Last week, Founders Fund partner Delian Asparouhov realized he hadnt checked on his genetics in a while. He clicked open a dashboard created by Nucleus Genomics, a Founders Fund-backed startup that gets saliva samples sequenced and then compares the DNA results to extensive data linking health issues to genes. Within seconds, he concluded that he had a predisposition for schizophrenia, a sky-high IQ, and prostate cancer. Bummer, he shrugged.If Asparouhovs reaction seems nonchalant, its only because he and the Nucleus team he backed are dreaming much, much bigger. Imagine a world where your medical treatments are tailored to your genetics or where every couple gets their DNA sequenced before having kids together or a world where, as Asparouhov imagines, dating apps have a kid simulation that meshes your genetic tests together and shows you what a child might inherit.Today, Nucleus is a step closer to that future. The company, founded by 25-year-old Kian Sadeghi, announced a $14 million Series A, bringing its total funding to about $32 million. Investors like Alexis Ohanians Seven Seven Six, Balaji Srinivasan and SpaceX alum Achal Upadhyaya have all rallied behind Sadeghis vision for widely available genetic testing.DNA is actually the kind of ultimate health test, Sadeghi said. So one swab and you get your analysis on about 800 plus conditions. And thats going to be rapidly growing over the next several months, until its effectively every common and rare disease known.Nucleus is possible because the cost of genome sequencing has plummeted in recent years. In 2007, genome sequencing cost close to $1 million. Today, Nucleus, staffed by a team of PhDs and genetic experts, charges $400 to send a saliva sample to a third party sequencer and then analyze the results, telling users a host of potential illnesses they may be at risk for. Sadeghi believes that, in the next five years, the cost of sequencing the genome is going to be negligible, and everyone will have their genome on their smartphone.Sadeghis dream began with tragedy. One night, his cousin died in her sleep from a previously unknown genetic condition. The loss permanently altered his lifes path. He dropped out of college and moved home, where his schedule was as follows: wake up, meditate for an hour, scribble gene-related company plans in a notebook for twelve hours, meditate for another hour. I do believe in the soul, he reflected. Ive meditated every day for, I think, five years.His year of work and meditation birthed Nucleus and sent Sadeghi into the orbit of Silicon Valleys most famous contrarians. He first met Peter Thiel at Hereticon, the Founder Fund bash that celebrates all that is controversial (Sadeghi recalls a particularly exciting exorcist). It was a fitting place to meet, considering all the controversy that Sadeghi would court.Last year, Sadeghi launched Nucleus IQ, which tells users how much their genetics correlate with markers for high intelligence. Sadeghi puts a huge asterisk next to that claim: there is still much we dont know about the connection between genes and IQ, and, even if we did, genetics can only account for so much, while ones environment handles the rest.Geneticist Sasha Gusev called into question the accuracy of Nucleuss IQ tests (Sadeghi then published a lengthy defense), and others pointed out that Nucleuss IQ tests could lead to discrimination and stigmatization. Sadeghis approach is also markedly different from competitors: Back in 2018, 23andMe told the MIT Technology Review it purposefully wouldnt release consumer information around genetics and intelligence for fear of misinterpretation.But Sadeghi and Asparouhov believe that the average American should have as much information about their genetics as possible. Asarouhov finds the hesitancy around Nucleus IQ very odd, adding thatif were able to acknowledge genetic advantages in athletes (like, say, Michael Phelps astonishing wingspan), why wouldnt we do the same for IQ? Experts claim that they know whats best for you, he said. But I think its best to just give consumers the information thats available to them and let them decide.As Nucleus acquires more customers, Asparouhov says the companys insights will get even better, the results on a Nucleus dashboard automatically updating with new information. At some point maybe there will be, like, phenotypic reporting, where you tell Nucleus, I have blue eyes, I have brown hair, maybe you come in for an IQ test, etc, and that actually improves the model, he said.When asked if linking things like blue eyes, blonde hair, and IQ could be interpreted as eugenics, he clarified with a laugh, I said brown hair!Then, miming the same hand motion that Elon Musk performed following President Trumps inauguration, he joked, My heart goes out to you.