Genealogy Site born in Lake Worth sold to German company

Lake Worth Beach-born genealogy site sells for millions to a German company

South Florida genealogy site GEDmatch rose to fame in 2018 after detectives used it to track down the Golden State Killer.

The favorite tool of police and ancestry buffs alike just sold for millions.

LAKE WORTH BEACH — Detectives' favorite genealogy database for solving cold cases — one born in Palm Beach County and based for years in the spare bedroom of a Lake Worth Beach home — has just been sold to a German company. Genealogists and privacy advocates alike are eyeing the future of GEDmatch and its 1.8 million DNA profiles as it changes hands.

The Netherlands-based biotech firm Qiagen bought GEDmatch and its parent company for $150 million on Jan. 9. Curtis Rogers, the 84-year-old ancestry buff who founded GEDmatch, said the database was valued at around $60 million in the deal — four times what he sold it for in 2019.

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