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GENOPALATE

LEADERSHIP: Sherry Zhang, founder and chief executive officer

H E A D Q U A R T E R S: 10437 W. Innovation Drive, Wauwatosa W H AT I T D O E S: Data-driven personalized nutrition platform

F O U N D E D: 2016 E M P L OY E E S: 9

N E X T G O A L : Increase corporate partnerships and inform users on how to use GenoPalate’s nutritional analysis. F U N D I N G : The company recently raised $1 million in a seed funding round.

Sherry Zhang JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

GenoPalate aims to capitalize on 2019 success

By Brandon Anderegg, staff writer GENOMIC TESTING STARTUP GenoPalate Inc. rang in the new year with a new headquarters and is poised to leverage a $1 million investor-funded seed round to grow the business.

GenoPalate outgrew its location on Milwaukee’s East Side and is now in a 1,600 squarefoot office inside the Technology Innovation Center at the Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa.

The company offers personalized nutritional recommendations to individuals via genomic sequencing. Chief executive officer Sherry Zhang, who has a doctorate in molecular biology and was formerly an assistant professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, founded GenoPalate in 2016.

“Our mission is to help people eat nutritiously to optimize their health,” Zhang said. “Our long-term vision, by helping people eat nutritiously, is to be able to empower people to reach and maintain optimal health and prevent chronic disease.”

GenoPalate’s nutritional analysis kit sells for $189 online, and the company ships the materials needed to provide a saliva sample and demographic and lifestyle survey. GenoPalate’s team, which includes bioinformatic scientists, dieticians and analysts, uses that information to profile 38 biomarkers to provide actionable data for the customer, such as caffeine sensitivity or lactose intolerance.

The company also has a line of recipes that correspond with the user’s genetic profile, while a recently launched app enables the individual to pick healthy foods while grocery shopping, Zhang said.

Before moving to its new office, the company experienced its largest year of growth to date. From Black Friday 2018 to 2019, its users increased by seven times, while overall revenue grew by more than four times, Zhang said.

Zhang did not disclose how many people currently use GenoPalate. However, it had about 900 users as of December 2018.

With its recent seed funding round, GenoPalate hired additional clinical nutritionists and has plans to unveil new products in the coming months. The company is also spending more dollars on customer service and engagement to educate users on how to get the most out of their nutritional analysis.

“Now that you have the personalized nutritional information, how do we apply that to daily life?” Zhang said. “That’s the big focus for GenoPalate in 2020.” n