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Oguzhan Atay

Co-Founder, CEO, and Board Chair, BillionToOne, Inc.

Search every verified Oguzhan Atay interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Oguzhan Atay, co-founder and CEO of BillionToOne, has discussed the company's growth from a Stanford PhD project to a publicly traded diagnostics firm. In interviews, he described the company's prenatal genetic test, which detects single base pair differences in fetal DNA from maternal blood, and stated that one in 11 babies born in the U.S. this year will be screened with it. He also discussed plans to launch an ultra-sensitive minimal residual disease test for stage one cancer patients within a year, and said the same technology could eventually be used for early-stage cancer detection. Atay credited the company's approach to solving problems from first principles and noted that BillionToOne is growing close to 100% year over year while being profitable, with prenatal business gross margins around 67%. Atay also reflected on his personal journey, describing his upbringing in a small town in Turkey, his education at Princeton and Stanford, and the challenges of building a biotech startup, including navigating reimbursement systems in the U.S. healthcare system. He emphasized the importance of hiring only when needed and building a mission-driven culture, noting that employees have remained with the company after its IPO despite being able to retire. In earlier appearances, he discussed the company's pivot to develop a COVID-19 test protocol during the pandemic, which he said bypassed supply chain problems, and described the company's strategy of piggybacking on existing insurance-covered products to avoid burning capital on unproven reimbursement pathways.

Recent appearances

  • BillionToOne Is Solving One of Biotech’s Hardest Problems

    April 06, 2026 · 📺 Y Combinator

    1 in 11 babies born in America this year will be screened by a genetic test that didn't exist a decade ago. Biotech startup BillionToOne turned a simple but radical idea—detecting rare fragments of fetal DNA in a mother's blood—into one of the most widely used prenatal tests in the U.S. And they're not stopping there. The same approach could unlock something even bigger: early-stage cancer detection from a blood test, a breakthrough that could one day save millions of lives. In this episode of Hard Tech, YC's Jared Friedman sits down with David Tsao and Oguzhan Atay to hear how they went fro…

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  • From Startup to IPO: BillionToOne’s Journey with Founder Oghuzan Atay and Neotribe’s Kittu Kolluri

    November 05, 2025 · 📺 Neotribe Ventures

    In 2019, Neotribe Ventures Founder & Managing Director Kittu Kolluri took a 30-minute Friday meeting with a young precision diagnostics company called BillionToOne. That meeting turned into a multi-hour conversation—and an investment that would help shape one of the most remarkable journeys in diagnostics innovation. On the eve of BillionToOne’s IPO (NASDAQ: BLLN), Kittu sits down with Co-Founder & CEO Oguzhan Atay to revisit the company’s origins, its rapid growth from 10 to thousands of tests per day, and the principles that guided it every step of the way. Together, they discuss integrity…

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  • Oguzhan Atay - Part 2: From Immigrant Scientist to $140M Biotech Innovator

    February 17, 2025 · 📺 The Biotech Startups Podcast | Excedr

    🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast, brought to you by Excedr—empowering life science startups with founder-friendly equipment leasing to fast-track R&D and drive commercialization success. Know someone in need of lab equipment? Join Excedr’s referral program: Give your friends $1,000 and earn $1,000 for every qualified referral. Get your unique referral link here: refer.excedr.com/ZTHETY. ===Show Notes=== Part 2 of 2: Our guest today is Oguzhan Atay, Co-founder & CEO of BillionToOne. BillionToOne is a precision diagnostics company that quantifies biology to create powerful molecular diagnostic…

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  • Oguzhan Atay - Part 1: From Small-Town Turkey to Biotech Innovator

    February 11, 2025 · 📺 The Biotech Startups Podcast | Excedr

    🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast, brought to you by Excedr—empowering life science startups with founder-friendly equipment leasing to fast-track R&D and drive commercialization success. Know someone in need of lab equipment? Join Excedr’s referral program: Give your friends $1,000 and earn $1,000 for every qualified referral. Get your unique referral link here: refer.excedr.com/ZTHETY. ===Show Notes=== Part 1 of 2: Our guest today is Oguzhan Atay, Co-founder & CEO of BillionToOne. BillionToOne is a precision diagnostics company that quantifies biology to create powerful molecular diagnostic…

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  • Builders #33 w/ Oguzhan Atay - Co-Founder & CEO @ BillionToOne | BIOS

    June 19, 2024 · 📺 BIOS

    Guest: Oguzhan Atay @ BillionToOne Oguzhan Atay is the Co-Founder & CEO at BillionToOne, a company pioneering prenatal genetic tests for expecting mothers. Oguzhan helped develop the foundational molecular counting platform for BillionToOne and has raised over $200M in venture funding from top-tier investors. He holds a PhD in Systems Biology from Stanford University and received his bachelor’s in molecular biology from Princeton. Host: Drew Yashar _______________________ Join BIOS Community 🎉 Become a member, continue the conversation, connect with like-minded Life Science innovators, acce…

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  • Saving Millions of Lives Using Blood to Catch Cancer Early, with BillionToOne founder Oguzhan Atay

    August 05, 2022 · 📺 Sabrina Halper Show

    Oguzhan Atay is the founder & CEO of BillionToOne, a molecular diagnostics company that is redefining cancer care and pre-natal genetic testing. Oguzhan developed a liquid biopsy tool to test DNA through blood, rather than tissue samples. His approach is way less invasive and way more accurate. The company has raised over $210M. In this episode, Oguzhan speaks to Host Sabrina Halper and Co-host & partner at HOF Victor Wang about the ways this technology will save millions of lives and billions in healthcare spending. He also goes deep into the issues with America's healthcare and insurance sys…

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  • E11 - Oguzhan Atay (CEO of BillionToOne) on enabling 1M COVID-19 Tests Per Day, YC experiences, more

    April 19, 2020 · 📺 415 Stories

    Oguzhan Atay, the CEO of BillionToOne, explained how they're enabling one million COVID-19 tests per day in the US alone. We also talked about their experience through YC, fundraising and more. Enjoy the episode! Visit BillionToOne: https://www.billiontoone.com Oguzhan Atay -   / oatay   Get MobileAction with 15% off for any plan with code: 415 https://www.mobileaction.co/ Listen via Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Listen via Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7fYr... Listen via Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/415-stories... Listen via Anchor: https://anc…

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The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →