# BillionToOne BillionToOne is an Asset Manager based in Menlo Park, United States. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Asset Manager - **Headquarters:** Menlo Park, United States - **Region:** North America - **Address:** Menlo Park, CA, United States - **Founded:** 2016 - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** billiontoone.com ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About BillionToOne was founded in 2016 by Oguzhan Atay and David Tsao, who met during their doctoral work at Princeton. The company operates at the intersection of molecular diagnostics and computational biology, commercializing a proprietary QCT (Quantitative Counting Technology) platform. Rather than requiring specialized instruments, its assays run on widely available qPCR equipment, unlocking high-sensitivity molecular testing for community labs and hospital systems that cannot afford dedicated next-generation sequencing or digital PCR hardware. The firm's core commercial products span reproductive health and oncology. Its Unity Complete prenatal screen detects fetal aneuploidies and cystic fibrosis carrier status from a single maternal blood draw, using a method that counts individual DNA molecules. In oncology, the Northstar liquid biopsy test quantifies circulating tumor DNA methylation patterns to screen for colorectal cancer with Medicare coverage secured in 2023. BillionToOne deploys capital primarily into commercial scaling, lab operations expansion from its Union City facility, and payer coverage development, with confirmed commercial relationships covering over 200 million lives in the United States. BillionToOne raised a $130 million Series D in June 2023 led by Adams Street Partners and Hummingbird Ventures, bringing total disclosed funding to over $380 million. The company employed approximately 400 people as of early 2024, split between its Menlo Park headquarters and a growing laboratory footprint in Union City, California. Its clinical network spans all fifty U.S. states, serving OBGYNs, genetic counselors, and oncology practices. Philanthropic or adjacent family-office vehicles are not publicly associated with the founding team. Atay and Tsao maintain a dual-class share structure that concentrates voting control with founders — a governance design common among deep-tech diagnostics companies that need to protect long-term R&D cycles from public-market quarterly pressures. Their molecular counting approach competes not on instrumentation lock-in but on software-driven resolution, treating every blood tube as a high-fidelity counting chamber. This architecture means BillionToOne does not need to sell capital equipment; its moat is the assay chemistry and the patent portfolio covering its counting method. ## Sectors - Digital Health - Healthcare Services ## Offices - Union City, CA ## People - Oguzhan Atay — CEO and Co-Founder - David Tsao — CTO and Co-Founder ## Questions ### What is BillionToOne's underlying technology and how does it differ from NGS-based liquid biopsy? BillionToOne's QCT platform chemically tags individual DNA molecules with unique barcodes, then amplifies and counts them on standard qPCR instruments. This pushes single-molecule sensitivity — comparable to digital PCR — onto hardware that every clinical lab already owns. The approach avoids the capital expenditure and workflow complexity of next-generation sequencing, making high-resolution molecular testing accessible outside of reference labs and academic medical centers. ### Who runs investment decisions at BillionToOne? Co-founder and CEO Oguzhan Atay leads strategic capital allocation, supported by a board that includes representatives from Adams Street Partners and Hummingbird Ventures following the 2023 Series D. The company does not operate a family-office structure; it is a venture-backed private corporation with standard fiduciary governance. Atay and co-founder David Tsao hold meaningful voting control through a dual-class share structure. ### How does BillionToOne source its clinical diagnostic revenue? Revenue comes primarily from third-party payer reimbursement for laboratory-developed tests, including commercial health plans and Medicare. The Unity prenatal screen and Northstar colorectal cancer test are billed as in-network or Medicare-covered services, with specimen collection happening in routine clinical settings. BillionToOne does not sell instruments; its business model is consumable and service-based. ### Which sectors does BillionToOne explicitly avoid? BillionToOne focuses strictly on molecular diagnostics for reproductive health and oncology. It does not develop therapeutics, medical devices, imaging platforms, or consumer wellness products. Its QCT platform is not applied to infectious disease, direct-to-consumer genetic testing, or agricultural biotechnology. The firm has publicly stated its pipeline remains within prenatal and oncology indications. ### How is BillionToOne structured relative to competing diagnostic platforms like Guardant or Natera? Unlike Guardant Health or Natera, which depend heavily on next-generation sequencing infrastructure, BillionToOne runs on qPCR — the most ubiquitous molecular biology instrument in clinical labs. This lowers the adoption barrier and concentrates its competitive advantage in assay chemistry and counting algorithms rather than hardware sales. BillionToOne competes directly in the noninvasive prenatal testing and colorectal cancer screening markets but with a fundamentally different instrumentation strategy. ## Related profiles - [Cavco Industries](https://altss.com/profile/cavco-industries-inc) - [Cathay General Bancorp](https://altss.com/profile/cathay-general-bancorp) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/billiontoone-inc Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology