Wellness
CEO
Ken Chahine
Founded
2021
Co-Founders
Hersh Patel, Ben Oyler
Co-Investors
Harmony Partners, Obvious Ventures

Over 120 million people suffer from allergies in the US, making allergies the most prevalent chronic illness in the country. Founded in 2021 by CEO Ken Chahine, Obvious Ventures and Juxtapose, Nectar’s mission is to put an end to allergies, and in turn, build healthier, more productive communities. Nectar is building the first vertically-integrated platform for allergies, including a compounding pharmacy, lab testing facility, allergist physician network, and digital devices to align incentives and deliver an exceptional customer experience. Nectar’s world-class medical board advises on every aspect of Nectar’s comprehensive allergy treatment program and helps drive clinical research efforts, ensuring all products and services meet the highest safety and efficacy standards. Nectar will soon be opening clinics, known as Nectar Allergy Centers, in major metro areas across the country as part of its comprehensive care vision. Nectar clinics build upon the company’s virtual care offering by enabling the company to expand to more complex allergic conditions, including asthma, food allergies, and atopic dermatitis.

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founding CEO

Ken Chahine

Dr. Ken Chahine partnered with Juxtapose and Obvious Ventures to found Nectar after an impressive career at AncestryDNA, which he founded and led to over $500mm in direct sales. Prior to that, he served as CEO of gene therapy business Avigen. Early in his career, Ken practiced patent law on behalf of bioscience companies.

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Ken Chahine

"Allergies are the leading chronic disease in the US, bigger than hypertension, mood disorders and diabetes, yet allergy care suffers from one of the lowest NPS in healthcare. Nectar is a world-changing opportunity to reinvent allergy care from the ground up."

Company
Nectar
Year Founded
2021
Industry
Wellness
Putting an end to allergies

We partnered with Dr. Ken Chahine and Obvious Ventures to co-build a comprehensive, vertically integrated allergy healthcare platform to help rid the world of allergies. Nectar leverages data and clinical research to offer a personalized, patient-centric approach to allergy care. Dr. Chahine was formerly the founder of AncestryDNA and EVP of Ancestry.com, a product that has been used by nearly 10% of the U.S. population. He is one of the country’s leading entrepreneurial operators at the intersection of science and healthcare.

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Ken before Nectar

My journey to Nectar builds on my career as a serial healthcare entrepreneur. Over the last two decades, I’ve been driven by a passion for unlocking opportunities in underserved markets facing massive, inefficient consumer pain points. Before founding Nectar, I helped take DNA testing mainstream as the EVP and founding executive of AncestryDNA and Ancestry Health, a consumer genealogy and disease predisposition testing company. While at AncestryDNA, I grew the total addressable market from a niche $10M to well over $2B by reinventing the end-to-end user experience. Earlier in my career, I served as CEO of Helio Health, a company focused on early cancer detection from a simple blood spot, currently in late-stage FDA trials. I was also the CEO of Avigen, a gene therapy company focused on developing cures for monogenic disease. Avigen’s cure for hemophilia and treatment for Parkinson’s Disease were both recently approved in the EU and are on track for approval in the U.S. I have a BS in chemistry, a PhD in biochemistry and a JD in entrepreneurial law.

Career Highlights

2021

Started deeply exploring the challenges (and opportunities!) in the allergy space with Juxtapose and Obvious Ventures. Dove headfirst into the science of allergy care, immunotherapy, and the prevalence of symptom relief versus true care. Became clear to me the parallels of the opportunity here and how we advanced disease predisposition testing at Ancestry Health.

2019

Served as CEO of Helio, helping detect early cancer detection through a blood draw using AI.

2011

Founded AncestryDNA to help bring genetics to the masses, growing it to over $500mm in direct sales.

1996

Combined interests in molecular biology and patent law, which eventually lead to becoming CEO of gene therapy company Avigen.