(Bloomberg) -- Consumer DNA-testing company 23andMe Inc. is in talks to go public through a roughly $4 billion deal with VG Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company founded by billionaire Richard Branson, according to people familiar with the matter.
(彭博社)——据知情人士透露，消费者dna测试公司23andMe正与亿万富翁理查德•布兰森(Richard Branson)创办的特殊目的收购公司VG Acquisition Corp.就上市事宜进行谈判，交易金额约为40亿美元。
A deal could be announced in the coming weeks if talks are successful, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information was private. Discussions could still fall apart, the people said.
如果谈判成功，协议可能会在未来几周内宣布，由于信息保密，该人士要求不具名。知情人士说，谈判仍有可能破裂。
In funding rounds in both 2018 and 2020, 23andMe had a $2.5 billion valuation, separate people familiar with the matter said. A merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, would allow 23andMe to go public without the risk or uncertainty of holding an initial public offering.
另一位知情人士表示，在2018年和2020年的几轮融资中，23andMe的估值为25亿美元。与一家特殊目的收购公司(SPAC)合并，将使23andMe得以上市，而不会面临首次公开发行(ipo)的风险或不确定性。
Shares of VG Acquisition jumped as much as 18% before being temporarily halted in New York trading Wednesday. They they closed down 0.7% to $13.55 apiece.
VG收购的股票周三在纽约暂时停牌前一度上涨了18%。该股收跌0.7%，至每股13.55美元。
Representatives for 23andMe and VG Acquisition declined to comment.
23andMe和VG收购的代表拒绝置评。
Read more: New 23andMe Tool Assesses Risk of Covid-19 Becoming Severe
阅读更多内容:新的23andMe工具评估Covid-19变得严重的风险
Anne Wojcicki, CEO and co-founder of 23andMe
安妮·沃西基(Anne Wojcicki)， 23andMe首席执行官兼联合创始人
Co-founded in 2006 by Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe sells direct-to-consumer genetic testing kits. The company launched with the aim of using genetics to kick start a personalized health-care revolution, with a $1,000 test that could alert customers to potential health risks.
23andMe于2006年由安妮·沃西基(Anne Wojcicki)共同创立，销售直接面向消费者的基因检测试剂盒。该公司成立的目的是利用遗传学启动一场个性化医疗保健革命，通过一项价值1000美元的检测，可以提醒客户注意潜在的健康风险。
It was forced to pull the product from market by the Food and Drug Administration, pivoting to ancestry testing and later re-launching a health-care test after gaining agency approval.
美国食品和药物管理局(Food and Drug Administration，简称fda)迫使该公司将该产品撤出市场，转而进行血统检测，后来又在获得fda批准后重新启动了一项医疗检测。
Recently, 23andMe has doubled down on efforts to turn its trove of genetic data into therapeutics -- a move that may inspire consumers who want to contribute to genetic research to buy the company’s kits. Last year, it licensed a drug developed in-house to another company, and it also has a deal to collaborate on drug development with GlaxoSmithKline Plc, which took a $300 million stake in the company in 2018.
最近，23andMe加大了将其遗传数据转化为治疗手段的力度，此举可能会激励那些想要为基因研究做出贡献的消费者购买该公司的试剂盒。去年，该公司将自己开发的一种药物授权给了另一家公司，还与葛兰素史克(GlaxoSmithKline Plc)达成了药物开发合作协议，后者在2018年以3亿美元入股该公司。
When the Covid-19 pandemic began last year, 23andMe launched a million-person study to look at how genomics and other factors contribute to how severely ill those who contract the virus become. To show how that research benefits customers, on Wednesday it launched its COVID-19 Severity Calculator, which calculates a person’s risk of being hospitalized due to the virus.
去年Covid-19大流行开始时，23andMe发起了一项针对100万人的研究，以观察基因组学和其他因素如何影响感染病毒者的病情严重程度。为了展示这项研究如何让客户受益，周三，该公司推出了COVID-19严重程度计算器(COVID-19 Severity Calculator)，可以计算一个人因病毒住院的风险。
23andMe has raised $869 million in private funding to date and counts Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management among its backers. The company cut jobs at the beginning of 2020 as the once-booming genetic testing business slowed on consumer concerns over privacy.
23andMe迄今已获得8.69亿美元的私人融资，红杉资本(Sequoia Capital)和富达管理(Fidelity Management)都是其投资者。由于消费者对隐私的担忧，一度繁荣的基因检测业务放缓，该公司于2020年初裁员。
Rival Ancestry.com Inc. also cut jobs last year after two years of rapid growth. Blackstone Group Inc. in December bought a majority stake in Ancestry that valued it at $4.7 billion.
竞争对手Ancestry.com Inc.在经历了两年的快速增长后，去年也进行了裁员。去年12月，百仕通集团(Blackstone Group Inc.)以47亿美元收购了Ancestry的多数股权。
VG Acquisition raised $509 million through an initial public offering in October. Although Branson is the founder, he isn’t a director of the company. The blank-check firm intends to search for targets that operate in consumer-facing industries in the U.S. and Western Europe, according to its prospectus.
VG Acquisition在10月份通过首次公开募股筹集了5.09亿美元。虽然布兰森是公司的创始人，但他并不是公司的董事。根据招股说明书，这家空白支票公司打算寻找在美国和西欧面向消费者的行业开展业务的收购目标。
Branson, with a net worth of $6.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has been involved in SPACs before. Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., a space tourism company founded by the 70-year-old entrepreneur, went public through a reverse merger with one of Chamath Palihapitiya’s blank-check companies in 2019, one of the first high-profile deals that set off the SPAC boom.
据彭博亿万富翁指数(Bloomberg Billionaires Index)显示，布兰森的净资产为69亿美元，他以前也参加过太空探险。2019年，这位70岁的企业家创建的太空旅游公司维珍银河控股有限公司(Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.)通过反向收购查马斯•帕里哈皮蒂亚(Chamath Palihapitiya)旗下一家空白支票公司的方式上市，这是引发太空探索繁荣的首批高调交易之一。
23andMe’s co-founder, Wojcicki, is also on the board of a SPAC named Ajax I. The company raised about $800 million in October to acquire targets in the internet, software, financial technology or consumer industries, filing showed.
23andMe的联合创始人沃西基(Wojcicki)也是一家名为Ajax i的SPAC的董事会成员。文件显示，该公司去年10月筹集了约8亿美元，用于收购互联网、软件、金融技术或消费行业的目标。
(Updates with closing share price in fourth paragraph.)
(第四段更新股票收盘价。)