Vancouver Pixel Crafters

Launched in 2008, CureTogether began simply as a way to help people who live with chronic pain fight depression and connect with a community. Starting with three conditions, the startup quickly expanded its scope and today has over 25,000 members, who have shared over four million data points on 576 medical conditions. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, CureTogether’s founders Daniel Reda and Alexandra Carmichael will be joining the team, along with, presumably, the startups user base. For 23andMe, the acquisition adds a whole heap of new community resources that will improve users’ ability to share information, talk about symptoms, and compare treatment efficacies as they track their health.

It’s great to see a Canadian / Vancouver connection to the Health 2.0 space. I got an email from local CureTogether angel / advisor Geoffrey Smigelsky, sharing the good news. It’s clearly big news, being covered on TechCrunch in the link above. Here’s what Geoffrey had to say:

“It’s a great Canadian story. They were a lean company, only two people, and they made a difference. I was thrilled to be invited to invest.”

Geoffrey recently presented at the Quantified Self Vancouver meetup. When I asked him what he’s working on now, he said:

“Working on? Oh, lots and lots, mainly genetics, syn bio, some nano, you know, the little stuff :)”

More details on the acquisition on the 23andMe blog. Congrats to Geoffrey and the CureTogether team!