Turns out, there’s a lot of money in dog drool.
Embark, a startup that makes dog DNA test kits, raised $4.5 million in funding this week to expand their canine genetic testing suite for pet parents, breeders and veterinarians.
“Embark is making real strides in our understanding of dog genetics to get to healthier, happier, longer-lived dogs,” said founder and CEO Ryan Boyko.
The company’s “Dog DNA Test” has been dubbed the most comprehensive pet genetic test on the market, tracking over 200,000 genetic markers. That’s in comparison to other tests on the market, which typically only look at 5,000 markers.
Pet owners who buy a DNA test kit are mailed a cheek swab and instructions to swab their dog’s cheek and obtain a sample in under a minute at home. Once this is completed, they mail the sample back to Embark in a pre-paid return envelope.
At the lab, Embark extracts your pup's DNA and runs it on a custom-built genetics "chip," which is a proprietary DNA microarray with over 200,000 genetic markers.
Embark then uses several proprietary algorithms to build the story of your dog and his or her DNA one chromosomal segment at a time, testing about 256 quadrillion (that's 500 million times 500 million) different possible genetic ancestry combinations.
The results, which offer ancestry analysis as well as an extensive overview of genetic disease risk and heritable traits, is available online within four to six weeks.
In other words: in under a month, you can figure out whether Fido is intolerant to certain types of food or is predisposed to Lymphoma and other types of cancer.
Embark’s goal is to help folks understand their dog’s health, plan for their pet’s future and provide their dog with the best personalized care possible, Boyko said.
Boyko founded the startup with his brother (Adam) in 2015. Powered by a deep love for dogs and a passion for understanding everything about them, the duo spent the last decade learning everything they could about dogs — including how they first got humans to fall in love with them, and how the two species have changed one another since then.
In the course of their quest to understand the domestic dog, they traveled to far-flung places like Croatia, Fiji and Peru, and discovered many of the things that make each breed and every individual dog unique.
For example, their work revealed an origin of the domestic dog near Central Asia over 15,000 years ago. That discovery is the history of dog populations around the world, in addition to the genetic basis for many dog diseases and traits.
Eventually, they partnered with Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine to build Embark and bring cutting-edge science and insights directly onto pet owners’ phones and browsers.
“Ultimately we are ending preventable disease in dogs,” Boyko said. “This additional funding enables us to expand the research to accomplish that goal.”
The new round brings Embark’s total funding to $6.5 million since the company’s inception two years ago. It was led by Founder Collective, Freestyle and ThirdKind, with participation from Bill Maris' new fund Section 32, Anne Wojcicki and SV Angel.
In addition to the new funding, Embark announced it is relocating to Boston from Austin. Embark currently has 12 employees but is looking to hire in a few areas over the course of 2017.
“Boston has world-class universities, institutes, and companies that we are excited to recruit from and partner with,” Boyko said. “We are looking to grow our science, engineering, marketing and customer service teams.”
