Please welcome Sequencing, the DNA interpretation company helping consumers take control of their health
Meet Sequencing, the latest addition to Lerer Hippeau’s portfolio.
HQ: Los Angeles, CA
Founders: Dr. Brandon Colby
The problem: Consumers increasingly want to bring healthcare into their own hands, but until now, a major piece of the puzzle has been missing. Without full insight into their DNA, consumers are using incomplete pictures of health to personalize approaches and attempt to adjust health outcomes. Most DNA tests obtain less than 0.01% of an individual’s DNA, and so even though genetic sequencing is becoming more available, the majority of options on the market are wildly incomplete, and they don’t come with the insights and analysis consumers need to act on their discoveries. Plus, existing tests pose major issues related to storage and privacy, as we’ve seen incumbents use data nefariously. Current options leave much to be desired in terms of keeping data safe and helping people leverage personal genetic information to their true advantage so it can be a key health lever, and not just an amusing science experiment. Until now, our understanding of our health has been incomplete.
Sequencing’s solution: Sequencing provides “Whole Genome Sequencing” to consumers affordably and securely for the first time. The service, which obtains 100% of an individual’s DNA, including all ~30,000 genes and all chromosomes end-to-end, analyzes genes to empower people to make informed health decisions and make changes to their lives in order to adjust health outcomes down the road. Sequencing’s solution also stores data in a completely secure way. Through Sequencing’s two proprietary, direct-to-consumer applications, customers gain access to tools and reports that translate their DNA data into actionable information for improved health outcomes. The company’s Genome Explorer is the first online browser and search engine for genomes, giving customers access to the latest research that might be relevant to their DNA. The Next-Gen Rare Disease Screen allows customers to screen their DNA for thousands of rare diseases, conditions, and traits they may be at risk of having. In addition, Sequencing offers the largest marketplace for DNA analysis and reports in the world, featuring more than 100 applications, and growing. This solution marries precision and preventive healthcare meaningfully, and in a totally personalized way.
Origin story: While practicing personalized preventive medicine in Los Angeles, Dr. Brandon Colby experienced first-hand the reactionary nature of healthcare in the United States. Eager to find solutions to the ongoing problem of prohibitively expensive and often ineffective medical intervention, he turned to the latest groundbreaking developments in genetic technologies. During this time, he identified the real need for a business model that offered direct-to-consumer DNA technology and wrote a best-selling guide to the concept of using DNA insights to change health outcomes, “Outsmart Your Genes.” He founded Sequencing.com as a way to facilitate access to genetic services for everyone — quickly and affordably.
Why we’re betting on it: Until now, genome sequencing has not been available to the average person. But new developments in genetic technology have opened the door for anyone to learn more about genetic composition and corresponding health implications. By facilitating direct-to-consumer engagement with DNA data, Sequencing has sparked a new phase in the democratization of genome sequencing. Dr. Colby has spent his career practicing preventive medicine, and now leads a team of medical doctors, geneticists, bioinformatics experts, and software developers who are uniquely positioned to deliver solutions that help people live healthier, happier, and longer. An innovation that can help consumers use the information that they’re predisposed to a rare disease, or a heart condition, or cancer, to make adjustments to their lives to change the course of their health outcomes is incredibly compelling.
Our take: We envision a near-term future state in which any consumer interested in health and wellness will have access to their full genome sequence and make informed health decisions based on its insights. The long-running effort to make genetic sequencing widely accessible is finally coming to fruition, and it will become the norm that anyone interested in the most useful and truthful info about their health will search voraciously for actionable insights. Data is empowering, not defeating, and we believe strongly that services equipping consumers to gain more control over their destinies will be critical.
Further reading: “Exclusive: Sequencing your (whole) genome” via Axios
