Direct-to-consumer DNA testing company 23andMe has raised almost $85 million this month, according to a Dec. 28 Silicon Valley Business Journal report.
Four things to know:
1. The financing will be used for general corporate purposes, a company spokesperson told the publication, adding that Sequoia Capital and NewView Capital led the investment round.
2. The new funding comes nearly a year after 23andMe announced layoffs of 100 employees due to decreasing sales of its direct-to-consumer DNA test kits.
3. At a conference earlier in December, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki said more than 12 million of the company's customers agreed to participate in drug discovery research, which helped support COVID-19 research.
4. More than one million people took 23andMe's COVID-19 study, which found that people with O blood type are between 9 percent and 18 percent less likely than others to have tested positive for COVID-19.