ReallyAlphabet’s life sciences business unit said Friday it has raised $1 billion, capital that will be used to expand data-driven healthcare products tailored to each individual.
The round is led by Alphabet, the company said in its announcement.
Verily also announced changes to the executive team that will take effect January 2023. Company founder Andy Conrad will become executive chairman of Verily’s board. Stephen Gillett, the company’s president, will be promoted to CEO. Gillett initially joined Verily as an operations consultant and led the company’s cybersecurity efforts. At the time, he was the co-founder and CEO of Chronicle, an Alphabet cybersecurity company that is now part of Google Cloud.
Deepak Ahuja will leave his position as CFO at the end of the month. Ahuja, the first former CFO at Tesla, has been hired as the first CFO of logistics and delivery drone startup Zipline. The company said Ahuja will remain as an advisor, adding that the search for a new CFO will begin immediately.
The capital inflows and executive turmoil come as Verily gets ready for a new phase of growth in the hot-swallow healthcare sector that has attracted tech giants like Amazon and Apple. This early year, Amazon acquires One Medicala primary care provider that leverages face-to-face, digital, and virtual interactions in its services, in a $3.9 billion deal.
Verily is particularly interested in “accurate health,” a term that describes the combination of research, clinical and non-clinical data, and computing power to deliver healthcare that is customized to one’s specific needs. In other words, Verily – born of Google X in 2015 – aims to use technology to deliver medical care to individuals instead of everyone.
Verily said the money could also be used to invest in strategic partnerships, global business development and potential acquisitions. The company has had several partnerships and completed at least one acquisition. In 2021, the company acquired research software developer SignalPath to expand its clinical trial system. It has also partnered with Lumea, L’Oreal, Mayo Clinic, and Microsoft.
