23andMe’s Fall from $6 Billion to Nearly $0

[bicicleur 2]

MSN

Five years ago, 23andMe was one of the hottest startups in the world. Millions of people were spitting into its test tubes to learn about their ancestry. Oprah had named its kit one of her favorite things; Lizzo dressed up as one for Halloween; Eddie Murphy name-checked the company on “Saturday Night Live.” 23andMe went public in 2021 and its valuation briefly topped $6 billion. Forbes anointed Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe’s chief executive and a Silicon Valley celebrity, as the “newest self-made billionaire.”

Good marketing, but it was a hype.

 

[Vitruvius]

Anne Wojcicki is the wife of Sergey Brin, founder of Google and former president of Alphabet inc. Her sister, Susan Wojcicki was CEO of Youtube until February 16th of 2023, stepping down just over a year ago. They are a family network of technocrats whose specialization lies in collecting and cataloguing your personality, genetic data and media interests for other interested parties.

 

[Jovialis]

Ancestry is a superior service imo, with the exception of haplogroup analysis. But I think the best is going for nebula genomics for more hardcore enthusiasts.

 

[Palermo Trapani]

Ancestry is a superior service imo, with the exception of haplogroup analysis. But I think the best is going for nebula genomics for more hardcore enthusiasts.

I agree 100% Jovialis: 23&Me is a good general product in that it gives you good basic information on several areas 1) Ethnicity, 2) Haplogroups, 3) basic Neanderthal report and 4) Health report, which in my view is the best part of their service.

For autosomal DNA analysis (Ethnicity), Ancestry is way better. After doing Big Y for Haplogroup analysis, that is the best way to go for that one. I haven't done Nebula, is that the one that gets close to full genome coverage.

 

[norbert]

Passing around our personal data is bad enough to do the same with our genetic data and even pay for it. Since these companies are making money with that data alone, they shouldn't charge their customers for the tests. I haven't done that yet and think such tests should be conducted by public scientific institutions rather than for-profit "start-ups." Judging from the many test results posted on Youtube, their interpretation looks dubious and wrapped up in an entertaining manner. People are told they are so and so much "Northwest European" or "Balkans" etc. And it's all based on the company's own database. It's not worth the dough.

 

[qh777]

I've done Ancestry DNA, 23&me (and bought the V5 upgrade), MyHeritage, and CRI Genetics. The results from Ancestry and 23&Me make the most sense to me. CRI was a total waste of money. It's estimate was way off compared to what I know genealogically and other estimates.