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Verily
Verily
from Wikipedia

Verily Life Sciences LLC also known as Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences), is Alphabet Inc.'s research organization devoted to the study of life sciences.[3][4] The organization was formerly a division of Google X, and as of December 2024, is operating as a standalone company under Alphabet.

Key Information

History

[edit]

On 9 September 2014, the then-Google X division Google Life Sciences acquired Lift Labs, the makers of Liftware.[5]

On August 10, 2015, Sergey Brin announced that the organization would become an independent subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.[6] On December 7, 2015, Google Life Sciences was renamed Verily.[7][8]

Verily Life Sciences in January 2019 raised $1 billion in funding.

At the end of 2019, Verily sold its stake in robot-assisted surgery joint venture Verb Surgical to development partner Johnson & Johnson.[9]

In August 2020, Verily announced that it is entering into the insurance market with the launch of Coefficient Insurance Company. The new subsidiary will be backed by Swiss Re Group's commercial insurance unit.[10]

In August 2021, Verily acquired SignalPath.[11]

In October 2022, the first patient was screened for diabetic retinopathy at the Baton Rouge Clinic using Verily Retinal Service.[12]

In September 2022, Verily announced longtime CEO Andy Conrad would step down as CEO in January 2023, to be replaced by Stephen Gillett[13] who became CEO on January 3, 2023.[14]

In January 2023, fifteen percent of Verily's workforce was laid off as part of a broader restructuring by parent company, Alphabet.[15] The Information reported in August that Gillett had told employees they would stop relying on Alphabet on "a wide range of corporate services", signaling a potential spin-out as an independent company.[16]

In October 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention selected Verily to support the agency’s National Wastewater Surveillance System.[17]

In June 2024, Verily decided to close its operations in Israel three years after opening a research and development center in the country. Verily staff in Israel are expected to leave by the third quarter of 2024. The company cited an effort to refocus its strategy on core products and projects as the reason for the closure.[18]

In August 2024, Verily moved its headquarters from South San Francisco to Dallas citing significant investment and involvement in the Texas healthcare and technology sectors.[19] As of December 2024, Verily is acting as a standalone company under Alphabet.[20]

In September 2024, Verily expanded its wastewater testing services to Europe through a partnership with Bangor University in Wales.[21]

In October 2024, a Verily-led data and technology consortium received a $4.8M award from the National Institutes of Health.[22]

In January 2025, Verily signed an agreement to sell its stop-loss insurance unit, Granular, to Elevance.[23]

Potential spinoff

[edit]

Reuters reported in August 2023 that Alphabet spinning off Verily was seen as possible after Verily CEO Stephen Gillett announced it would end ties to several of Alphabet's services.[24] In October 2025, Google executive Heather Adkins stated that the company is in the process of selling or spinning off Verily.[25]

Projects

[edit]

Discontinued

[edit]
  • Contact lenses that allow people with diabetes to continually check their glucose levels using a non-intrusive method.[35] On November 16, 2018, Verily announced it discontinued this project.[36]
  • Smart shoes for health tracking and fall detection[37]
  • Skin research with L’Oréal[38]
  • A disease-detecting nanoparticle platform[39] working with the wristband, a project called Tricorder.[40]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
Verily Life Sciences LLC, commonly known as Verily, is an American biotechnology and health technology company that is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., specializing in precision health solutions powered by artificial intelligence and data analytics. Founded in 2015 as a spin-off from Google X moonshot projects, Verily focuses on transforming complex health data to enable personalized medicine, clinical research, care delivery, and public health initiatives. Headquartered in South San Francisco, California, the company integrates diverse data sources—including genomics, wearables, imaging, and electronic health records—to develop scalable platforms that address challenges in healthcare. Verily's mission is to bring the promise of precision to everyone, every day, by building an AI-native that supports , clinicians, and patients. Key platforms include the Verily Pre, a secure biomedical exchange for multi-modal datasets; Verily Workbench, an enterprise tool for unifying and analyzing to accelerate ; and solutions like wastewater for . Notable products encompass the Verily Study Watch for remote physiological monitoring and continuous glucose monitoring devices developed in partnership with . Verily has formed strategic alliances with pharmaceutical giants such as , Otsuka, , and to innovate in clinical trials and drug development. In recent years, Verily has expanded its consumer-facing efforts, launching the Lifelong Health Study in October 2025—a longitudinal registry tracking participants' journeys—and a free AI-driven app called Verily Me that provides personalized guidance from licensed clinicians. As of October 2025, has been preparing to sell or spin off Verily amid a strategic refocus, following a of investment in its initiatives.

