Life Sciences

RevoNA holds huge potential in treating currently ‘undruggable’ diseases by overcoming the challenges associated with targeting RNA. Conventional approaches are slow and costly, limited by inadequate R&D tools and RNA complexity, resulting in a shortage of crucial data in the field. Next-generation technologies are essential to unlocking the necessary data to drive RNA Drug discovery forward. RevoNA’s innovative solution integrates a novel high-throughput RNA biological platform, that rapidly amasses premium RNA datasets enriched with diverse information. These comprehensive datasets feed a complementary AI prediction engine build, that will enable RevoNA to significantly reduce the time-to-market for RNA-targeted drugs and make discovery affordable at scale.

Zafrens exists to bring the life sciences to the AI era using cutting edge engineering tools. The costs and pace of data generation in biology/chemistry lag behind our ability to process data by many, many orders of magnitude. Zafrens aim to bridge this gap by developing ultra-high throughput, ultra-high resolution approaches to studying cells, both at the single-cell level and in the context of cell-cell interactions in various co-cultures. Considering the quickest way to understand complex systems is to perturb them, and thus the team have built a versatile platform that allows us to probe profound, complex questions by simply swapping the inputs to the system.

The future of mRNA technology is hampered by manufacturing challenges and unless solved, its exciting potential may never be realised. Sensible Biotechnologies is on a journey to solve this problem by turning living cells into factories producing abundant, highly stable and non-immunogenic mRNA on demand.

At Enveda, they are systematically translating molecules found in medicinal plants into new drugs for challenging diseases. This platform harnesses nature's complexity with the help of cutting-edge advancements in knowledge graphs, machine learning, and metabolomics. Enveda is starting a movement to create the next generation of small molecule therapeutics.

With a strong foundation of fundamental research, Inventia has developed a proprietary platform encompassing drop-on-demand bio-printing technology, an expanding library of printable matrices and custom protocols for specific applications. The RASTRUM platform is now available to enable efficient and powerful bio-printing of 3D cell-based assays for biomedical research.

Farmless want to create a hopeful future by decoupling food production from arable land. They do this by cutting out the middle man of photosynthesis and replacing it with renewable energy to grow microbial protein with alcohol as a feedstock. Farmless can do this with 100-500x less land compared to animal proteins and 10-100x less land compared to plant proteins, independent from climate in a sustainable way.

Climate change is driving a transformative pivot in agriculture towards high-tech soilless greenhouses. These drastically reduce water use and emissions while significantly increasing yields. However, like humans need our gut microbiome, plants rely on the soil microbiome. This is missing in soilless agriculture, leading to reduced plant health and yield. Concert Bio addresses this by giving growers all the tools they need to create and manage an optimal microbiome in their system. Their proprietary platform gives growers unprecedented insights into their existing microbiome and uses that date to identify novel plant-beneficial microbes.

Hello Inside provides the user with intelligent, personalised insights based on their food intake and glycemic response (the effect that food or meal has on blood sugar levels after consumption - something that differs for each of us). The Continuous Glucose Monitoring patch has a small, sub-cutaneous needle which detects the glucose levels in blood and transmits the readings via bluetooth to any connected device. Hello Inside will leverage this technology to build a personalised health platform for consumers.

There are two parts to the Flow Bio system, a sensor made up of electrodes and micro-fluidics channels (this part is disposable), and a shell that holds the battery, electronics, RAM etc. Data is then displayed on a connected app where FlowBio's own data will be displayed and can be connected to other 3rd party data. The first biomarkers will be potassium, sodium and sweat rate to provide the most comprehensive and real-time view into hydration status.

Provectus Algae is an Australia-based biotechnology company specializing in the optimization of microalgae species to produce high-value biobased chemicals, specialty ingredients, and biologics for use in a wide array of industries and applications. Provectus Algae enables groundbreaking capabilities with a well-balanced fusion of innovative proprietary technology and a thorough knowledge of the unique biological traits of microalgae. By leveraging advanced automation, machine learning, and synthetic biology approaches, Provectus Algae can rapidly develop, execute, and license biomanufacturing processes depending on the needs of their commercial partners.

Fable’s founding team wanted to find a way to make it easier for people to transition to plant-based foods, and spoke to several chefs who suggested using mushrooms as a base ingredient. Fable use shitake mushrooms and have developed a unique methodology that enables them to utilise the mushroom’s stem for a delicious meat alternative.

Since the industrial revolution, advancements in manufacturing have enabled mass consumerism to grow exponentially. However consumers are quickly becoming aware of their impact on the environment, demanding more from brands. Enter synthetic biology. Soon we will be able to produce a large share of the global economy's physical materials, without compromising on performance and sustainability. Insempra bridges the gap between synbio R&D and scalable, industrial manufacturing for brands. We believe the Insempra team can accelerate the creation of sustainable alternatives to traditional materials and we’re excited to back them on their journey.

Imagine a world where drugs are tested not on animals but on actual human cells before they reach clinical trials. Imagine that every patient could receive therapeutics that are proven to be effective on that particular patient, not just the general population. This could save years of trial and error and patient suffering. We’re thrilled to back SUN Biosciences, who are building the foundations for this future by standardising organoid culture to build a single source of biological truth for drug testing, development and application. Their unique technology solves some of the core issues that have been holding organoids back.

Mental disorders account for one of the largest and fastest growing categories of the burden of disease worldwide. Mental ill-health has devastating effect on individuals, families and communities, and weighs heavily on societies and economies - the economic burden of mental ill-health can rise to up to 4% of GDP, and those with mental illness have poorer educational and work outcomes than those in good mental health. Psylo is building a proprietary platform for developing psychedelic medicines to redefine how we treat mental illness. The Psylo team is uniquely positioned to transform mental health treatment with the application of psychedelics. Collectively, they bring years of experience researching cannabinoids and building deep biotech companies. And, like all great company-builders, the founding team has assembled a supporting tribe of industry-leading biotech investors and psychedelic experts.

Meat has formed part of humankind’s diet since the first humans and still today, billions of people around the world consume meat on a daily basis. However the impacts on climate, animals, and the environment from producing meat in the 21st century is clearer than ever before. We can do better. Meatable is pioneering a way of producing real meat in a lab from cells in weeks, not years. Identical on every level without any of the drawbacks. Meatable’s patented opti-ox™ technology offers exciting cost efficiencies and the ability to build scalable meat production without the harm. We’re excited to watch Meatable build the future of food.