Healthcare startup Gabbi lands $4.4M to assist girls assess breast most cancers danger and take motion

Gabbi, a Portland, Ore.-based startup building a tool to help women assess their risk for breast cancer, raised $4.4 million.

Gabbi’s breast cancer risk calculator is also designed to propose a health action plan. The company aims to launch its product in the beginning of 2023 as a benefit available through employers, according to a statement Friday announcing the funding.

The new cash builds on $1 million in pre-seed funding raised in June 2021 and will go toward developing the product and growing the 8-person team.

“Everyone should have the tools that allow them to understand their risk and get access to the appropriate care,” said Gabbi CEO and founder Kaitlin Christine in the statement.

Christine previously held a business development role at genetic testing company Myriad Genetics and was motivated to found Gabbi after personal experiences with breast cancer. The company is named for her mother, Lise Gabrielle Clark, who carried a deadly mutation in the breast cancer gene BRCA1 and died from the disease.

Christine also carries the mutation, which confers a very high risk for breast cancer. That led to a harrowing medical experience, culminating in a prophylactic double mastectomy at age 24.

Gabbi’s prediction model “is built off of one of the largest and most diverse claim sets in the world,” according to a statement. Christine previously told GeekWire that the tool was being developed with data available through an insurance company partnership.

Several research institutions have built breast cancer risk calculators, including the U.S. National Cancer Institute, which provides a Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool for the public. The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Victoria, Australia, built iPrevent, which also provides personalized breast cancer screening and prevention information.

CRA Health, which was acquired by Volpara Health last year, also provides breast cancer risk assessment, but its tool is geared more toward clinicians.

The new funding round was led by Bread and Butter Ventures, with participation from Female Founders Fund, WR Hambrecht, Phoenix Rising, Claridge Ventures Advisors VC, Coyote Ventures, Gaingels and individual investors including David Kidder, Sarah Jones Simmer and Naseem Sayani.