Behind the scenes at 23andMe, questions about a star CEO 

She has a point, though she was also illustrating something about how she engages with people. Wojcicki, as she said of herself, likes to debate ideas and challenge others. Not everyone responds well to that, she told me. 

But as I report in a new piece, some former employees at 23andMe say Wojcicki’s approach to leadership is more complicated and damaging than she suggests, and that her shortcomings played a role in the company’s staggering decline and may even help explain the shocking resignation last month of all seven of the company’s board members. The directors and the CEO had reached an impasse over the latter’s plan to take the company private; still, resigning en masse is an unheard-of step for a startup board. 

(This was a blue-chip board that included Roelof Botha, head of Sequoia Capital and Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube, who had known Wojcicki for years and worked with her late sister Susan Wojcicki, the former chief executive of YouTube.) 

Over the past 18 years, Wojcicki has been celebrated for her brilliance and unconventional and fun approach to running 23andMe. Much of the admiration was earned, say the former employees who talked to Fortune. That the company has sold test kits to 15 million customers, was once worth more than $6 billion, and become a giant in genomics is “all down to Anne and her determination,” one person said. But Wojcicki also needs to take responsibility for the company’s fall from grace, they say, as the company’s valuation dropped to about $150 million recently. 

Wojcicki has a tendency to be controlling, to put herself in the center of decisions, and to not give her senior leaders the freedom to run their departments. The North Star at the company was “Is Anne happy?” said another former senior employee. Wojcicki also crowdsourced solutions to her company’s woes, turning to her vast network of Silicon Valley luminaries instead of her team. The combination of these habits led to latencies, said the first person, and some strategic mistakes.

The CEO pushed back against these criticisms and said that while she will surely be looking back one day to see what could have been done differently, she has always made decisions based on conditions in a given moment. What’s more, she loves to hire smart people and let them lead, she told me, in her first on-the-record interview since the board resigned.

Over the past few years, she pointed out, like many biotech leaders who have watched their once high-flying companies flounder, she has had to deal with the biotech market collapse, the pandemic, and a rise in competition in the consumer genomics field. 23andMe also suffered a major data breach, sparking fears in customers who had trusted the company. Market dynamics help explain the 23andMe trajectory, she believes, and it’d be wrong to conflate those issues with leadership style. 

Wojcicki, who controls 49.75% of voting rights at the company, has said she will not entertain outside bids to acquire 23andMe. In our call, she said she could not talk about the board crisis or whether she’s searching for new directors. “I’d love to know more about that,” I told her. “Me too, frankly,” she quipped, before repeating her only public comment about the issue: the board’s actions surprised her.  

“I think we can navigate and land this plane,” she said about 23andMe’s fate, “but it is absolutely complicated.” 

Read my full piece here.

Lila MacLellan
Twitter: @lilamaclellan
Email: lila.maclellan@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS

– DataBank, a Dallas-based enterprise-class data center provider, raised $2 billion in funding. AustralianSuper led the round with a $1.5 billion investment, acquiring a minority stake, and was joined by existing investors, who committed $483 million.

– Terray Therapeutics, a Monrovia, Calif.-based small molecule drug development generative AI biotech company, raised $120 million in Series B funding. NVentures and Bedford Ridge led the round and were joined by Madrona, Maverick Capital, Goldcrest Capital, and others.

– Jüsto, a Mexico City-based online grocer, raised $50 million in funding. Existing investor General Atlantic led the round and was joined by others.

– Orasis Pharmaceuticals, a Ponte Vedra, Fla.-based ophthalmic pharmaceutical company, raised $68 million in Series D funding. Arboretum Ventures and JJDC led the round and were joined by Catalio Capital Management, Freepoint Capital Group, existing investors Visionary Ventures, Bluestem Capital, SBI Innovation Fund, and others.

– zkPass, a New York City-based oracle protocol verifying web private data, raised $12.5 million in Series A funding from Innovation Capital, Animoca Brands, L2 Iterative Ventures, and others.

– Agency, a Boston-based AI-driven customer success workflows platform, raised $12 million in seed funding. Sequoia Capital and HubSpot Ventures led the round and were joined by angel investors.

