23andMe to go public through a merger with VG Acquisition Corp., a SPAC founded by Richard Branson, at a valuation of $3.5B
Context & Ripple Effects
Before the proposed deal, 23andMe had raised a $82.5M Series F round after cutting 14% of its workforce. The VG transaction changes its financing path from private fundraising to a public-market valuation benchmark, with Anne Wojcicki and Richard Branson each investing $25M.
That benchmark became consequential in subsequent coverage: the completed June public listing raised $600M, while a later effort by Wojcicki to take the company private followed a steep decline in its valuation.
First-order effects
- Under the announced terms, 23andMe gains a route to public trading through VG Acquisition Corp. at a $3.5B valuation, while Wojcicki and Branson make $25M commitments to the transaction.
- VG Acquisition Corp. shareholders become the immediate public-market counterparties for 23andMe's private investors and management at the deal's stated valuation.
Second-order effects
- The $3.5B deal value becomes a reference point for 23andMe's subsequent capital raising and strategic choices, including the later $600M public-market financing.
- Wojcicki's later take-private pursuit shows how the public valuation reset put control of 23andMe back into play after the merger.
Third-order effects
- 23andMe's later bankruptcy and sale process shifted the focus from valuing a listed company to valuing its assets, with TTAM Research Institute ultimately offering $305M over Regeneron's bid.
- The sequence makes the SPAC listing look less like a final ownership destination than one stage in a longer restructuring of 23andMe's financing and control.
The trend: 23andMe's arc tracks a corporate-financing cycle in which late-stage private funding gives way to a SPAC listing and, after a valuation reset, renewed ownership restructuring.