Background

Founding and Rebranding

Verily originated as Google Life Sciences, a moonshot project within X launched in 2015 to apply advanced technologies to major challenges in life sciences, including aging and associated diseases. The initiative emerged from earlier efforts at X dating back to around 2013, focusing on innovative tools like smart contact lenses for monitoring health conditions such as . On August 20, 2015, following 's restructuring into Alphabet Inc., Google Life Sciences was separated from X to become an independent subsidiary under the new parent company, becoming the first project to graduate into a standalone Alphabet entity and enabling greater autonomy in pursuing health innovations. The rebranding to Verily Life Sciences occurred on December 7, 2015, signaling a shift toward broader ambitions in precision that extended beyond the brand and emphasized verifiable, data-driven advancements in . This reflected the company's goal to "make the world's useful so that people can lead healthier lives," moving away from reactive healthcare toward proactive, technology-enabled solutions for issues like chronic diseases. As a distinct entity, Verily received initial funding from its parent company to support operations and research, without immediate reliance on external investors. The transition positioned Verily as Alphabet Inc.'s dedicated life sciences research organization, distinct from other health-focused ventures like Calico, which targeted aging biology more exclusively. This structure allowed Verily to operate with the resources of a major tech conglomerate while fostering a culture of bold, interdisciplinary innovation in health technology.

Mission and Operations

Verily's mission is to make the world's health information useful so that people can lead healthier lives through precision health. This purpose, established since its inception as a moonshot project at Google X in 2015, drives the company's efforts to harness data and technology for improved health outcomes. Operationally, Verily integrates healthcare, data science, and advanced technologies to advance research, care delivery, and public health initiatives. The company focuses on building an AI-native platform that transforms complex health data into actionable insights, enabling scalable clinical workflows and personalized care. This approach emphasizes precision health by combining multidisciplinary expertise to address challenges in disease prevention, diagnosis, and management. As a research organization, Verily develops AI-native platforms, devices, and services, generating through partnerships with healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies, government grants, and sales of health technologies. In , the company reported $559 million in , primarily from collaborative projects and product offerings. This supports ongoing innovation while aligning with Alphabet's broader ecosystem for precision health advancements.

Organizational Structure

Headquarters and Workforce

Verily was originally headquartered in , where it maintained its primary operations following its establishment as an subsidiary. In July 2024, the company announced plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to , with the move completed by the end of the third quarter to support strategic expansion in a business-friendly environment and capitalize on regional healthcare investments. Verily continues to operate facilities in , , and alongside the new base. As of 2023, following a significant restructuring, Verily employed approximately 1,360 people worldwide. The company reduced its workforce by 15%, or about 240 employees, in January 2023 as part of efforts to streamline operations and achieve from . Further reductions occurred in 2025, including layoffs tied to the closure of its medical devices program, which eliminated an entire division focused on hardware development. These cuts reflect ongoing adjustments under CEO to prioritize high-impact areas like AI-driven health solutions. Verily reported revenue of $559 million in , marking growth from prior years, yet incurred an operating loss of $568 million amid heavy investments in . The company also scaled back its global footprint by closing its R&D site in in June 2024, affecting around 25 employees in and , to refocus on core U.S.-based priorities.

