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Connected to Google by both love and money, 23andMe seems the epitome of a 21st-century company - a cutting-edge merging of biotechnology and the Internet, with a dash of celebrity thrown in.
The scarce ingredient so far is customers.
23andMe is the most prominent of a trio of companies that in 2007 began using the Web to market personal genomics services. The companies scan people's DNA, promising to tell them their risks of getting dozens of diseases.
Propelled by its co-founder Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Google's billionaire co-founder Sergey Brin, 23andMe attracted attention by holding swanky "spit parties" where people gave saliva samples for DNA analysis. Rich and famous people like Rupert Murdoch, Harvey Weinstein and Ivanka Trump became customers and in some cases investors.
But for the common consumer, 23andMe's service - and those from its main competitors, Navigenics and DeCode Genetics - have been a much harder sell.
Two and a half years after beginning its service, 23andMe has only 35,000 customers. And at least a quarter of them got the service free or for only $25...
The scarce ingredient so far is customers.
23andMe is the most prominent of a trio of companies that in 2007 began using the Web to market personal genomics services. The companies scan people's DNA, promising to tell them their risks of getting dozens of diseases.
Propelled by its co-founder Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Google's billionaire co-founder Sergey Brin, 23andMe attracted attention by holding swanky "spit parties" where people gave saliva samples for DNA analysis. Rich and famous people like Rupert Murdoch, Harvey Weinstein and Ivanka Trump became customers and in some cases investors.
But for the common consumer, 23andMe's service - and those from its main competitors, Navigenics and DeCode Genetics - have been a much harder sell.Two and a half years after beginning its service, 23andMe has only 35,000 customers. And at least a quarter of them got the service free or for only $25...