Jona is a company that has developed transformative AI technology to analyze an individual’s microbiome, interpret the results, and summarize what is known today about that individual’s microbiome profile based on the scientific literature. And with actionable insights and recommendations, individuals can get to the root source of understanding their health, alleviate symptoms, and prevent chronic disease. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Jona founder and CEO Leo Grady to learn more.
Leo Grady’s Background
Grady has 20 years of experience delivering AI in healthcare at pioneering Bay Area startups (HeartFlow), multinational medical companies (Siemens), and, most recently, as CEO of Paige.ai. And Grady said:
“As CEO of Paige, I led the company to become an industry leader, internationally launching groundbreaking products and receiving the first-ever FDA approval for an AI product in pathology. I’ve authored two books on AI, over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and am an inventor on over 300 patents. Winner of the Edison Patent Award, I was inducted as a Fellow in the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. I earned a Ph.D. in Cognitive and Neural Systems from BU. I’m the Founder and CEO with Jona and CEO in Residence with Breyer Capital.”
Formation Of Jona
How did the idea for the company come together? Grady shared:
“I believe that the microbiome is going to be a revolution in health. Science shows that the microbiome is related to a massive range of diseases ranging from gut health to chronic conditions, such as autoimmune diseases, obesity, metabolic health, food allergies and even Parkinson’s Disease, mental health, sports performance and longevity. Even more exciting, we are learning all the ways that the microbiome can be modified through changes in diet, lifestyle and medication. Truly understanding the microbiome will change how we think about health, leading to new diagnostics and whole new classes of treatments. Harnessing the microbiome may even allow us to cure some chronic diseases, improve athletic performance and extend human health span.”
Favorite Memory
What has been Grady’s favorite memory working for the company so far? Grady reflected:
“Coming out of stealth and launching the product publicly was incredible, finally to be able to talk about and show the world what we were doing. We had incredible press coverage and response to our mission and our technology.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Grady explained:
“Jona is a technology company using large language models (AI) to reveal the relationship between the microbiome and personal health. Our AI can input a person’s microbiome composition and, by having the AI read the entirety of the scientific and clinical literature, both interpret the health implications of the person’s microbiome and also provide guidance on the foods, lifestyle modifications and medications that can improve the person’s microbiome and health, while providing fully sourced corresponding scientific evidence.”
“We believe that rapid advances in microbiome science and the use of generative AI to summarize and interpret complex testing have created a new opportunity to serve the 60-70 million Americans suffering with gut health issues. Although we have been focusing on gut health, our combination of deep microbiome sequencing and large language models (AI) also allows Jona to serve individuals focused on fitness, longevity, obesity, autoimmune conditions, mental health, Parkinson’s, liver disease, and more.”
Challenges Faced
Has Grady faced any specific bottlenecks in his work sector recently? Grady acknowledged:
“Jona is a deep tech company and we’ve had to solve some very difficult technical challenges. Not only have we needed to build the AI to read the microbiome literature, we have had to apply that literature to interpret an individual’s microbiome test results, which is challenging due to the variation in studies that we find in the scientific literature.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Grady cited:
“Jona did a beta launch with several close partners over the summer and received a lot of incredibly useful feedback. We just launched Jona out of stealth on November 1, becoming widely available to the public. We have been gathering data and perfecting our kit and offerings (as we still are) for the past 3 years, so this is an exciting time for us!”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Grady about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“The first test we did was with my son. He has struggled with gut health issues since he was a baby and sometimes they get so bad that he’s had to miss school. He’s seen a number of doctors, but none who could really help him get to the root cause. Remarkably, when looking at his Jona results, his microbiome matched signatures found in the scientific literature that were associated with the exact symptoms he was experiencing and there were clear actions he could take to address the issue. He’s been implementing all the recommendations and feeling a lot better – I plan to test him again next month to track the changes in his microbiome.”
Funding
After asking Grady about the company’s funding information, he revealed:
“We’ve raised $5 million in pre-seed funding.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Grady assessed:
“Gut health issues affect 60-70 million Americans. The microbiome has been linked even beyond gut health to autoimmune disease, obesity, diabetes, metabolic disease, cancer, drug efficacy, liver disease, Parkinson’s Disease, fitness, longevity and even mental health. By fully understanding the microbiome and modifying it, we believe we can have an enormous impact on health.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Grady affirmed:
“Jona offers something very different from other companies in the space. Other companies will test your microbiome and sell you their probiotics or identify specific pathogens. However, none of them will help someone get to the root cause of their health issues or help a person take their health to the next level. In contrast, Jona analyzes and interprets a person’s microbiome, summarizing all the diseases, symptoms, allergies, and conditions that have been linked to their microbiome and, more importantly, what actions a person can take in terms of diet and lifestyle to improve their microbiome. Jona provides links to all the scientific studies, tells you how much evidence there is, and isn’t trying to sell you other products.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Grady pointed out:
“Our mission at Jona is to use AI to fully understand the role of the microbiome in health and engineer changes toward a better state. This means building a wide variety of both clinical and wellness products while also pushing the boundaries of science.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Grady concluded:
“The name Jona comes from the stories surrounding Jonah and the whale. In every religion, denomination, and culture, there are stories about a hero going into the belly of a beast and emerging with a newfound appreciation of life or some other epiphany. There’s a double metaphor to the name for this product. First, both Jonah and Jona go inside the gut to find greater knowledge and wisdom. Secondly, the idea of being at your lowest, inside the belly of the beast, and finding a way to emerge better than before resonates with many of Jona’s users. When their health is at its worst and they are looking for a path out of the darkness, Jona was designed to help them understand themselves and guide lifestyle changes that can leave a person feeling renewed- a sense of getting their life back.”