Leadership

Andy Conrad founded Verily in 2015 as its inaugural CEO, leading the company through its early years as an Alphabet life sciences subsidiary focused on precision health innovations. Conrad, a biochemist with prior experience at Google X, oversaw Verily's initial projects in data analytics and wearable health devices until announcing his departure from the CEO role in September 2022 amid a $1 billion funding round. He transitioned to executive chairman at that time but fully stepped down from that position in early 2024 to join a venture capital firm. Stephen Gillett succeeded Conrad as CEO on January 3, 2023, bringing extensive experience in technology leadership and health tech operations. Prior to his CEO appointment, Gillett served as Verily's president and since 2020, where he managed engineering, , and commercial efforts, including cybersecurity initiatives. His background includes executive roles at , , and Chronicle Security (an company), emphasizing scalable tech platforms in consumer and enterprise sectors. Under Gillett's leadership, Verily has prioritized AI-driven health solutions and strategic partnerships to enhance its commercial footprint. Myoung Cha joined Verily as in February 2024, directing product strategy, development, and across , platforms, and tools. Cha's role encompasses oversight of Verily's Onduo care solutions, , and broader product portfolio, drawing on his prior leadership at , Apple Health, and . With over two decades in , he focuses on integrating AI and data analytics to advance user-centric precision health offerings. Verily operates as a standalone of since December 2024, following the severance of operational ties with to enable independent fundraising and strategic agility. This structure includes board oversight from representatives, ensuring alignment with parent company governance while allowing Verily to pursue external investments.

Projects

Active Projects

Verily's active projects encompass a range of initiatives aimed at advancing precision health through AI, data analytics, and partnerships. One key effort is the Retinal Service, an AI-based screening tool for diabetic retinopathy launched in 2022 to enhance accessible eye care in primary settings. This service utilizes automated imaging and machine learning to detect early signs of the disease, enabling timely interventions and reducing vision loss risks by over 90% through improved screening access. Recent studies in 2025 have validated its performance in diverse populations, confirming high sensitivity and specificity for primary care use. In , Verily maintains a partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), initiated in 2023 under a multi-year contract valued at $38 million, to monitor infectious diseases via wastewater analysis. This program, known as Verily Sightline, tests wastewater from treatment facilities nationwide for pathogens like and , providing rapid data to inform responses. In 2024, the initiative expanded to through an exclusive partnership with in , broadening pathogen detection capabilities across the and supporting global health threat monitoring. Verily leads the NIH Data Consortium, which received a $4.8 million award from the in October 2024 to develop a centralized platform for research. This consortium, comprising seven organizations, focuses on harmonizing multimodal health data from sources like the Accelerating Medicines Partnership to enable advanced analyses of disease mechanisms and therapeutic targets. The platform facilitates secure data sharing and AI-driven modeling to accelerate discoveries in areas such as and cardiometabolism. The Verily Me app, launched on October 17, 2025, at HLTH USA, represents a consumer-facing initiative for personalized . This free application allows users aged 18 and older to upload medical records and receive tailored preventive recommendations from licensed clinicians, integrated with an AI agent for ongoing guidance. It emphasizes longitudinal tracking of health metrics to promote proactive care, drawing on Verily's data platforms for secure, evidence-based insights. On October 17, 2025, Verily launched the Lifelong Health Study, a longitudinal research registry designed to track participants' health journeys over time. Sponsored by Verily, the study aims to better understand factors contributing to long-term health by collecting real-world data from participants, supporting advancements in precision medicine and public health research. Verily's collaborations further drive these efforts, including ongoing work with Geisinger Health for clinical research leveraging real-world data to inform precision medicine strategies. Similarly, the partnership with Otsuka Pharmaceutical, expanded in 2024, supports mental health solutions through initiatives like the "My Mental Health Journey" registry, which enrolls adults with depression symptoms to generate longitudinal data for novel psychiatric research. These alliances integrate AI across projects to enhance data harmonization and outcome prediction, underscoring Verily's focus on scalable health innovations.

