This September marks Living DNA’s 10th birthday! 

In the Living DNA office this month, we’ve been reflecting on the last decade of DNA. We’ve come a long way, and now we’re looking toward the future. In the years since 2016 we’ve seen colleagues come and go, products launch, and the number of regions we cover more than double. Today, let us take you on a tour of ten years of Living DNA history. 

Living DNA launched in 2016. Our co-founders, David and Hannah Nicholson, are passionate about taking seemingly daunting topics and delivering them with simplicity, so that we can all grow and evolve together, with no person being left out. 

We were provided access to the People of the British Isles Project (POBI) data. Set up by Sir Walter Bodmer in 2004, POBI recruited volunteers who could trace all four grandparents to birthplaces in rural areas of Britain, and within 50 miles from one another. This created strong genetic signatures for regions across Great Britain. The results were published in Nature in 2015, and you can read more about POBI here.

We officially launched as Living DNA in September 2016 at New Scientist Live, and began selling our 3-in-1 ancestry kits.

In 2017 we launched our German research project, with an aim to build up a more detailed and accurate regional map of Germany’s genetic history. As with all of our ancestry research projects, the project was designed to run over several years, but in 2020 we were able to release an update with new German regions.

In 2018 we attended Rootstech in Utah, delivering over 12 product presentations to packed out auditoriums and selling another 5,000 kits over just 3 days!

Later in 2018 we released our free Family Matching service for the very first time, allowing people with DNA tests taken with other companies to upload their data and access their matches completely free of charge. We still offer the same matching for free to uploaders 8 years later.

In 2019 we moved into an incredible brand new office space to support how fast we were growing, and at the same time we released our new imputation panel, and began selling Wellbeing kits and upgrades for the first time.

2020, as we all know, saw the beginning of lockdowns as the world entered the Covid 19 pandemic. With strict contamination processes and procedures, Living DNA’s lab partners were able to continue operating, and so we carried on! Postal services were somewhat slower as flights were reduced or cancelled, but we made it work and came out the other side.

2020 was also a year of big updates. First, we updated our European panel to provide more accurate results across Europe.

Next, we updated our African panel, increasing the regions we cover in Africa to a whopping 72!

We introduced a new messaging centre in Family Matching, allowing you to see all of your messages in one place, rather than needing to go into each individual match profile. We released our Shared Maps as well, meaning that you can now see the regions you share with your matches. 

2022 was the year we released our first ancestry upgrades, a new way to explore your DNA. The long-requested Viking upgrade came first, and then later the same year came the Neanderthal upgrade, which includes information about the lesser known ancient hominids, the Denisovans.

2023 saw a huge Y-DNA tree update, the release of our chromosome browser, and the option to download a PDF copy of your Living DNA results rather than purchasing a hardcover book.

We released our biggest ever ancestry upgrade in 2024: The Classical Upgrade compares your DNA with 3 different ancient civilisations - Greek, Roman, and Egyptian, to delve into your genetic ties with ancient civilisations. 

In 2025 we increased our security with two factor authentication, and behind the scenes worked hard on the new design of our portal, bringing a fresh and modern new look and feel.

And now into 2026, we’ve released the redesign for our website, bringing it up to date with the portal, and updated our security behind the scenes so that we can bring you even more exciting new updates in the very near future!

And what about the future? Look out for some exciting new products coming to the store very soon.