Samsung Electronics has become the largest shareholder of the American gene analysis equipment company, Element Biosciences, and is stepping into building a healthcare ecosystem linking smartphones and wearables. As data and artificial intelligence (AI) gain importance in the medtech field, Samsung aims to create synergy by collaborating with Element.
On June 10, Korean time, Samsung Electronics announced an additional equity investment of $175 million in Element’s Series E funding, securing its position as the largest shareholder.
Industry insiders are taking note of why Samsung Electronics, rather than its affiliate companies like Samsung Biologics or Samsung Medison, has taken a strategic investment role with Element.
An industry official stated that Samsung Electronics is expanding its total healthcare business that integrates medical and health management with information technology (IT). As part of this expansion, it appears poised to establish a smartphone-based healthcare ecosystem utilizing genomic analysis data from Element.
Element holds DNA sequencing technology that achieves industry-leading 99.99% accuracy and significantly reduces analysis costs. DNA sequencing involves reading the base sequence of DNA, enabling the identification of genetic variations and characteristics. The genomic information obtained can be widely utilized in precision medicine, including understanding congenital genetic traits, predicting diseases, and developing personalized treatments.
Samsung is particularly interested in combining DNA sequencing data with clinical data from hospitals and everyday life data, such as sleep and exercise activities, to advance towards personalized medical services. Consequently, Samsung plans to integrate data collected by wearable devices, like the Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Ring, with Element’s technology to create a smartphone-centered healthcare ecosystem.
The industry speculates that Samsung Electronics is likely to lead in commercializing “DNA-based personalized health management and disease prediction services” through the Samsung Health platform in a mobile environment. Additionally, Samsung is expected to pursue innovation in “AI-based genomic analysis,” combining its AI algorithms and big data processing capabilities with Element’s gene analysis software, to accelerate the analysis speed of complex genomic data to real-time levels and enhance the accuracy of early disease detection.