Luna DNA Secures $2M in Seed Funding to Power up its Blockchain Initiative
The San Diego-based startup with a goal of enabling people to own and share their genomic information for “the greater good of the community and medical research”- has now raised $2 million in seed funding from individual investors and former Illumina executives.
“Understanding the genome and decoding diseases will take the cooperation of a diverse and large community. While personal DNA testing continues to rise in popularity, currently these data are siloed, hindering genomic discovery,” said David Barker, a member of Luna’s advisory board and former Illumina CSO. “What makes Luna DNA unique is its consumer empowerment through offering reward and ownership for providing genomic data, which will be used to back scientific research.”
“We’re allowing individuals to contribute their personal genome and health data to help the greater good, to drive genomic discovery,” said founder and CEO Bob Kain. “As individuals contribute their data, they become members of the community, and then they get coin.”
Luna DNA aims to incentivize sharing of genetic information with a cryptocurrency- this is where the blockchain fits into the equation. Contributors receive Luna Coins, a virtual currency, and partial ownership of
the database. The bitcoins themselves are ERC20 tokens, based on the Ethereum blockchain. The system helps Luna organize and incentivize a community while protecting each member’s privacy.The founders believe this combination of data security, privacy and monetary incentives will encourage people to share their individual genomic results from 23andMe, AncestryDNA, Helix, Human Longevity and others.
“By offering monetary value, Luna DNA is in a unique position to have individuals share data they already own,” a company statement says. “By being agnostic to which DNA testing platform is used, data can be gathered from multiple sources without conflict of interest. As the company’s DNA database grows, it will become increasingly valuable to the entire medical research industry.”
“The rise and impending intersection of genomics and cryptocurrency creates the ideal opportunity for us to launch Luna DNA and begin our [pre-initial coin offering) sale,” says Kain.
