A reporter examines a 23andMe DNA genetic testing package in Oakland, California.
Cayce Clifford | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
It has not been a superb 12 months for client DNA testing firms.
In January, Silicon Valley-based 23andMe laid off 100 workers, about 14% of its workforce. A month later, Ancestry, which has places of work in Utah and San Francisco, additionally reduce 100 jobs, representing about 6% of its workers.
The most important cause for the downsizing? Merely put, shoppers aren’t shopping for as many at-home DNA exams as they used to.
The primary signal got here in the summertime, when Illumina, maker of the DNA sequencing machines which might be utilized by Ancestry and 23andMe, acknowledged in an earnings name to buyers that the category had hit a lull. CEO Francis DeSouza did not share an evidence for that, however famous that Illumina was taking a “cautious view” of the chance within the close to time period. Orasure, maker of the spit tubes utilized by client DNA testing firms, has additionally seen its inventory take successful.
At the moment, some smaller firms had been already feeling the influence. Helix, a start-up that spun out of Illumina to construct an “app retailer” mannequin for DNA exams, reduce workers in Might. The company revealed to Bloomberg that it was shifting its focus away from shoppers to inhabitants well being, that means it could work with well being trade companions. Just a few months later, Veritas Genetics —…