Viome acquires Circulate Health in deal worth up to $50M
What's the deal? Viome Life Science has acquired fellow Seattle-area longevity startup Circulate Health in a deal the companies said was valued between $15 million and $50 million. Neither party disclosed specific terms.
What does each bring? Viome sells at-home test kits for saliva, blood, and stool samples, then offers personalized supplements based on the results. Circulate operates machines that provide therapeutic plasma exchange — a "blood-cleaning" service pitched as a circulatory-system tune-up that removes inflammatory factors, microplastics, and compounds linked to aging.
The combined company has 115 full-time employees plus 10 consultants, and most of Circulate's staff kept their jobs. Circulate co-founder and former chief executive officer Brad YounggrenDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → now leads a new clinical group, Viome ProDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, spanning diagnostics, cancer detection, and plasma exchange. Naveen Jain remains Viome's chief executive officer.
What's the endgame? The tie-up expands both companies' reach and offerings. "We want to build the largest network in the world for plasma exchange to answer questions, to figure things out," Younggren said.
Circulate had operated in 40 clinics, mostly in the US, with one each in the UK and the Bahamas. Combined with Viome's partnerships, the potential reach grows to 400 sites.
Viome, founded a decade ago, has raised roughly $250 million. Circulate launched in January 2024 after a stealth period and raised $14 million before the acquisition.
What could go wrong? Both microbiome testing and plasma exchange face scrutiny from the medical community over how well evidence supports their health claims. Some researchers criticize microbiome kit companies for a lack of scientific rigor and regulation.
Viome's oral and throat cancer detection test has received FDA breakthrough device designation but not formal FDA clearance. Plasma exchange is medically established for conditions such as certain cases of multiple sclerosis, leukemia, and Guillain-Barré syndrome, but has more recently been embraced by biohackers pursuing unverified longevity strategies.
The signal: The deal reflects consolidation in the emerging longevity sector, where diagnostics and interventions are increasingly bundled — even as regulators and scientists question the underlying evidence.
Read more: GeekWire
Image credit: NavyMedicine