Discontinued Projects

Verily has discontinued several projects over the years as part of strategic refocusing efforts, often citing technical hurdles, lack of commercial viability, or shifts in company priorities toward AI-driven solutions. One of the earliest high-profile terminations was the smart program, originally developed under Verily's predecessor Life Sciences in partnership with to monitor glucose levels in tears for . The project faced significant technical challenges, including an unreliable correlation between tear glucose and blood glucose levels, leading to its discontinuation in November . This effort also encompassed a related platform designed to detect diseases via a wristband-like device called the Tricorder, which was similarly halted due to integration and accuracy issues. In 2023, amid a broader and layoffs affecting about 15% of its workforce, Verily ended development on several early-stage initiatives to simplify its operating model and prioritize high-impact areas. These included tools for patients and microneedles intended for , both of which were deemed too nascent for near-term scalability. Additionally, the Verily Value Suite, an platform aimed at optimizing healthcare value-based care, was discontinued as part of this portfolio refocus. Project Baseline, a longitudinal health study platform launched in 2017 to collect genetic, molecular, and wearable data from thousands of participants, was quietly terminated in 2025 following the closure of Verily's medical device division. The platform had aimed to establish a "baseline" of good health but was deprioritized amid the company's pivot away from hardware-intensive efforts. In February 2025, Verily announced the sale of its Granular Insurance subsidiary—a stop-loss insurance unit focused on risk management for self-funded employers—to Elevance Health, with the deal closing in May 2025 to streamline operations and allow greater emphasis on core precision health technologies. This transaction reflected ongoing efforts to divest non-core assets. Regarding the multi-year skin research collaboration with , initiated in 2022 to study aging, environmental factors, and skin health using diverse datasets, no public termination has been announced as of late 2025, though Verily's broader device shutdowns have impacted related hardware explorations. The shift toward AI has been a contributing factor in several of these discontinuations, enabling Verily to reallocate resources to software and data platforms with higher scalability.

Technological Innovations

AI Platforms

Verily's AI-native platform, known as Verily Pre, serves as the foundational technology for transforming complex health data into actionable insights that support precision health research and clinical care. Launched in October 2025, this end-to-end data platform is purpose-built for healthcare AI, enabling the harmonization, modeling, and activation of multimodal datasets to facilitate advanced analytics and model deployment. A key component of Verily Pre is its development of compliant data harmonization tools, which integrate diverse sources such as electronic health records (EHRs) and wearable device data into a standardized, opinionated FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) model. This AI-powered curation process, embodied in Verily Intelligence, cleanses and structures raw biomedical information, making it research-ready while ensuring regulatory compliance for secure data exchange and governance. By addressing the challenges of heterogeneous health data, these tools empower researchers and clinicians to derive precise, scalable insights without the burdens of manual preprocessing. The platform's applications extend to predictive modeling for early disease detection and personalized treatment recommendations, leveraging algorithms to analyze patterns in curated datasets. For instance, integrations with NVIDIA's AI tools, such as NeMo for model training and Parabricks for genomic analysis, enhance capabilities in polygenic risk scoring and beyond-EHR predictive analytics, aiming to improve accuracy in identifying at-risk populations and tailoring interventions. Additionally, Verily employs for clinical trial optimization, including AI-driven protocol digitization that converts static documents into dynamic, data-integrated models to streamline patient recruitment, evidence generation, and operational efficiency. In 2025, following the closure of its program in August, Verily refocused AI as the central pillar of all operations, emphasizing data platforms and software solutions to accelerate precision advancements as of October 2025. This strategic pivot includes plans to raise external funding to support AI expansion and independence from broader initiatives.

