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It was pure coincidence, however months earlier than the pandemic took maintain world wide, IndieBio — a startup accelerator dedicated to startups utilizing biology to resolve giant issues — expanded its remit, including a New York arm to the operations it was already working out of San Francisco. In fact, it’s due to what the world endured that extra consideration than ever is being paid to life sciences startups, which is why we thought readers may need a sneak peek on the latest batch of startups that IndieBio NY is getting ready to introduce to buyers in roughly one month.
If you happen to’re a founder or VC or just an trade observer in search of insights into what’s effervescent up in a variety of associated areas, together with agriculture, diagnostics, carbon and methane upcycling, and most cancers therapeutics, try what the 9 groups have been engaged on.
A few of IndieBio’s earlier breakout startups embody the cultivated meat firm Upside Meals (it raised $400 million final yr led by two sovereign wealth funds at a billion-dollar-plus valuation) and MycoWorks, an organization making leather-based out of fungi and that closed a $125 million Collection C spherical final yr at an undisclosed valuation. One other firm in IndieBio’s portfolio to realize traction is NotCo, an outfit now additionally backed by Jeff Bezos and Kraft Heinz that licenses its tech to meals and beverage producers which wish to “veganize” a few of their merchandise.
Right here’s that fast snapshot of every:
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FREZENT Organic Options
FREZENT says it’s creating a novel class of bispecific antibodies for concentrating on dormant most cancers cells which have survived chemotherapy and will trigger recurrence. Its strategy is to dam metabolism in dormant most cancers cells to stop their reactivation and survival. The crew is presently targeted on monoclonal antibody discovery and proof-of-concept research. More here.
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Xias Bio Restricted
In keeping with Xias Bio, the three most vital proteins in skincare and haircare merchandise—collagen, keratin, and elastin—sometimes come from bovine hides, hen feathers, and meat processing byproducts (blech). Given rising considerations over greenhouse fuel emissions, water air pollution, and deforestation, a brand new technology of cosmetics shoppers desires to see the trade change these animal proteins with sustainable options and Xias Bio is catering to them. Particularly, it has developed a molecular platform for creating multi-functional, animal-free proteins to license. L’Oreal is already shopping for what it’s promoting; later, say the startup’s founders, the concept is to maneuver past cosmetics and change animal proteins in a number of different areas, together with in prescribed drugs and the meals trade.
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Earnest Agriculture
Earnest Agriculture says it has designed a microbial consortium that protects crops towards ailments, pests, and drought whereas bettering soil well being. Utilized as a seed coating, these patented microbes can enhance yields by 7x, cut back artificial chemical use, and make crops extra resilient to local weather change, claims the outfit. More here.
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BioMetallica
BioMetallica’s pitch is that tens of hundreds of thousands of tons of electronics are discarded yearly, a lot of it incinerated, with billions of {dollars} of recoverable supplies up in smoke within the course of — to not point out the discharge of poisonous fumes. The startup’s eco-friendly resolution for recovering a few of these uncommon metals — palladium, platinum, and rhodium — is thru genetically modified micro organism that produce biogenic chemical substances that separate palladium group metals (PMGs) from e-waste, together with spent catalytic converters.
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Afynia
Afynia has created and patented a blood check for diagnosing endometriosis early that returns a lead to days and — says the startup — might be supplied by way of clinics and residential assortment kits starting subsequent yr. As with many ladies’s well being startups, the crew’s endometriosis check is just the start, if all goes as deliberate. The thought is to construct a digital platform that may present diagnostics, digital care, and prescription deliveries for endometriosis and different situations. More here (observe that the startup was initially named AIMA and hasn’t refreshed its web site simply but).
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Carbon Bridge
To satisfy EU emissions requirements, cargo operators are already ordering methanol-powered ships, however inexperienced methanol can’t compete with oil on worth, which means adoption is gradual going. CarbonBridge‘s resolution to the problem is what it describes as a low-heat, low-pressure microbial course of that upcycles carbon dioxide and methane into liquid methanol utilizing a bioreactor. Extra, it says, it will possibly supply the gasses inexpensively from over 16,000 wastewater therapy services within the U.S. that usually burn them off.
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Aequor
Aequor says it has found marine microbes that produce molecules that remove bacterial slime in minutes, and that utilized in water therapy services, its liquid focus can cut back typical chemical utilization by 90%, decrease power utilization by as much as 15%, and stop slime from clogging filters and inflicting shutdowns. The larger ambition is to scale back the prices and environmental influence of water therapy whereas enabling larger entry to secure, reasonably priced ingesting water. More here.
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Unibaio
Farmers spend practically$230 billion yearly on herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers designed to extend crop yields, however the unintended penalties are well-documented and, effectively, not good. Unibaio says it has a greater different. In keeping with the corporate, it has developed a pure microparticle that may supercharge organic crop protectants by enabling them to penetrate crops extra effectively and cut back the quantity of typical chemical merchandise wanted by as much as 80%.
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Terra Bioindustries
Discarded meals accounts for 8-10% of greenhouse fuel emissions, because the founders of Terra Bioindustries will inform you; it’s why the corporate developed a platform for upcycling brewer’s spent grain, a beer byproduct that’s typically tough to promote. It really works by way of a low-energy enzymatic course of that separates the grain into edible sugars and proteins which might be then offered to meals producers and precision fermentation corporations. Through the use of industrial gear present in most meals processing services, adoption might be cheap, too. More here.
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