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Un 96% de pérdida (aunque el WSJ pone 98%) desde el máximo en febrero del 2021, al poco de salir a bolsa. Lleva ya unos meses por debajo de un dólar, lo que le ha acarreado un warning de expulsión del Nasdaq si no remonta. El viernes cerró en $0.69.
Ahora es 23andBP (léase 23 and [bipí], de BigPharma), y a saber en qué manos acabarán los datos, aunque algunos ya los habrán obtenido de los hackeos previos.
A la empoderada "self-made" contactos no le faltan...
Five years ago, 23andMe was one of the hottest startups in the world. Millions of people were spitting into its test tubes to learn about their ancestry. Oprah had named its kit one of her favorite things; Lizzo dressed up as one for Halloween; Eddie Murphy name-checked the company on "Saturday Night Live." 23andMe went public in 2021 and its valuation briefly topped $6 billion. Forbes anointed Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe's chief executive and a Silicon Valley celebrity, as the "newest self-made billionaire." Now Wojcicki's self-made billions have vanished.
23andMe's valuation has crashed 98% from its peak and Nasdaq has threatened to delist its sub-$1 stock. Wojcicki reduced staff by a quarter last year through three rounds of layoffs and a subsidiary sale. The company has never made a profit and is burning cash so quickly it could run out by 2025. Silicon Valley's fortunes were built on the lofty ambitions of entrepreneurs swinging for the fences -- even if most of them strike out. Wojcicki, for her part, isn't giving up. She's sticking to her goal to transform 23andMe from a supplier of basic ancestry and health data into a comprehensive healthcare company that develops drugs, offers medical care and sells subscription health reports. She still has to prove the business can sustain itself. She's raised about $1.4 billion for 23andMe, and spent roughly 80% of it.
Known for her quirky charm and informal style -- she typically wears workout gear to the office -- Wojcicki, 50, has been searching for fresh capital. But with 23andMe's stock trading at just 74 cents, the company likely can't raise money by selling more shares. And the company's early-stage drug programs are so expensive, she has sought investor partners for some of them, so far unsuccessfully, and given up stakes in others. She could also plug the hole with her own cash. At the center of 23andMe's DNA-testing business are two fundamental challenges. Customers only need to take the test once, and few test-takers get life-altering health results.
Hace cinco años, 23andMe era una de las startups más populares del mundo. Millones de personas escupían en sus tubos de ensayo para conocer su ascendencia. Oprah había llamado a su kit una de sus cosas favoritas; Lizzo se disfrazó como tal para Halloween; Eddie Murphy mencionó el nombre de la compañía en "Saturday Night Live". 23andMe salió a bolsa en 2021 y su valoración superó brevemente los 6.000 millones de dólares. Forbes ungió a Anne Wojcicki, directora ejecutiva de 23andMe y celebridad de Silicon Valley, como la "nueva multimillonaria hecha a sí misma". Ahora los miles de millones que Wojcicki ganó a sí mismo han desaparecido.
La valoración de 23andMe se ha desplomado un 98% desde su máximo y Nasdaq ha amenazado con retirar de la lista sus acciones de menos de 1 dólar. Wojcicki redujo su plantilla en una cuarta parte el año pasado mediante tres rondas de despidos y la venta de una filial. La compañía nunca ha obtenido ganancias y está quemando efectivo tan rápido que podría agotarse en 2025. Las fortunas de Silicon Valley se construyeron sobre las elevadas ambiciones de los empresarios que luchaban por las vallas, incluso si la mayoría de ellos fracasaban. Wojcicki, por su parte, no se rinde. Ella se apega a su objetivo de transformar 23andMe de un proveedor de datos básicos de ascendencia y salud a una empresa de atención médica integral que desarrolla medicamentos, ofrece atención médica y vende informes de salud por suscripción. Todavía tiene que demostrar que el negocio puede sostenerse por sí solo. Ha recaudado alrededor de 1.400 millones de dólares para 23andMe y gastó aproximadamente el 80% de ellos.
Conocida por su encanto peculiar y estilo informal (normalmente usa ropa deportiva para ir a la oficina), Wojcicki, de 50 años, ha estado buscando capital fresco. Pero con las acciones de 23andMe cotizando a sólo 74 centavos, es probable que la compañía no pueda recaudar dinero vendiendo más acciones. Y los programas de medicamentos en etapa inicial de la compañía son tan caros que ha buscado socios inversores para algunos de ellos, hasta ahora sin éxito, y ha renunciado a participaciones en otros. También podría tapar el agujero con su propio dinero. En el centro del negocio de pruebas de ADN de 23andMe se encuentran dos desafíos fundamentales. Los clientes solo necesitan realizar la prueba una vez, y pocos de los que la realizan obtienen resultados de salud que alteran sus vidas.
