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23andMe Holding Co. is an American personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva sample that is laboratory analysed, using single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping, to generate reports relating to the customer’s ancestry and genetic predispositions to health-related topics. The company’s name is derived from the 23 pairs of chromosomes in a diploid human cell.
Founded in 2006, 23andMe soon became the first company to begin offering autosomal DNA testing for ancestry, which all other major companies now use. Its saliva-based direct-to-consumer genetic testing business was named “Invention of the Year” by Time in 2008.
The company had a previously fraught relationship with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to its genetic health tests; as of October 2015, DNA tests ordered in the US include a revised health component, per FDA approval. 23andMe has been selling a product with both ancestry and health-related components in Canada since October 2014, and in the UK since December 2014.
23andMe became a publicly traded company, via a merger with a Special Purpose Aquisition Company (SPAC) in 2021 and soon had a market capitalization of US$6 billion. By 2024, its valuation had fallen to 2% of that peak. On September 17, 2024, all seven independent directors of the company resigned, voicing concerns about the strategic direction of the company and Wojcicki’s stated intention to take the company private. Users were concerned about the security of their genetic data, and were trying to delete it from the company’s archives.