Geno.Me: Raises $400k to accelerate medical research, bring data transparency to patients

MILWAUKEE (Nov. 10, 2021) — Geno.Me, a biotech startup, has closed $400,000 in seed funding from Gateway Capital. The company says that it will use the capital to hire new staff and accelerate their product development. Geno.Me is currently based in Madison, but plans to relocate their operations to Milwaukee with this seed investment.
Geno.Me, founded by Milwaukee-native Britt Gottschalk, links genomic and electronic health record (EHR) data in an open marketplace, thereby allowing medical researchers to accelerate the advancement of medicine. Additionally, patients gain transparency and control of the use of their personal health and medical data and are compensated for such use for the first time.

“Data accessibility in healthcare is an oxymoron, because the process for researchers to obtain data is difficult and expensive,” said Gottschalk. “We as individual patients have the power to choose whether to share our own data because it belongs to us, and it should be that simple. Geno.Me aims to incentivize its users to share their de-identified health profile while providing the blueprint for the future of precision medicine.”

Gottschalk founded Geno.Me during the COVID-19 pandemic, when her extensive research into the American healthcare system uncovered inefficiencies related to patient data transfer and accessibility. With her background as a Lean Six Sigma professional and a management consultant working with teams in the healthcare, insurance and business communication sectors, she has demonstrated a record for continuously improving processes and increasing efficiencies. While working full-time, Gottschalk earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and dual Masters’ degrees in Business Administration and Industrial Organizational Psychology from Elmhurst University.

Mark Bakken, managing partner of HealthX Ventures in Madison, Wis. and a personal investor in Geno.Me, sayd Geno.Me is at the forefront of an important new phase of healthcare. Taking individual health histories and mapping that information to the genome will help researchers explore genetic links to a multitude of health conditions,” Bakken said. “Before these links can lead to medical advances, however, researchers will need access to far more data tying DNA to health history than currently exists.”

“With the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, the time is right to provide the necessary access to troves of data residing with healthcare providers,” Bakken continued. “With this legislation, organizations that own personal health data are required to make that data available to individuals in a usable format. Geno.Me compensates people who choose to share their health data for the advancement of medical research. They guarantee full privacy and remove all identifying information. We all have family members and loved ones who have battled diseases and felt compelled to do something. Geno.Me gives everyone a chance to make a difference by sharing their data.