AAA Verily snares $700m

Verily snares $700m

Verily, a US-headquartered developer of data-focused life sciences technology, received $700m in funding yesterday from investors including its parent company, internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet.

The company said the funding was provided by its current investors and named private equity firm Silver Lake, Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek and pension fund manager Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan alongside Alphabet.

Launched in 2015 after being incubated within Alphabet’s Google X division, Verily is working on hardware and software products in partnership with other companies in order to utilise data in drug development and disease management.

The cash will go to commercialising Verily’s product range, which includes Verily Health Platforms, an umbrella that oversees covid-19 testing service Healthy at Work, diabetes management platform OnDuo and Coefficient, the health insurance product it launched in August this year.

The company’s other products include its end-to-end clinical research ecosystem, Baseline, and a population health research tool called All of Us.

Temasek had invested $800m in Verily in 2017, before Silver Lake led a $1bn funding round in January 2019 that also featured Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Andrew Conrad, Verily’s founder and CEO, said: “We are humbled and excited about the opportunity to expand the scope and rapidly scale our products and services. With this new round of funding from our largest investors, they are strengthening their commitment to help expedite our original vision.

“2021 will be a year of significant and focused growth for Verily’s operations as we continue to drive innovation in our core programmes, launching more studies and study tools on Baseline to support decentralised research, and expanding our Health Platforms product offerings and services for employers, providers and patients.”

By Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.

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