Virgin Group Has Bought ‘23andME’ Along with your Genome Data

• Ancestral and DNA testing platform ‘23andME’ has merged with a company that belongs to Virgin Group.
• The firm is interested in accessing the vast proprietary genome database that is so valuable for medical research.
• People who trusted the platform just to get a meaningless result back will now have their data opened up to even more entities.

Genetic testing company ‘23andMe’ has announced the merger with VG Acquisition Corp., which basically belongs to Virgin Group. This means the valuable genome data that populated the DNA testing firm’s database will now change hands, and we’re sure there’s something about that on the privacy policies that users accepted when they had themselves tested.

According to the firm’s announcement, the transaction is expected to deliver up to $759 million of gross proceeds through the contribution of up to $509 million of cash held in VG Acquisition Corp’s trust account and a concurrent $250 million private placement (PIPE) of common stock, priced at $10.00 per share. Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, will invest $25 million in the PIPE, and so will the CEO and co-founder of 23andMe, Anne Wojcicki.

23andMe is holding about 11 million genomes belonging to customers who took the tests and over 4 billion phenotypic data points. While there’s nothing mentioned about the specifics of the data management of this information, it is clear that access to this vast proprietary dataset unlocks the potential for developing very promising therapeutic programs.

23andMe has previously stated that all this data is being de-identified, so there can be no links to clients even if ID, payment, and address data are held. However, the fact that the police and the FBI are regularly knocking at the door of these firms, as reflected in their transparency reports, isn’t giving us much hope to believe these claims beyond all doubt.

In fact, Virgin won’t be the first “third-party” to access 23andMe’s genome database. In 2018, pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline put a $300 million investment in the DNA testing platform and gained access to the proprietary dataset.

Essentially, one could say that 23andMe is simply collecting valuable genetic data from people only to give back ambiguous and often meaningless results. We have warned you about this in the recent past, advised you not to take ancestral genetic tests, and explained why genetic privacy matters in great detail. The Virgin acquisition comes as yet another reminder of the absence of any guarantees as to how far your data may reach and in whose hands they may end up in the future.