Metabiota Inc.
TypeIndependent Business
Founded2008 (2008)
FounderNathan Wolfe
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, United States
Key people
Nita Madhav (CEO)
Edward Rubin (Chief Scientific Officer)
Number of employees
51-200[1]
Websitemetabiota.com

Metabiota is a San Francisco startup that compiles data from around the world to predict disease outbreaks.[2] The company is a partner with USAID's PREDICT and PREVENT programs.[3][4] In the early months of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, Metabiota and BlueDot independently demonstrated the capabilities of computer analytics to map the future spread of the virus between countries.[5][6]

In an effort to expand its business offerings, Metabiota teamed up with insurance groups Marsh, African Risk Capacity and Munich Re to provide data for outbreak coverage.[7][8] Coverage would pay out to governments or companies based on stages of severity of an outbreak to help pay the cost to respond.

Google invested $1 million into the company while also planning to act as a partner to provide expertise in data analysis.[9] Hunter Biden's Rosemont Seneca Technology Partners was reported to have a 13.4% stake in the company in 2014.[10] This investment and Metabiota's work with Black & Veatch at labs in Ukraine led to the company being flagged in Russia's bioweapons claims during its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.[11]

The company had staff stationed in Kenema supporting the Sierra Leone government when the Western African Ebola virus epidemic began. Médecins Sans Frontières criticized the company for failing to discover early cases, and for not sharing data or contact tracing information. Metabiota responded, saying they were restricted to reporting only to the local government.[12][13][14]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/company/metabiota
  2. ↑ "Metabiota Pulls In $30 Million In Funding To Help Predict The Global Spread Of Disease".
  3. ↑ "The Next Global Security Threat Isn't What You Think". Time.
  4. ↑ "Emerging Pandemic Threats | Fact Sheet | U.S. Agency for International Development". www.usaid.gov. July 12, 2021.
  5. ↑ Allam, Zaheer (March 31, 2020). "The Rise of Machine Intelligence in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Health Policy". Surveying the Covid-19 Pandemic and Its Implications: 89–96. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-824313-8.00006-1. ISBN 9780128243138. PMC 7378493.
  6. ↑ Heilweil, Rebecca (January 28, 2020). "How AI is battling the coronavirus outbreak". Vox.
  7. ↑ Hope, Bradley (May 20, 2015). "Virus Hunter Metabiota Finds Niche in Epidemic Research". Wall Street Journal – via www.wsj.com.
  8. ↑ "2018 Innovation Awards: PathogenRX". Business Insurance.
  9. ↑ "The Daily Startup: Google Ventures Backs Metabiota to Forecast Disease Outbreaks". Wall Street Journal. September 24, 2015 – via www.wsj.com.
  10. ↑ "The facts behind the Russian, right-wing narratives claiming Hunter Biden funded biolabs in Ukraine".
  11. ↑ "Hunter Biden's old emails linked to Ukraine labs".
  12. ↑ "Guinea and Sierra Leone tried to cover up Ebola crisis, says Medecins Sans Frontieres". www.telegraph.co.uk.
  13. ↑ "The Truth About Ebola". Time.
  14. ↑ reports, Tribune wire. "AP Investigation: Bungling by UN agency hurt Ebola response". chicagotribune.com.
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