23andMe’s Fall From $6 Billion to Nearly $0 - WSJAhora es 23andBP (léase 23 and [bipí], de BigPharma), y a saber en qué manos acabarán los datos, aunque algunos ya los habrán obtenido de los hackeos previos.
The company recently came under fire for security breaches that impacted 6.9 million users and has struggled to find a way to keep customers engaged with its products after they’ve used the one-time DNA kit. Wojcicki says she and 23andMe are now heavily focused on drug development, but that’s an expensive and risky endeavor that could take decades to pay off.
Of more immediate concern: The company has yet to turn a profit, and 23andMe could run out of money as early as next year.
Wojcicki says the problem has more to do with a downturn in the biotech sector than internal issues.
“We did layoffs last year,” said Wojcicki, referring to the three rounds of cuts and the sale of a subsidiary that reduced her staff by about a quarter. “But we’re not alone in this biotech downturn. And so what you have to do is you have to cut back and you have to prioritize on the programs that you think are the most important.”
“We’ve been caught in the downturn along with the entire industry,” said Wojcicki. “We’re absolutely exploring what our options are to prioritize our best assets…we can’t do everything we’ve done. That’s what happens in this kind of market.”
But the company’s drop isn’t tracking with the sector. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF, which tracks the biotech sector, has fallen by about 5.2% over the past year. Shares of 23andMe are down 75.4% over the same period.
However, Steven Mah, a managing director at TD Cowen who tracks 23andMe, says that he still rates the stock a “buy.” He believes that negative headlines and poor sentiment have led the company to trade well below its fair value.
There’s still untapped value in its pharmaceutical discovery arm, he told CNN, and good news in that sector could quickly catalyze the stock upward.
A future in drug discovery
Wojcicki says that the future of 23andMe is in harnessing their DNA database to find cures or treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Crohn’s disease.
In 2018, 23andMe agreed to a five-year exclusive drug development partnership with GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline). The London-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology company also invested $300 million in the company. In 2022, GSK exercised an option to pay $50 million and extend the exclusive contract for another year. Last October, GSK paid the company another $20 million for a nonexclusive data license.
Most of the data 23andMe has collected isn’t available to the public. That makes it hard to analyze the company’s value, said Mah. But these deals give important hints about the company’s viability as a DNA data provider.
“GSK can see [the data] but I can’t see it, and investors can’t see it,” he said. “But the fact that GSK is doubling down and extending their partnership suggests that they’re getting a value add from the platform.”
So far, the partnership between GSK and 23andMe has produced more than 50 new drug targets. Two have already made their way to early-stage trials. Only about one in every thousand potential drugs makes it to human trials in the United States.
The payoff for a successful drug could be huge, but successful development can take decades and costs hundreds of millions of dollars.
But a lot of what the company has achieved has been overlooked, said Wojcicki.
“Because we cannot [contractually] speak much about what has come from [our partnership with] GSK, people just give it zero value,” she said. “There’s a lot of really exciting things that came out of it.”
Six years of ongoing partnership between the two companies should indicate that “there was incredible value,” she said. “It’s really transformed [GSK’s] entire drug discovery process.”
Still, the deal between the two companies is no longer exclusive, and 23andMe has yet to announce partnerships with any other pharmaceutical companies. Mah sees that as a concerning sign that’s contributing to weakness in the stock, but he remains hopeful.
“It’s something 23andMe is focused on. They said they are in discussions with Big Pharma and it’s just taking some time…I do believe that they can sign up new partners,” he said.
GSK did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Don’t count us out”
23andMe is on the right path, said Wojcicki. “The vision and where we’re going is solid, but the path to get there is more turbulent.”
Wojcicki is certain that genetic sequencing will transform healthcare and drug discovery, and that 23andMe is in a position to take full advantage of that when it happens.
But drug discovery is a very long process and it can be anywhere from 10 to 15 years on average from target discovery to an FDA-approved drug.
The question is whether investors are willing to wait that long.
A la empoderada "self-made" contactos no le faltan...
Wojcicki has Silicon Valley in her DNA. She grew up on the campus of Stanford where her father taught physics. Her mother is known as the “Godmother of Silicon Valley” for teaching the children of tech titans at Palo Alto High School for decades and publishing How to Raise Successful People, based on her own daughters. Susan Wojcicki, Anne’s sister, is the former CEO of YouTube. Her ex-husband, Sergey Brin, co-founded Google.
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