Genetics testing giant 23andMe is formally go public .
The companyannouncedon Thursday that this new offering comes good manners of a unification between 23andMe and VG Acquisition Corp : a “ especial purpose acquirement company , or SPAC , set up bynoted billionaireRichard Branson . Per 23andMe ’s announcement , the caller ’s cash balance at the ending of the day will skyrocket past $ 900 million – and these investment are await to bring 23andMe ’s valuation to roughly $ 3.5 billion , a billion more than it wasreportedlybeing worth in 2020 .
In cattiness of that evaluation , the start of 2020 was relatively rough on 23andMe . The party kick off the year bylaying off100 employees—14 % of its total workforce — after sales of at - home base DNA testing kitstook a tumbleacross the board . That said , the fellowship managed to turn its fortunes around by the year ’s end , guarantee tight to$83 million dollarsin its most recent funding troll .
Photo: Eric Baradat (Getty Images)
23andMe is scarce the first company to go public via the SPAC path . Because the on-going pandemic brought on its fair part ofrocky market condition , 2020 sawa surgeof companies eschewing the traditional initial offering in favor of merging with SPAC ’s , since it ’s generally afar quicker pathto start on the market — thinkabout three monthsinstead of a year or more .
Branson has plenty of experience with SPAC ’s too . Back in 2019 , his spaceflight company Virgin Galacticwent publicthanks to one of these fusion deals . in the first place this year , hehintedthat Virgin ’s planet foot soldier — Virgin Orbit — might soon be pursue a space - SPAC pile of its own .
23andMeRichard Branson
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