The startup that lets businesses build products using DNA data

Photo credit: Gerd Altmann

This article is part of Tech in Asia’s partnership with Disrupting Japan where we publish the revised transcripts from the show’s podcast interviews with Japanese entrepreneurs. This is heavily revised from the original transcripts. For the full interview, go here.

Tomohiro Takano is the CEO and founder of Awakens, a B2B and B2C DNA marketplace that tries to open up the genome and make it more accessible to users and businesses. Here’s how exactly they plan to make money doing that.

What were you doing before you founded Awakens?

I was running G-Tac, which was Sony M3’s division for healthcare and testing (M3 is an investor of Awakens).

The company actually started as a weekend project. We wanted to do something we couldn’t do in the previous company, and we saw that this was going to be the future of genomics.

Could you give us an overview of what Awakens is?

We created a service called Genome Link, an API solution for companies to develop their own DNA-personalized products. We predict that in five or 10 years, every single person will have access to their own DNA data and make use of it for things like fitness, nutrition, food, medicine, etc.

At this point, we don’t do the sequencing operation and instead focus on existing genetic testing users. In the US, there’s already 10 million of them.

Who are your customers?

Basically, we’re trying to connect both users and companies. Right now, we have 100 people every day who are uploading their DNA data to our platform. So, we receive 100 sets of genetic information daily; the rest are covered by genetic testing products like 23andMe.

Regarding companies that would want to use Genome Link, we’ve already started talking with three companies. In the US, there are already DNA-personalized food delivery businesses, for example. A nutrition tech startup called Habit was able to raise US$32 million in this space.

How accurate is DNA testing? How does the future look like?

It’s case by case. In the diagnostics field, it depends on how you choose a drug (therapeutic vs diagnostic).

In medicine, doctors will probably say things like, “Let me see your personal DNA sequence” for annual physical exams. That could happen in five or 10 years, but maybe not for other fields like fitness, nutrition, and food.

There’s a really broad range, that’s why we have both B2C and B2B interfaces. And what we are trying to do for consumers is to be educators of genomics.

Is your service free?

We have a freemium model, so people can upload DNA data to our platform without any charge. We provide half of the genetic information for free, then we charge around US$39 for the rest.

We are developing a number of new applications, like educational content or a social network, so that users would see continuous value in using our service.

You’ve mentioned that you wouldn’t sell data to pharmaceutical companies. Why?

You were part of the Illumina Accelerator. What value did it bring you?

Are you doing business in Japan, in the US, or both?