23andMe, the US-based DNA testing service backed by several corporate investors, has raised $79.1m as part of a series E round that could reach $150m, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.
Founded in 2006, 23andMe offers customers a kit that enables them to test their own DNA, in the process researching their ancestry, genealogy and inherited genetic traits. Users provide a saliva sample through the kit and after a few weeks are able to access the results online.
23andMe had already raised approximately $112m in debt and equity, with internet company Google an investor since the company’s $9m series A round in 2007, which also featured biotechnology company Genentech, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures, though the latter divested its stake two years later.
Google and NEA also backed a $22.8m series B round in 2009, before contributing to a $31m round in 2011 led by Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, healthcare product maker Johnson & Johnson’s corporate venturing unit, and that also featured MPM Capital.
Google, NEA and MPM Capital were also participants in 23andMe’s 2012 series D round, investing $57.9m alongside founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki and Google co-founder Sergei Brin.
The latest funding is being raised in the aftermath of an announcement in March that the company would form a therapeutics group headed by Richard Scheller, formerly executive vice president of research and early development at Genentech.
The unit would use the research sourced from 23andMe’s research platform to discover and develop treatments for common and rare diseases.