Seattle-based start-up Arivale has closed its personal wellness business, which offered blood and genetic assays directly to consumers. The firm said that the direct-to-consumer model wasn't sustainable.
The company posted a notice on its website that said it was terminating its consumer business because the cost of providing the service exceeded what customers were willing to pay.
Arivale was launched in 2015 by Leroy Hood, a prominent biologist and inventor of scientific instruments, and Clayton Lewis, a venture capitalist, with the goal of providing personalized, preventive, data-driven wellness coaching based on a wide array of tests, including blood, gut microbiome, and genetic assays.
"We believe the costs of collecting the genetic, blood and microbiome assays that form the foundation of the program will eventually decline to a point where the program can be delivered to consumers cost-effectively. However, we are unable to continue to operate at a loss until that time arrives," Arivale explained.
In the website notice about the termination, the company said that its customers had been highly satisfied and that a study of results in approximately 2,500 people has been accepted for publication in Scientific Reports.
