Biotech star stuck in court over who controls its most valuable asset

Early in August 2025, a Federal High Court in Lagos stopped the asset sale of biotech star, 54gene, which included the biodata of 100 000 Nigerians.

The decision stems from proceedings instituted by the company’s founder, Abasi Ene-Obong, who alleged that the start-up’s lead investors engineered the startup’s collapse and sought to dispose of its data under questionable conditions.

Ene-Obong alleges that, after being compelled to step down in late 2022, the investors shifted 54gene’s assets and intellectual property into its Nigerian subsidiary and set in motion a fire-sale of the biobank for only $3 million—an amount drastically lower than the company’s peak valuation of $170 million. In his petition, submitted in July 2025, Ene-Obong identifies Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund and Adjuvant Capital as the primary actors behind 54gene’s downfall. He contends that they excluded the board from key decisions, dismissed his efforts to secure external funding to keep the company afloat, and appointed a legal receiver to oversee the asset sale without proper accountability.

Once hailed as one of Africa’s most promising biotech ventures, 54gene raised over $45 million and was instrumental in expanding Nigeria’s COVID-19 testing capacity. The company later shifted focus to developing a DNA database and proprietary data platforms to support disease research and drug discovery. However, as revenues fell in the post-COVID period and its pivot struggled, tensions between the founder and the investors escalated, ultimately sparking the current ongoing dispute.