Geneto
where genetic science meets technology
Geneto is leading the way in understanding how science can improve our health and achieve our ideal weight, thanks to our innovative diet and fitness app powered by genetic science.
Our values
We at Geneto approach nutrition with the help of science.
We believe that people with even the highest of lifestyle disease risks can keep their health and body weight under control.
We value your privacy and take data protection as our core value.
Our aim
At Geneto, we aim to live longer, healthier lives – and our mission is to help people do the same. Major obstacles on the path to long-term health include chronic age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, with obesity as the number one risk factor. It is well established and backed by science that the key to preventing these problems is practicing a healthy lifestyle and adopting a balanced diet. Our app is designed to help with this. We provide access to thousands of nutritionist-approved healthy meals, facilitate keeping track of caloric input and output, and much more.
Yet to many people losing weight comes more difficult than to others. Genetics has an important role to play here. Though each person is unique in their environment and genetic makeup, standard diet recommendations are generalised to population level and do not account for individual differences. At Geneto, we bring genetic science to nutrition. Our genetic tests allow people to detect food intolerances such as lactose and gluten intolerance, and measure their genetic predisposition to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other lifestyle traits. In our app, we apply the genetic test results to personalise nutrition and design food plans that work best for the individual.
Our science
Geneto’s genetic tests are based on polygenic risk scores (PRS) technology, developed on the genetic data of 500,000 participants of the UK Biobank. A single PRS can combine several millions of genetic markers from all over the human genome. This is important as most common lifestyle traits such as obesity and type 2 diabetes are highly polygenic with many responsible genes.
PRS technology is developing fast and is likely to lead the way to a more personalised medical system in the near future. At Geneto, we are on the frontline of this development. We are among the first to bring PRS technology to the wider public and inform people about their risks. Studies show that personalised risk communication helps people make better decisions and leads to higher motivation to make positive changes in health behaviour.
All our genetic tests and PRS models are CE-certified.
The People Bringing Innovation To Everyday Life
Jaak Sarv
CEO / Co-founder
MSc in Software Engineering
Jaak has 20 years of experience in software development and data science. He founded Geneto as he was finding ways to solve his own personal problem of being overweight. After successfully solving his weight-problem, he now has a goal of helping others in following his steps of scientific weight-loss. Jaak sees a huge potential in how preventing lifestyle diseases could help millions of people around the world and reduce the very costly burden for the medical system. As a data scientist, he envisions how gathering daily lifestyle data together with genetics could lead to new and better scientific discoveries in genetics.
Pille-Riin Meerits
Genetics / Co-founder
MSc in Gene technology
Molecular biology (cum laude)
PhD student in Exercise and Sport Sciences
Pille-Riin has a master’s degree in genetics from the University of Tartu. She is interested in incorporating scientific knowledge into the everyday lives of people. After having children, she has become increasingly concerned about the lifestyle habits that our children inherit from us and the health risks they face. Pille-Riin believes it’s all about setting a positive example for the next generation.
Rauno Villberg
Mobile developer
Rauno is an experienced mobile app developer and enjoys developing video games in his spare time. He faced weight problems growing up, but eventually beat them by making consistent healthier lifestyle choices. Rauno believes that Geneto can help others overcome similar problems with less struggle.
Mari-Liis Väli
Nutritionist
Mari-Liis is a passionate nutrition therapist. She absolutely wants to make an impact on society. Eating healthy is the solution to everything! Well.. not everything, but to a lot of health problems, indeed. Mari-Liis is also a nurse and makes an impact at the Emergency Medicine Centre.
Eliisa Lukk
Nutritionist
MSc in Molecular and Cell Biology
MBA
Nutritional Therapy Practitioner Eliisa Lukk helps to find dietary deficiencies and ways to support unbalanced body functions by recommending the most health-promoting foods to the menu.
Kaido Lepik
Bioinformatican
PhD in statistical genetics
Kaido has a PhD in statistical genetics, and a background in statistics and computer science. He has completed doctorate studies in statistical genetics at the University of Tartu, developing and applying causal inference methods to identify disease-causing genes. He is currently finalizing his postdoctoral research on causal mediation analysis at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Having a keen interest in healthy ageing, Kaido is intrigued by the opportunity to advance personalized solutions at Geneto and help bridge the gap between academic science and practice.
Advisors
Priit Salumaa
Investor / Member of the Board
Startups
Priit is one of the founders of Geneto and a startup guru who helps us with product development and financial investments. He is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Estonia and we are lucky to have him as a mentor.
Andres Salumets
Genetics / Investor
Andres helps us to make the latest scientific discoveries in gene-based health counselling accessible and useful to an average person. Andres works in the University of Tartu as Professor of Reproductive Medicine.
Ahto Pärl
Financial advisor / Investor
Ahto has more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance, management, and operations. After a career in payment finances at SEB, Ahto moved to the US where he received an MBA from NYU Stern and spent five years on Wall Street at Merrill Lynch Investment Banking division. After moving back to Estonia, Ahto has acted in various management-level positions across industries including aviation (Nordica), logistics (Omniva), fintech (Wallester), media (Ekspress Grupp). Ahto also participates as a Board Member and advisor to Baltic Workboats and Printall.
Jaak Mae
Investor / Member of the Board
Olympic Bronze Medalist
Jaak is an entrepreneur and our mentor in sports. He is also our PR specialist in media who helps us to make our service more known.
Partners
Elisa Eesti
Our startegical R&D, sales and marketing partner, Elisa Eesti is a well-recognized IT&Telecommunications company in Estonia. Enjoying the largest marketshare in private customers and owned by the Finnish telecommunications market leader Elisa OYJ. Elisa is the partner operator for Vodafone Group, making it possible to serve customers around the world.
Estonian Genome Center of University of Tartu
Our science and lab partner, with whom we have developed the polygenic risk scores (PRS) that identify the risks of lifestyle-related diseases. All genetic tests are carried out at the University of Tartu Institute of Genomics lab.
Mobi Lab
Mobi Lab is a mobile design and development agency based in Estonia. Their mission is to create the best mobile and augmented reality products focused on improving experiences for an ever-moving globe. Their services have been instrumental in providing added expertise to Geneto’s team in the areas of business analysis, design, development, and QA testing for our iOS and Android applications.
Mooncascade
Mooncascade is a premium software product design and development company focusing on delivering high-quality digital user experiences. Their main focus is on building next-generation fintech products, but they also have ample experiences in mobility, telecommunications, entertainment and the public sector. Geneto has its roots in Mooncascade as Geneto was spinned out of the company after the first year of operations. The first versions of the mobile product were implemented with help of Mooncascade.
