New York-based Nucleus, a genomic testing startup that screens for over 800 medical conditions, has closed a $14 million Series A funding round. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six fund and Founders Fund, both prior investors, participated in the round, while new investors included One Eight Capital, Giant Step, Asylum Ventures, Rose Street Capital, all of New York; Neo and Common Metal; and angel investors Balaji Srinivasan and Amanda Bradford. Nucleus previously raised $3.5 million in a seed round.
“Five years after founding Nucleus in my bedroom, I’m thrilled to share that we’ve raised a $14 million Series A, bringing our total backing to $32 million,” said Nucleus CEO Kian Sadeghi, who dropped out of a Computational Biology program at University of Pennsylvania to start the company in 2020. “The new financing accelerates our ability to run a software playbook — one that’s scalable, accessible, and user-first — in healthcare, a legacy industry that’s resisted change for decades.”
AI Acquisition
Nucleus says it sequences 1,000x more DNA than the pioneering genetic testing firm 23andMe. It says it can uncover a person’s genetic risk for over 800 conditions — including cancers, heart disease and mental health — with a single test. The test combines genetic and non-genetic information to calculate the absolute risk scores for diseases.
In a blog post, Sadeghi also announced the acquisition of Cambrean, an AI-based health platform developing algorithms to use data from wearables like Oura ring and Apple Watch into actionable recommendations. Its founder David Sloane will join Nucleus’ product team, “where he’ll spearhead wider data integrations,” Sadeghi said.
Nucleus also said that Matt Lanter, a co-founder of OpenStore, was joining the company as president. “His decades of experience helping scale billion-dollar companies will be a tremendous addition to an already deeply talented team,” Sadeghi said. Lanter has served as chief of staff for Founders Fund, and was an early investor in Nucleus.
“Our current roadmap is ambitious, including dramatically expanding our genetic risk assessments and adding features to help users plan healthy families. We have an exceptionally strong team to execute it, with the support of some of the sharpest investors in tech today,” Sadeghi said.
Global Ambition
Since November, Nucleus’ monthly users have tripled. In the past three months, the company said it has averaged 68% month-over-month revenue growth.
Nucleus has been working with DNA-sequencing firm Illumina in a bid to make whole-genome sequencing (WGS) accessible at affordable cost, and with Bionic Health to deliver genetic medicine in the clinic. It also has international ambitions.
“We really see a world beyond just the boundaries of the United States where people can engage and interact and take agency over their health,” Sadeghi told TechCrunch.
