This story has a lot of Austin startup DNA in it.
Helix, an online marketplace where consumers can browse and buy products that show ancestry, food sensitivities and more, opened the doors of its virtual stores on Monday. And, inside, you'll find at least two Austin-based startups among the 20-plus partners in the marketplace that are using DNA in novel ways.
EverlyWell, a startup offering at-home lab kits to explore metabolism, sexual health and more, is offering its food sensitivity, metabolism and breast milk DHA tests on the new marketplace.
EverlyWell was founded in Dallas by CEO Julia Cheek in 2015. The company moved to Austin last year, and it has raised $5 million.
"Our selection as a Helix launch partner is further validation of EverlyWell’s platform and the exceptional consumer experience we’ve created,” Cheek said in a news release. “By sharing DNA information alongside key nutrition and metabolic biomarkers that we already offer, EverlyWell is now at the forefront of genomic and biomarker consumer testing.”
Meanwhile, Insitome, which offers DNA-based storytelling to help discover and explain your genomic story, launched its Neanderthal Insight tool that looks at your DNA for signatures of ancient encounters with Neanderthal ancestors and dives into what traits they had and what you may have inherited.
Insitome, meanwhile, was founded in 2016 by CEO Spencer Wells, a former Explorer in Residence with National Geographic who also a co-founder with Embark, the dog DNA startup that recently moved from Austin to Boston. It has raised at least $3 million through a Helix-affiliated accelerator program.
“Each one of us is a unique product of thousands of generations of striving and success, of hardship and adaptation, of migration and mysterious ancient trysts. The greatest story ever written is the one you carry in your DNA,” Wells said in a news release. “Insitome illuminates your story and reveals your place in human history.
And, Helix itself, though born and based in California, is led by CEO Robin Thurston, who previously founded Austin-based MapMyFitness, a run-calculating app that was acquired by Under Armour in 2013. Thurston was appointed CEO in July 2016 and is among roughly 70 employees split between Helix headquarters in the Bay Area and its lab operations in San Diego.
"We are still very early in the days of people having access to their genomic information, but eventually it will be very common, so we’re building future-forward products with this in mind," Thurston wrote in a blog post earlier this year.
