Linda Avery, the co-founder of 23andMe, has decided to leave the startup to start an Alzheimer’s disease foundation. Avery partnered with Anne Wojcicki to create 23andMe — a company that deals in personal genetics.
23andMe has gotten a lot of publicity due to Wojcicki and the amount of funding the company has received. Wojcicki, as many know, is married to Sergey Brin — the co-founder of Google. In total, it is believed that 23andMe has received approximately $23 million in funding.
Currently, 23andMe is offering two different kits. The 23andMe Research Edition kit costs $99, while the more advanced kit (called 23andMe …read more

23andMe.com received more than $2.5 million in a recent investment from Google. Considering that 23andMe.com is co-founded by Anne Wojcicki and she’s married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin — this can’t really be shocking news.
A startup based in Mountain View (just like Google), 23andMe.com is a very interesting biotechnology company. It’s slogan is “genetics just got personal”.
For $399, you will receive personalized genetic information. Once you order the $399 kit, you’ll soon receive it in the mail. Then you spit into the provided tube and send it back. At the lab, they’ll analyze your idea. Four-to-six weeks later, you go …read more

Although I started blogging for Startup Spark just a few months ago, I’ve been monitoring the news stories about startups and entrepreneurs for some time now. (Thank you Google News Alerts!)
I’d like to share with you a few of the top news stories that got coverage in 2007:
1) Microsoft threatens to sue startups. Back in May, Microsoft announced it would be aggressively controlling its patents with lawsuits, that would mostly pin small companies and startups against the very rich giant. Microsoft executives claim open-source software violates as many as 235 Microsoft patents.
2) Google invest almost $4 million in 23andMe. It …read more