New startup aims to shake-up the dog DNA testing market.
(AUSTIN, TEXAS – March 15, 2016) – Today, Embark Veterinary Inc. is proud to announce its official company launch. Embark, in partnership with the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, will offer the world’s most advanced canine DNA test, promoting long-term animal health and wellness. The Embark Dog DNA Test will be the most comprehensive pet genetic test on the market, designed by the world’s leaders in dog and consumer genomics.
The test will track over 200,000 genetic markers, offering ancestry analysis as well as an extensive overview of both genetic disease risk and heritable traits, allowing users to understand their dog’s health, plan for their pet’s future and provide their dog with the best personalized care possible. Interested customers can join the waiting list at www.embarkvet.com to be the very first to buy the test when it becomes available soon.
Embark’s Founders Adam and Ryan Boyko will be presenting at SXSW Interactive today at 9:30 a.m. Their panel is titled “Can Your Dog’s DNA Transform Human Health and Aging?” See schedule.sxsw.com/2016/events/event_PP58389 for more details.
“As lifelong partners in your pet’s health, Embark’s mission is to develop platforms that allow pet owners to become involved in genetic research and to provide the breakthroughs from that research right back to those owners,” said Ryan Boyko, CEO. “This holds great promise for taking science outside the lab to make discoveries that impact animal, and likely human, health.”
“Dogs were the first domesticated animal species and have lived and worked alongside humans for over 15,000 years,” said Dr. Adam Boyko, Chief Science Officer and Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Cornell University. “Our canine friends are diagnosed with many of the same diseases as people and share our home and environment, making them a particularly valuable model species for understanding cancer, immune disorders, behavior and aging.”
Embark is building a community of dedicated and knowledgeable dog owners, scientists and veterinarians dedicated to advancing canine health and genetic research. Adam Boyko and Spencer Wells, Chief Product Officer are leading the effort to allow owners to become involved in canine genetic research with their own pets – by sending in DNA and information about their dog – and taking science outside the lab to make discoveries that impact canine health and wellness.
About Embark:
Embark Veterinary, Inc. incorporated in July 2015 and has since raised over $1.6 million in seed-round investment, including substantial investments from Slow Ventures and the Aspiration Growth Fund. Embark is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is an official research partner of the Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine and a client company of the Kevin M. McGovern Family Center for Venture Development in the Life Sciences at Cornell University.
Ryan and Adam Boyko have spent the last decade learning everything they could about dogs – how did they first get humans to fall in love with them, how did humans and dogs change each other in the years since then, and how can we best care for our furry family members? In the course of their quest to understand the domestic dog, they have discovered many of the things that make every breed and every individual dog unique. This led to breakthrough research on the origin of the domestic dog near Central Asia over 15,000 years ago. While they enjoy working in the lab and doing field research around the globe, Adam and Ryan have always wanted to share their work and improve the lives of dogs in homes across the world. They founded Embark to bring cutting-edge science and insights directly to pet owners.
In addition to the Boyko brothers, the Embark co-founders include Dr. Spencer Wells and Matt Salzberg, CEO of Blue Apron. For over a decade Spencer was an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society and Director of the Genographic Project, which collected and analyzed DNA samples from hundreds of thousands of people around the globe in order to decipher how our ancestors populated the planet. After pursuing an academic career that took him from the University of Texas at Austin to Harvard, Stanford and Oxford (accompanied by his Great Pyrenees, Becket, a.k.a. “the drool factory”), he segued into a career communicating science to the general public. Matt Salzberg is most famous for founding multi-billion dollar startup Blue Apron but has a longstanding interest in supporting entrepreneurial science, having founded PetriDish, a crowd-sourced science funding website before Blue Apron.
He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and previously worked at Blackstone and Bessemer Ventures. Also joining the team is Matt Barton as the Chief Technology Officer. Matt’s passion for technology and business has led him to create new businesses and develop technology solutions for companies around the world, and he is excited to have the opportunity to apply science and analytics to improve canine health. He studied at Stanford University and the University of Cambridge and previously worked at Oliver Wyman. For more information please see www.embarkvet.com.
Media Note:
For media inquiries, interview requests or sample DNA tests, please contact:
Heather Wagner Reed
713 208 3891
hwagnerreed@embarkvet.com