January 4, 2018

Nuritas, an Ireland-based food and biotech company, has raised $20 million through a Series A backed by Cultivian Sandbox.

Founded in 2014 by mathematician and computational biologist Dr. Nora Khaldi, the company, which is based in Dublin and which was awarded Forbes’ Thrive Accelerator award, uses artificial intelligence, deep learning, and DNA testing to identify food components called peptides that impart specific health benefits.

“In an effort to expand our health solutions, we searched the globe trying to find such an innovative discovery technology and we eventually found it with Nuritas,” said Michael De Marco, Global Head, Research & Development Human Nutrition and Pharma Solutions, BASF SE.

The company has a range of areas of focus including anti-microbial, anti-aging, anti-inflammation, muscle recovery, stroke, and diabetes, and has a revolutionary peptide that has been scientifically validated and has the potential to prevent Type 2 diabetes. The company states that there are an estimated 352 million pre-diabetic people around the world, of which, 34 million are expected to advance into full diabetes each year. In the U.S. alone there are an estimated 84.1 million people with pre-diabetes.

“Bioactive peptides are known to play a role in managing diabetes and many other areas, but the current methods of identifying those that may work is time-consuming, inefficient and expensive,” said Emmet Browne, CEO of Nuritas. “Our artificial intelligence platform has already disrupted this antiquated process by targeting, predicting and unlocking peptides that can positively impact conditions like pre-diabetes, while reducing the cost and time needed to find them.”

Roll-Call

This round brings the company’s total funding to $30 million, building upon early-stage rounds that included Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, BASF SE, Singapore-based VisVires New Protein, and angel investor Ali Partovi, as well as U2 band members Bono and The Edge.

“Using cutting-edge technology and really smart approaches to identify disease-beating peptides in food is something that has never been done before,” said The Edge in December 2016 while speaking at Nurtias’ headquarters in Dublin. “To see this team unlock what nature has already created for the betterment of mankind, it’s just incredible. We want to bring forward and support innovative, world-changing ideas so this is a perfect fit.”

This round will see Cultivian Sandbox join the ranks of Nurtias’ backers.

“Nuritas’ unique platform delivers truly life-changing health benefits and we are very pleased to be involved in its growth – it’s a brilliant team and such an exciting technology,” said Nick Rosa, managing director of Cultivian Sandbox and co-founder of Sandbox Industries. “We expect Nuritas to quickly emerge as one of the most innovative companies in the world, effecting real change.”

This latest funding also will provide Nuritas the capital needed to accelerate the development of new peptides, the expansion of its team, and its geographic expansion into the U.S. market.

“This investment will not only help us accelerate our route to market, explore new disease areas and grow our already strong team, but it will also push us even further in extracting the great potential of what our technology is capable of creating,” Khaldi told Silicon Republic. “What is so exciting is that the inflammation ingredient launching in the U.S. next year is actually the first healthcare ingredient that has been fully discovered through the use of AI.”

-Lynda Kiernan