Halifax's Athletigen raises $1.55 million U.S. seed round

Halifax-based sports genetic company Athletigen Technologies Inc. has raised a $1.55 million U.S., $2.14 million Cdn., seed round, led by Exponential Partners, an Orange County VC fund focused on consumer health and human performance technologies.
Exponential was joined in the round by previously existing strategic investors Dr. Ray Muzyka, Medical Doctor, Co-founder of Bioware and CEO of Threshold Impact, a VC fund, and Content Bloom, a digital agency.
“We are proud of what our outstanding team has accomplished to date, launching the world’s most comprehensive sports genetics analysis platform,” said Athletigen CEO Jeremy Koenig, a former track athlete at Dalhousie University. “We welcome the confidence and guidance of Exponential Partners and our other investors and look forward to using these new resources to establish Athletigen as the leading human performance brand in the field of genomics.”
Koenig affirmed that there was additional funding from outside investors participating in the round, but did not offer specifics.
“Athletigen is leading the charge of a genomic revolution, making this an exciting investment opportunity,” said Exponential’s Pat Wilkison, who will join Athletigen’s board of directors. “Their unique ability to analyze individual athletic traits and recommend effective action holds tremendous potential, particularly as advances in technology have made genetic testing so affordable. With a staff consisting of high performance athletes and the top scientific minds in applied genomics, their knowledge of both athletics and science makes them unrivalled in the industry. We are infinitely committed to providing the support needed to help to fuel the adoption of Athletigen by the world’s athletes.”
Athletigen has been working with coaches and athletes, some of whom will be participating in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, on its Athletigen Performance Platform, an interface that can help sports professionals refine their training regimen by presenting a sports genetics analysis for each athlete, helping them to refine their program accordingly.
Athletigen’s DNA microarray analyzes about 850,000 variants related to human performance in a swab of saliva, the data from which is fed into Athletigen’s proprietary bioinformatic algorithm which then provides an actionable report for optimizing a user’s routine through their online profile.
In October, Athletigen announced a partnership with Santa Clara, California’s Affymetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFX), to integrate their genotyping platform for DNA analysis with Athletigen’s platform.
Housed in Halifax’s Volta Labs incubator, Athletigen was incorporated in 2014.