. Suggested factors include the fact that the company has never been profitable, with lack of recurring revenue from 23andMe's retail customers of its DNA kits.
In an attempt to regain control, Wojcicki made an initial bid in February 2024 to take 23andMe private, offering $2.53 per share in a joint bid, but it did not proceed. In July 2024, Wojcicki offered 40 cents each for all outstanding shares not already owned by her directly or through affiliates. The proposal was rejected by a committee set up to evaluate options for the company's future, and in September the seven independent members of the board of directors all resigned. The company subsequently filed with the SEC indicating that it was no longer open to third-party acquisition offers. Users were concerned about the security of their genetic data, and were trying to delete it from the company's archives only to find out that it holds onto the data for three years before deleting to comply with "legal obligations".
The company conducted layoffs in November 2024.
In January 2025, 23andMe declared that it would need additional liquidity to fund operations, and was actively exploring strategic alternatives including a potential sale of the company. Wojcicki made a third offer of 41 cents per share in March 2025. On March 23, 2025, 23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware as part of a plan to sell its assets. The company listed assets and liabilities between $100 million and $500 million. Anne Wojcicki announced that she would be stepping down from her role as CEO, and would be replaced with CFO Joe Selsavage. Trading for company's shares was suspended on March 31 and stock was subsequently delisted from Nasdaq and commenced trading over-the-counter.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a privacy consumer alert reminding Californian users of their right to request deletion of their genetic data. The company said there would not be any changes to the way it protects consumer data while in bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy auction was won by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals who agreed to buy the firm for $256 million. As part of the agreement, Regeneron would acquire all units of 23andMe except its on-demand telehealth service Lemonaid Health, and 23andMe would operate as a wholly owned unit of Regeneron. The transaction was expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2025. Following the acquisition, 23andMe announced that it would cease being a public company and deregister from the SEC effective June 6, 2025.
In June 2025, TTAM Research Institute, a non-profit founded by Anne Wojcicki, outbid Regeneron and bought 23andMe's assets for $305 million.
Products
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing
23andMe began offering direct-to-consumer genetic testing in November 2007. Customers provide a saliva testing sample that is partially single nucleotide polymorphism genotyped and results are posted online. In 2008, when the company was offering estimates of "predisposition for more than 90 traits and conditions ranging from baldness to blindness", Time magazine named the product "Invention of the Year".After the sample is received by the lab, the DNA is extracted from the saliva and amplified so that there is enough to be genotyped. The DNA is then cut into small pieces, and applied to a glass microarray chip, which has many microscopic beads applied to its surface. Each bead has a gene probe on it that matches the DNA of one of the many variants the company test for. If the sample has a match in the microarray, the sequences will hybridize, or bind together, letting researchers know that this variant is present in the customer's genome by a fluorescent label located on the probes. Tens of thousands of variants are tested out of the 10 to 30 million located in the entire genome. These matches are then compiled into a report that is supplied to the customer, allowing them to know if the variants associated with certain diseases, such as Parkinson's, celiac and Alzheimer's, are present in their own genome.
Uninterpreted raw genetic data may be downloaded by customers. This provides customers with the ability to choose one of the 23 chromosomes, as well as mitochondrial DNA, and see which base is located in certain positions in genes, and see how these compare to other common variants. Customers who bought tests with an ancestry-related component have online access to genealogical DNA test results and tools, including a relative-matching database. Customers can also view their mitochondrial haplogroup and, if they are male or a relative shared a patriline that has also been tested, Y chromosome haplogroup. US customers who bought tests with a health-related component and received health-related results before November 22, 2013, have online access to an assessment of inherited traits and genetic disorder risks. Health-related results for US customers who purchased the test from November 22, 2013, were suspended until late 2015 while undergoing an [|FDA regulatory review]. Customers who bought tests from 23andMe's Canadian and UK locations have access to some, but not all, health-related results.
As of February 2018, 23andMe has genotyped over 3,000,000 individuals. FDA marketing restrictions reduced customer growth rates. In February 2024, 23andMe said they had genotyped more than 14,000,000 individuals.
23andMe is commonly used for donor conceived people to find their biological siblings and in some cases their sperm or egg donor.