Those of you with some experience in the world of genetic testing and its closeness to the general public know that there is not just one company dedicated to this market.
It is true that tellmeGen offers the best products in terms of quality-price ratio, but there are other products and manufacturers that analyze your DNA.
The history of 23andMe
One of them, one of the biggest, is the American company 23andMe. This biotechnology and personalized genomics company was founded in 2006, being the first of its kind. A pioneer in the field.
In 2007, it was also the first to present direct-to-consumer autosomal DNA tests, serving as a base for subsequent companies in the research and market fields.
In 2008, its product was named “Invention of the Year” by Time magazine.
By 2018, they had genotyped more than 3 million people.
In 2021, they went public and reached a stock value of up to $6 billion.
However, by 2024, its valuation was only 2% of that peak.
And now, in the second half of March 2025, they have declared bankruptcy.
Several reasons have led to this tragic outcome. The main triggers were three:
- Lack of profitability. The company was never profitable annually, consistently spending more than their revenue.
- Non-recurring revenue. Since users only needed to buy the product once, the genetic analysis users did not need to repeat it.
- Growing concerns about the security of users’ genetic data led to frequent requests to delete this information.
One of the reasons that fueled the third point mentioned was the theft of information from 7 million 23andMe accounts, nearly half of all their users.
They managed to steal, in addition to genetic data, addresses and names, and proceeded to sell it all online.
The company’s current plan is a judicially supervised sale process, which they consider the best option to maximize the value of the business. They have a 45-day period to find an appropriate offer, during which they will continue to operate normally.
For this sale, they have set a series of conditions. Among them, the buyer must comply with applicable legislation regarding the handling of customer data. This includes the protection of that data, its privacy, and the transparency in how the information is handled.
The guarantees of tellmeGen
In companies within the genetic analysis sector, data security is a crucial part of the work. This security for the user can be divided into two main sections.
- On one hand, cybersecurity. The data breach at 23andMe was caused by a “credential stuffing” attack. This type of cyberattack uses names and passwords (credentials) that were previously stolen to access data from that account and other accounts, even other systems. We have already discussed the protection of your data at tellmeGen in a blog post about our IT security. In summary, user data is encrypted and anonymized to prevent any connection between the stored information and the users.
- On the other hand, the privacy of user data. Our company, tellmeGen, works in compliance with the legal guidelines of the European Union, specifically with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The European Union is based on the simple but firm idea that the genetic information of all individuals is theirs, personal and private, their absolute property.
Which, to be honest, makes sense. It’s your DNA information, and giving authority to a company without any control over your genetic data would be as absurd as giving your banking information to a stranger.
We are fully aware of the incredible importance of that data.
At tellmeGen, we will never use your information for purposes other than those initially stated. We will never give it to third parties without the express consent of the user (for example, to healthcare professionals for reviews, and at the request of the patient). The user can revoke permissions at any time and request the deletion of their data.
Even if, for any reason, we had the intention or failure to rent and/or sell this information, the legal consequences would be merciless.
We neither want nor can sell and/or rent data without the express consent of the user. Only with such firm guidelines can you be a company with more than ten years of experience in the sector.
For all these reasons, we guarantee the privacy and security of your results.
We are the best option for migrating your Raw Data.
If you decide to delete your information from 23andMe, we recommend that you download your Raw Data before doing so, even if you don’t plan to upload it to other platforms.
Just in case.
Raw Data files are the documents where your unprocessed genetic information is stored, hence the term “raw data”. This information is unprocessed, coming directly from the laboratory, and without any analysis.
Still, it contains everything you will see in your results. But you need to know how to read them.
For different reasons, there is a general consensus in the format of Raw Data used by genetic companies. In their characteristics and the way they are stored and analyzed. This allows them to work with Raw Data from other companies within the same sector. They can perform new analyses without having to process second samples, based on that original Raw Data.
For that reason, we advise you to upload your genetic Raw Data to us.
First and foremost, the moment you create a tellmeGen account and upload your Raw Data, you are one of our users. Your privacy and security are guaranteed just as much as for users who have gone through the full process of obtaining a saliva sample and processing it with us.
Your information is safe with us.
Second, you can reanalyze the data, confirm results you already knew, and even discover new traits!
Sometimes a loss can be a gain. Migrate your data to tellmeGen, discover what the analysis of your Raw Genetic Data can offer you, and enjoy learning about your genome again.