– dottxt, a Dover, Delaware-based LLM interaction platform, raised $11.9 million in funding. Elaia led the $3.2 million pre-seed round, EQT Ventures led the $8.7 million seed round, and they were joined by Seedcamp, Common Magic, Kima, and others.

– RIFT, an Eindhoven, the Netherlands-based industrial heat decarbonization technology developer, raised $11 million in Series A funding. PGGM, Invest-NL, and Oost NL led the round and were joined by existing investors Rubio Impact Ventures, the Energy Transition Fund Rotterdam, and Brabant Development Agency.

– DocJuris, a Houston-based contract review and negotiation AI platform, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Silverton Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Watertower Ventures, Surface Ventures, and Seed Round Capital.

– Aerleum, a Strasbourg, France-based carbon capture and utilization company, raised $6 million in funding. 360 Capital and HTGF led the round and were joined by Norrsken, Bpifrance, and Marble.

– Truthset, a San Francisco-based data validation-as-a-service provider, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Data Point Capital led the round and was joined by others.

– Drop Protocol, a New York City-based liquid staking protocol for Interchain assets, raised $4 million in seed funding. CoinFund led the round and was joined by CMS Holdings, Anagram, Interop Ventures, Cosmostation, and angel investors.

– Infactory, a San Francisco-based AI fact platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Bee Partners led the round and was joined by FJ Labs, Andressen Horowitz’s Scout Fund, Alumni Ventures, and the Rappi cofounders.

– Mendo, a Paris-based software and generative AI tools training solution for employees, raised €3.5 million ($3.8 million) in funding. Emerge Education led the round and was joined by existing investor Tomcat Ventures, angel investors, and others.

– Manifest, a New York City-based digital wellness company, raised $3.4 million in funding from a16z Speedrun, HF0, Florida Funders, angel investors, and others.

– Flora Fertility, a Toronto-based fertility benefits solution provider, raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding. Highline Beta led the round and was joined by Cartography Capital, Everywhere Ventures, and angel investors.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Permira acquired Squarespace, a New York City-based brand and business website building platform, for approximately $7.2 billion in cash.

– Silver Lake and GIC agreed to acquire Zuora, a Redwood City, Calif.-based monetization suite for businesses, for $1.7 billion.

– Mainsail Partners invested $74 million in Skimmer, an Austin-based software provider for pool service businesses.

– ACA Group, backed by Genstar Capital, acquired Effecta Compliance Group, a London-based regulatory consultancy provider for the financial services industry. Financial terms are not disclosed.

– American Industrial Partners agreed to acquire the U.S. and Canadian architectural coatings business of PPG, a Pittsburgh-based paints, coatings, and specialty materials company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Autura, a Boston-based government towing management software provider and portfolio company of Nexa Equity, merged with Traxero, a Park City, Utah-based towing solutions provider and portfolio company of Radian Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Blue Point Capital Partners acquired Pinnacle, a St. Clair Shores, Mich.-based HVAC, plumbing, and related mechanical services provider, from Firmament. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– EarthDaily Analytics, backed by Antarctica Capital, acquired Descartes Labs, a New York City-based earth observation and data analytics company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Foundation Source, a portfolio company of GTCR, acquired Vennfi, an Atlanta-based fintech company powering a donor-advised-fund-based giving platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Labor Law Center, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based labor law compliance services provider and portfolio company of Kian Capital Partners, merged with OutSolve, a Metairie, La.-based outsourced labor and employment compliance solutions provider and portfolio company of The Riverside Company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– THL Partners acquired a majority stake in Red Nucleus, a Yardley, Pa.-based strategic services provider for the life sciences product life cycle. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Thrive, backed by Court Square Capital Partners and M/C Partners, acquired Safety Net, a Traverse City, Mich.-based IT services firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

– Gryphon Investors acquired RapidAir, an Auburndale, Wis.-based downstream compressed air solutions provider, from Pfingsten Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

– Cyera acquired Trail Security, a Tel Aviv-based data loss prevention company, for $162 million.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

– Victor Capital Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm, raised $310 million for its second fund focused on the specialty consumer, industrial technology, and business services sectors.

PEOPLE

– MidOcean Partners, a New York-based alternative asset manager, added Jon Fox as global head of capital formation. Previously, he was at Värde.