B.C. healthy longevity company Molecular You raises $5M to expand biomarker testing
Molecular You, a Vancouver, B.C., healthy longevity company, announced today that it has raised $5 million from investors.
The company offers testing for a slate of 250 biomarkers that can provide insights into an individual's potential risk for ailments including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, irritable bowel syndrome and others. The analysis requires a blood sample and is available in the U.S. via online sales direct-to-consumer and in Canada at partner clinics.
'We plan to use this capital to grow our customer base across both consumer and clinical channels in North America, while also continuing to expand the platform's analysis and predictive capabilities,' said Jim Kean, CEO of Molecular You, in a statement.
Jim Kean, CEO of Molecular You. (Molecular You Photo)
The biomarker panel costs $1,099 in the U.S. and the test includes an in-home appointment for a blood draw at no additional charge. In Canada, the service costs $1,149 and blood is drawn at locations such as LifeLabs, Dynacare and others. The testing and analysis are not covered by insurance.
In the near future, Molecular You aims to expand its panel to more than 800 biomarkers through the use of 'next-generation multi-omic assays' which include biological molecules such as RNA transcripts, proteins and metabolites.
'This will enable higher-resolution analysis and broaden the platform's scope to additional areas, including certain cancers,' the company said in a release.
Molecular You launched in 2014 as a spinoff from Canada's Personalized Medicine Initiative and has 25 employees. The company is part of the growing longevity sector, which includes services such as full-body MRIs used to look for early signs of cancer or other issues; genomic sequencing; plasma exchange; and imaging of coronary arteries.
Longevity tech attracted $1.8 billion in investments from 2021 through the first quarter of this year, according to PitchBook. While the field's focus was once on age-related ailments such as cardiovascular and neurological diseases, it's turning to biological factors associated with aging and extending lifespans, PitchBook noted.
Circulate Health, a Seattle-based healthy longevity startup providing plasma exchange, announced $12 million in seed funding last month.
Molecular You's Series A investment round was led by Voloridge Health with participation from Dynamic Leap and others. The company has raised $29 million in total.
Its co-founders include Rob Fraser, president and chief scientist; David Wishart, chief informatics officer; Christoph Borchers, chief lab analytics officer; Haiyan Yang, vice president of operations; and Ash Anwar, senior director of data science.
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