Bellevue-based wellness company Viome is adding to its leadership ranks after raising fresh funding.
On Tuesday, Viome announced it has raised a $25 million Series D round and hired former Samsung and Amazon executive Kal Raman as chief operating officer. Viome founder and CEO Naveen Jain said the company has about 140 to 145 employees, most of whom are based in the Seattle area.
"Headcount is not the way we normally measure our successes. Hopefully the data we are collecting allows us to create lots of products without having to hire more," Jain said. "My goal is to really use data and AI to really build the business rather than human capital. Yes, the company will grow, but I think if our revenue grows 10 times, our employee count would probably grow 2X."
Viome, founded in 2016, makes at-home gut, oral health and full-body health tests that the company says can help identify root causes for issues with heart health, mood, digestive health and the immune system, among others. The company sends tailored supplements, such as pills and powders, meant to boost customers' health. Viome also sells lozenges and toothpaste, and it sells an at-home oral and throat cancer test.
Viome closed an $86.5 million Series C round in August of last year. In November, Viome acquired Palo Alto, California-based wellness company Naring Health for an undisclosed amount.
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Raman spent more than six years at Samsung Electronics as chief digital officer, according to his LinkedIn page. Earlier in his career, he spent more than two years as the COO of Groupon and two years as a senior vice president at Amazon. As for why he joined Viome, Raman said he was attracted to the impact he could have.
"This could have a huge impact on human capital, productivity and the entire world in the long run. That is a big effort, and it's not going to be done by one company," Raman said. "It is going to be a change in mindset. Here we are building a category that doesn't exist."
In addition to its Bellevue headquarters at the Civica Office Commons, Viome has lab space in Bothell. Jain said the company doesn't have an immediate need to expand but has the option to do so at its current location.
Khosla Ventures, Bold Capital, WRG Ventures, Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff and others participated in the funding round. Khosla has invested in DoorDash, Okta and RingCentral.
Jain said the company would like to make tests for other types of cancer in the future.
"There is plenty of good evidence that from saliva we should be able to see lung cancer, esophageal cancer, stomach cancer. We should be able to see breast cancer," Jain said. "Our goal is to be able to early diagnose."
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