Nebula Genomics Aims to Wipe Out Inherited Disease
Hemi invested in Nebula Genomics last year because we believe that genomic sequencing is for everyone, and people should own their personal genomic data. It is valuable to pharmaceutical and biotech companies to develop new drugs and reduce the costs of clinical trials. “Nebula leverages a blockchain-enabled genomic data sharing and analysis platform that allows individuals to gain an economic benefit from sharing their information,” explained by Founder George Church.
With SXSW in the books, Nebula Genomics won the 11th annual SXSW Pitch and double crowned as the “Best In Show” winner and blockchain category winner. At Nebula, customers who have their genomes analyzed own the data that gets stored on blockchain and get paid if researchers want to use it.
Nebula Genomics also has an interest in the rare disease community with a focus on increasing the number of patients sequenced to enhance the scientific community’s understanding of these diseases. There is a tremendous need for more genomic data with 95% of rare diseases still lacking FDA-approved treatment. To support this cause, the company announced its support for the 2019 World Rare Disease Day with multiple collaborations across the rare disease community.
Church believes Nebula finally reaches the sweet spot of price point, medical quality and privacy that will induce enough people to sequence their genomes for scientists to make exponential leaps. Together with Nobel Physics Laureate Takaaki Kajita, George and other leading innovators were selected as part of “The Creative Class of 2019” by Newsweek.
Hemi seeks out rebel innovators like George, Kamal and Dennis because they develop creative solutions to the hardest problems our world faces, and we back their success early on. That’s why we led a packed house co-launching the annual report “Trends in Healthcare Investments and Exits in 2019” with Silicon Valley Bank during JPM week.
Dennis Grishin, co-founder of Nebula, was one of the panelists exploring insights with us on where to get early money, to choosing between M&A or IPO, etc. In a recent interview with Kamal Obbad, another co-founder of Nebula, he explained why he chose to work with Hemi, “Because even before they invested, they were always there to help. We had a large number of investors in our seed round, and Hemi always stands out as one of the most proactive ones in helping portfolio companies.”