Health Data Tools

Verily Sightline is a platform designed to support through the aggregation and analysis of data, particularly via monitoring for early detection of infectious diseases. It enables communities, researchers, and governments to track presence and concentration across hundreds of sites in the United States and , facilitating timely responses to outbreaks like SARS-CoV-2. By processing samples from plants and other facilities, Sightline provides scalable insights into population-level health trends without relying on individual testing, emphasizing data integration for mitigation strategies. Verily developed scalable clinical workflow tools to streamline care delivery, incorporating digital measurement devices such as the Numetric Watch for capturing patient-centered metrics. These tools, part of the Numetric suite, focused on generating precise, through wearables and software to support clinical assessments and evidence-based decisions in settings like monitoring. However, Verily discontinued its program, including these digital measurement efforts, in August 2025 as part of a strategic shift toward . In collaboration with institutions like , Verily participates in data consortium initiatives, including a $4.8 million NIH-funded project announced in October 2024 to build the SysBio platform for secure, federated , which remains active as of 2025. This initiative integrates multi-modal datasets—such as phenotypic, clinical, and molecular data—from over 10 conditions under the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, allowing analysis without centralizing sensitive information and promoting cross-disease research. The platform adheres to principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) to ensure ethical and across federated sources. Verily emphasizes privacy-compliant tools within its Pre Platform to generate for , featuring components like the Exchange for discovering multimodal datasets and the as a Trusted Research Environment with robust controls. These tools enable pharmaceutical researchers to access de-identified, high-quality while maintaining compliance with regulations like HIPAA, supporting generation for treatment and without compromising . AI enhancements, such as curation models in the , briefly augment these infrastructures for more efficient preparation.

Recent Developments

Strategic Pivot to AI

In December 2024, Verily announced its strategic reorientation toward as a core focus for 2025, coinciding with the company's 10th anniversary under . This shift emphasized AI-driven precision health solutions, aiming to leverage large-scale datasets and advanced AI applications to enhance personalized care, , and initiatives. The move was positioned as a response to the evolving generative AI landscape in healthcare, building on Verily's existing data platforms to accelerate innovation in software-led tools over hardware development. This pivot culminated in August 2025 with the complete closure of Verily's medical device program, which eliminated all hardware development efforts to redirect resources toward AI and data infrastructure. CEO Stephen Gillett communicated the decision in an internal memo, describing it as a "difficult" but necessary step to align with the company's core mission of precision health, data, and AI. The shutdown resulted in layoffs affecting staff connected to the devices program, as part of broader portfolio streamlining to prioritize high-impact AI initiatives. This restructuring also contributed to the discontinuation of projects like Project Baseline, further concentrating efforts on scalable software solutions. To support this AI-focused growth and mitigate ongoing financial losses, Verily pursued fundraising in 2025, announcing plans for a significant investment round led by Alphabet to expand its unified healthcare data platform. These funds were intended for enhancing AI model development and partnerships in precision medicine, enabling Verily to address scalability challenges in healthcare data processing and deployment. The efforts underscored a commitment to financial sustainability amid the transition from capital-intensive hardware to AI-centric operations. In October 2025, Verily expanded its consumer-facing AI initiatives with the launch of the Lifelong Health Study, a longitudinal registry tracking participants' journeys, and the Verily Me app, a free AI-driven tool providing personalized guidance from licensed clinicians.

Potential Spin-off

In October 2025, Google executive Heather Adkins announced during testimony in the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google that Alphabet is actively pursuing the sale or spin-off of Verily to establish it as a fully independent entity. This initiative forms part of Alphabet's wider corporate strategy in response to the ongoing antitrust litigation, which aims to address concerns over monopolistic practices, and builds upon a technical separation of Verily's infrastructure from Google's systems that was completed by the end of December 2024. The potential would enable Verily to seek external and forge new partnerships beyond Alphabet's , leveraging its operational autonomy achieved since 2024 to accelerate growth in . This shift is further supported by Verily's recent strategic pivot toward AI-driven healthcare solutions, which positions it for standalone innovation. As of November 2025, the process remains ongoing, with no specified completion date, though continues to support Verily's transition toward full separation.

References

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