What is iCarbonX, The Next Google of Biotech

Lately I've been writing a lot about how the rise of Asia with Chinese and Indian Millennials poised to make breakthroughs is going to change the trajectory of the future and the balance of power among corporations. I'd like to talk to you about a startup that has life altering potential, quite literally! 

What is iCarbonX you ask? This is an important company in what I consider the convergence, a period of time before the Singularity when important developments in different domains converge together to form innovation at a new level. 

iCarbonX is the Big Data of biotech, the AI of biology. 

iCarbonX aims at building a ecosystem of digital life based on the combination of the Big data of consumers, artificial intelligence and the internet. That is, this is the beginning of the digital life ecosystem. 

Made in China

Let's make no mistake, this is a Chinese startup, the 2nd fastest Unicorn evaluated at over $1billion ever. There are biotechnology startups, but not like this. If I worked in venture capital, I'd be alerted to FinTech from a breakthrough 2015, but the future of HealthTech and EdTech is just huge. 

These kinds of Series A round announcements don't come around too often. This will be likely one of the most important companies to be founded in 2015 I believe, taking the company just six months to reach US$1 billion valuation. The fastest unicorn ever in Asia. This is life data becoming digitized and the world will never be the same. 

This startup has a unique selling proposition like no other and Tencent could recognize it. Founded by the former CEO of Beijing Genomics Institute, the biggest gene-sequencing company in the world, iCarbonX is meteoric as it is symbolic of a new level of technological advancement in humanity. It represents what may be the most serious attempt to combine AI with biology. 

So when Wang Jun had the idea of using artificial intelligence and big data to create health management solutions and innovate medical breakthrough, he found a team that was the right mix of biotech and AI/big data experts. Asia in 2016, has found the recognition of the importance of AI in the future, and AlphaGo beating Lee Sedol was maybe the critical moment when the important of AI dawned fully on the Asian consciousness. 

iCarbonX, will be a poster child of China's rise in the next generation of super companies. I believe that this is the kind of company that can do more for humanity than Alibaba, have a longer life than Baidu. What makes iCarbonX so fascinating, is it operates Big Data where human data-points of all stages of life, including but not limited to genetic data is used and turned into insights by AI-based systems. 

iCarbonX on quantum computing will be perhaps the seed to discover a new way of life. With the data mining and analysis of health-related data comes great opportunity. When Wang Jun says to the world “I want to digitalize everyone’s life data, and then decipher that data for the valuable lessons, thus improving everyone’s quality of life"; the world takes notice. Or at least, I do. 

The Next Google of BioTech

As an amateur futurist, spotting disruptive innovation is one of my passions. Yes I really do think iCarbonX has this sort of potential. What is iCarbonX? It has a chance to become the next Google of Biotech. 

For now we can consider it an artificial intelligence enabled health data mining startup, but it can become so much more than that. Beijing Genomic Institute (BGI), knows what it is doing. Vcanbio sees the potential. The Shanghai-listed Chinese cell and gene engineering firm gives a hint of where this could all lead. 

The company that wins the Big Data of healthcare will be powerful, HealthTech will be a giant among disrupters of the 2020s and 2030s. The Shenzhen-based startup iCarbonX, wants to be able to have AI enable every individual to better manage their health and equip them to defeat disease. That's the kind of mission statement that makes me listen. 

A company like this combines Big Data and key partnerships with diagnosis companies, insurance companies, medical examination firms and hospitals that will be well positioned to be a leader in how Data intersects with biotech, as our bodies become increasingly digitized. 

China's First BioTech Unicorn 

This company is the pivotal one that truly demonstrates the future superiority of Asia in innovation. Ecommerce giants only pioneered Big Data, but other companies will fulfill its potential. 

iCarbonX (碳云智能) is indeed a new type of player entering the field, that can be accelerated by China's newfound wealth and booming innovation and capital. Curiously this company has implications in IoT as well, with the ability to mine data from smart hardware devices. Considering the range of health-related data out there, including genetic data; this is the beginning of predictive analytics crunching the Big Data of the life-sciences of humanity. 

Can you imagine AI powerful enough to forecast and predict health conditions accurately?

This is the hub where pharma factories, research institutions and insurance companies combine forces in a new platform. What is iCarbonX, it's the development of: 

1. Cosmetics
2. Nutrition
3. Health
4. and Medical Treatments

In ways that we have yet to fully imagine. The mega backing that the Chinese ecosystem allows also means an all-star team put in place. Mr. Wang’s partners include Chun Wu, who has a Ph.D in genetics from Yale University, and Qiang Yang, a fellow of AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) with a Ph.D in artificial intelligence.

What is iCarbonX, it's the one startup out of China you should follow. The future is closer than we think, and Asia has a lot to say about it. 

Special thanks to Michelle Chen, whose updates help me keep in touch with Asia, a part of the world I'm passionate about. 

What is your first impression of iCarbonX?