Healthcare · Profile from Healthcare Research Companion
Tempus AI, Inc.
The Chicago precision-medicine company founded by Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky that uses a genomic-testing lab as the engine of a data business. Tempus sequences tumours and germline DNA for oncologists, gets paid for each test by insurers and Medicare, keeps de-identified copies of the molecular and clinical data, and licenses that growing library to drug companies for research, trial design and AI model-building. It raised more than $1bn privately, peaked at an ~$8.1bn private valuation, listed on Nasdaq in June 2024 at $37 a share, bought the hereditary-testing lab Ambry Genetics and the pathology-AI company Paige in 2025, survived a short-seller attack, and in 2026 agreed to buy Personalis while posting its first positive adjusted EBITDA quarters. It is the leading US example of the "diagnostics funds data" model that Roche tried to assemble by buying Flatiron Health and Foundation Medicine.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2015, Chicago, Illinois
- Founders
- Eric Lefkofsky (founder, chairman and CEO); co-founded Groupon (2008), Echo Global Logistics, InnerWorkings, Mediaocean and Uptake; venture firm Lightbank. Started Tempus after his wife Liz's breast cancer diagnosis (2014)
- Headquarters
- Chicago, Illinois (River North); labs in Chicago and, via Ambry, Aliso Viejo, California; offices in New York, San Francisco, Raleigh and elsewhere
- Ownership / structure
- Public, Nasdaq: TEM (IPO 14 June 2024). Dual-class shares; Lefkofsky's Class B stock gives him voting control. Early holders include Lefkofsky entities, Baillie Gifford, Google (via a 2020 convertible note tied to cloud services), SoftBank, T. Rowe Price, Franklin Templeton and others (S-1, reported)
- Leadership (2026)
- Eric Lefkofsky, founder and CEO; Jim Rogers, CFO; Ryan Fukushima, COO (verify current titles)
- Segment and buyer
- Diagnostics (oncology and hereditary genomic testing, MRD, pharmacogenomics) paid by Medicare, commercial insurers, hospitals and patients; Data and Applications (data licensing, trial matching, AI tools) paid by pharma and biotech; algorithmic tests for cardiology and other areas
- Scale
- 2025 revenue ~$1.27bn (+83%), of which Diagnostics ~$955m and Data and Applications ~$316m; remaining total contract value of data deals >$1.1bn and net revenue retention 126% (year-end 2025). Data library of more than 8m de-identified patient records, ~1.5m with matched clinical and molecular data (company, 2025, reported)
- Revenue / profit
- 2023 $531.8m; 2024 $693.4m (net loss $705.8m incl. ~$547.7m IPO-related stock compensation); 2025 ~$1.27bn (net loss ~$245m; adjusted EBITDA ~–$7.4m); 2026 guidance $1.595–1.605bn and adjusted EBITDA ~$65m (raised July 2026). Q2 2026: revenue $382.5m (+22%), GAAP net income $5.6m
- Capital / valuation
- ~$1bn+ raised privately (2015–24, verify total); ~$8.1bn peak private valuation (2020–22, reported); IPO raised $410.7m at $37/share (~$6.1bn valuation); $460m 0% convertible notes due 2032 (2026); cash and marketable securities ~$821m (30 June 2026)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding with sequencing as a data engine (2015); pharma data licensing (from ~2018); COVID-19 testing and the Google cloud note (2020); xT CDx FDA approval (2023); Nasdaq IPO and SoftBank JV (2024); Ambry Genetics (2025, ~$600m); AstraZeneca–Pathos $200m foundation-model deal and Paige acquisition (2025); Spruce Point short report (2025); Personalis acquisition (~$1.5bn EV, 2026). Misses: years of heavy losses, slow early reimbursement, and an "AI" rebrand that critics called ahead of its revenue
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2015
Founding Sequencing as Data Engine
Founding
2018
Data Licensing to Pharma
Business model / partnership
2020
Covid Testing and Google Cloud Note
Pivot (temporary) / funding round
2023
xT CDx FDA Approval
Regulatory approval
2024
Nasdaq IPO and SoftBank JV
IPO / partnership
2025
Ambry Genetics Acquisition
Acquisition
2025
AstraZeneca Pathos Foundation Model and Paige
Partnership / acquisition / AI launch
2025
Spruce Point Short Report
Controversy (short-seller attack and company response)
2026
Personalis Acquisition and Profitability
Acquisition / profitability milestone