CEO Spotlight: Andrea Riposati of Dante Labs

Andrea Riposati is globally recognized as an entrepreneur and the CEO and co-founder of Dante Labs, which he founded with Mattia Capulli seven years ago. Under the Italian founders’ leadership, the genomics and precision medicine company has made genome sequencing and analysis accessible to consumers, researchers, and medical practices all over the world.

Dante Labs has seen a huge level of success as a result of its founders’ leadership. Here, we’ll explore this success, Riposati’s position as an innovator in the genomics field, and his career history, education, and awards.

Andrea Riposati’s Mission for Dante Labs

Through Dante Labs’ pioneering technologies, Riposati hopes to “unleash the power of whole genome sequencing,” which is the most comprehensive genetic testing methodology in the world. By broadening access to this kind of sequencing, consumers can understand their entire genome and, more specifically, the diseases they are at an increased risk of developing. 

Riposati has built on this mission by also tackling issues associated with the complexity of data interpretation. To overcome such complexities, Dante Labs has developed proprietary software to generate customized reports that complement customers’ genome sequencing results. These reports show customers how to mitigate their risk of developing certain conditions by making informed healthy diet, lifestyle, and fitness choices. 

The reports translate sequencing data into actionable insights that can help individuals prevent diseases, avoid adverse reactions to food or drugs, and optimize their health. The reports are available in English, German, and Italian. Dante Labs plans to make reports available in more languages soon.

Customers can decide not to receive information on certain conditions in their reports. For example, an individual may want to test for conditions like diabetes but may not want to know if they have a predisposition for a disease like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, or any disease that doesn’t currently have a cure. Customers can change their minds and access this information at any point.

CEO Andrea Riposati refers to an individual’s genome as an “asset” that can last them a lifetime. They can question their genomic data at any point to learn more about how to manage their health. With this information, they can make better-informed choices to help them live “longer, healthier, and fuller lives.”

As more genetic variants become apparent, customers can receive updates about their genomes. One of Dante Labs’ latest additions to its services is a subscription service through which customers can sign up for monthly updates.

The Inspiration Behind Dante Labs

Dante Labs was born in 2016. When Riposati’s friend needed a whole genome sequencing test but had difficulty obtaining one, Riposati reached out to Capulli, who specializes in biotechnology and genetics. Having identified the gap in the market for accessible genome sequencing, Riposati and Capulli founded Dante Labs together.

They launched Dante Labs in L’Aquila, Italy to make the most of the country’s highly skilled population of genetics, bioinformatics, and biotechnology specialists. By launching the company in Italy, the founders also enabled customers to benefit from European privacy laws, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which Riposati describes as “the most mature in the world.” 

Riposati’s previous data analytics and product management experience proved invaluable to the development of Dante Labs. The company grew quickly on a global scale, developing an international logistic network that enables Dante Labs to offer a high-quality service to consumers and medical practices in 97 countries.

Riposati has framed Dante Labs as a user-centric company, meaning the company always keeps the end user’s needs in mind when launching new offerings. 

Andrea Riposati’s Career History and Education

Before launching Dante Labs, Riposati held various senior roles with influential companies. He has acted as:

• The CEO and chairman of the business-to-business digital software and consulting company Muse Technologies.
• A senior product manager at Amazon in Seattle and New York. In this role, he implemented the Amazon B2B Marketplace and Amazon 3D Printing Store. 
• An associate at the global management consulting firm PwC Strategy&.
• A teaching fellow at Harvard University.
• A strategy and management consultant in digital and healthcare at Booz Allen Hamilton. 

Riposati holds a Master’s degree in Business and Economics, which he achieved with the highest distinction at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. He has also completed a Master in Business Administration (MBA) at Harvard University.

Andrea Riposati’s Awards

In 2019, Riposati won the EY Entrepreneur of the Year in EY Italy’s “Startup” category. The Award recognized Riposati’s efforts as Dante Labs’ CEO and co-founder, which include bringing science into reach for people everywhere, contributing to the progression of the local community, and strengthening leadership in Italy’s genomics sector.

Riposati has also won two Harvard Business School Awards: the Dynamic Markets Competition (as an individual) and the HBS TOM Shad Competition (as a team).

About Dante Labs

Dante Labs serves people from all over the world who want to protect their well-being by investing in preventative healthcare. 

Under Riposati’s leadership, the company has built a sequencing center and runs Illumina’s NovaSeq 6000 System at a high capacity, thereby reducing the cost of sequencing and making sequencing solutions more accessible. The NovaSeq 6000 system is the most scalable on the market and enables Dante Labs to offer results in two weeks, compared to most labs’ eight-week turnaround time.

Illumina shares Dante Labs’ corporate values, believing that whole genome sequencing can improve human health at scale. Dante Labs considers Illumina’s next-generation sequencing systems the optimum in terms of precision, accuracy, standardization, and reproducibility of results.

To improve accessibility even further, Dante Labs offers free shipping to all customers, regardless of location. This means individuals who live on islands in the Pacific Ocean can access DNA test kits as easily as individuals who live near Dante Labs’ laboratories.

Dante Labs’ whole genome sequencing and whole exome sequencing tests can identify large structural variants, copy number variations, and single nucleotide polymorphisms. The company plans to perform carrier screening and develop tests for predispositions for pharmacogenomic biomarkers and heterozygous and homozygous variants in the future.

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