December 2, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Arivale is a personalized medicine testing company that looks at four critical areas of the patient’s body and life—DNA, blood and saliva, gut microbiome, and lifestyle. These millions of data points create a 360-degree view of the patient, who is then connected with an Arivale Coach (a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RND)) who will explain the data and make clear, actionable recommendations based on what the patient wants to accomplish.
In short, the company plans to mix comprehensive, cutting-edge genetic analysis with personal coaching. The company worked with Lee Hood’s Institute for Systems Biology to develop its scientific wellness program with 107 people. Those participants gave blood, urine and saliva samples at quarterly intervals, used fitness tracks, and met with dieticians on a regular basis.
“I think many came in quite skeptical of whether it would really do anything,” Hood told GeekWire. “But almost everyone said that this, in one way or another, had really transformed their own personal health objectives.”
The key to the company is probably the counselors, as opposed to the bioinformatics platform. “It’s our secret sauce,” Clayton Lewis, the company’s chief executive officer and co-founder, told GeekWire. “They take this very complex data set with the support of a physician and scientists, come up with three or four actionable recommendations, and then help you success in achieving those recommendations.”
Company Leadership
Clayton Lewis—co-founder and chief executive officer of Arivale. He is the general partner of Maveron, where he continues to lead that company’s health and wellness practice. He previously acted as chief executive officer of portfolio company Kinetix Living.
Lee Hood—co-founder and is a pioneer in the systems approach to biology and medicine, with research focused on molecular immunology, biotechnology and genomics. While at Caltech, Hood and his colleagues developed the DNA gene sequencer and synthesizer, as well as the protein synthesizer and sequencer. He has played a role in founding more than 14 biotech companies, including Amgen , Applied Biosystems, Darwin and Integrated Diagnostics.
Nathan Price—is also a co-founder and a leading computational biologist and professor and associate director of the Institute for Systems Biology. He is also Affiliate Faculty in the Departments of Bioengineering, Computer Science & Engineering, and Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Washington.
Jennifer Lovejo—chief translational science officer.
Sean Bell—chief business officer.
Grant Ries—chief revenue officer.
Sandi Kaplan—director of Coaching Services.
Stewart Meyer—director of Client Experience.
Company Financing
In July 2015, Arivale closed on a $36 million Series B financing round led by ARCH Venture Partners and Polaris Partners, with participation from consumer-only venture fund Maveron.
Pipeline
Arivale is a service company, rather than a drug or biotech company, and as such, its pipeline is its customers and the bioinformatics platform it utilizes. It expects to charge $2,000 per year for each participant, but expects that to come down as more people become involved. As of July 2015, the company had more than 1,000 customers.
Market Competition
In many ways Arivale’s biggest competitor is inertia in the form of the typical person who is unwilling to cough up any money or effort to improve their health. It also faces stiff competition from a variety of mobile health monitors like FitBit. Other competitors may include 23andMe, Pathway Genomics, Inherent Health, Newtopia and numerous others.
Dollars and Deals
Arivale developed a Scientific Advisory Board made up of global leaders in various fields. The board includes Francis Arnold, from the California Institute of Technology; George Church from Harvard Medical School; Robert Green from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Jim Heath from the California Institute of Technology; Lee Hood, as chair; Ed Lazowska from the University of Washington,; Larry Smarr from the University of California, San Diego; Ralph Snyderman from Duke University; Bonnie Spring from Northwestern University; and Eric Topol from Scripps Research Institute.
What to Look For
Arivale launched in Seattle in 2015, and in San Francisco late in 2015. It expects to expand into additional markets in 2016.
Check out the full list of the top 20 life science startups: NextGen Bio “Class of 2016.”
View the top 30 life science startups in 2015: NextGen Bio “Class of 2015.”
