Protera, a bioscience start-up based in Chile, announced that it has raised $10 million USD in their Series A funding round. Sofinnova Partners led the round, and it also included food giant Bimbo Group and foodtech accelerator ICL Planet.
The Chilean start-up uses madi™, its exclusive AI algorithm to quickly create next generation functional proteins. The way madi™ operates is by running and selecting millions of combinations of amino-acids and calculating their properties to work into a protein.
Thanks to this new funding, Protera will be able to upgrade its manufacturing process and endorse its products with numerous multinational companies. Protera said it will mostly be focusing on expanding and scaling up its natural protein product, called protera guard™, which extends the shelf-life of foods and replaces widely used chemical ingredients, with an efficient natural alternative.
In October 2020, the company participated in the Future Food Tech Summit, and has recently added Thomas Videbaek and independent director Dr. Oswaldo da Costa e Silva to its board of directors.
The future seems to have AI involved in the food industry, especially the meat alternative market, since the start-up is just one of a growing number of companies using AI to develop everything from unique pea variants to better-tasting plant-based meats.
“We are excited to continue our strong partnership with Sofinnova Partners, which is known for being a company builder in industrial biotechnology, with a strong focus on entrepreneurs and science,” said Leonardo Álvarez, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Protera. “We feel fortunate to add two industrial partners, Bimbo Group, the world’s largest baked goods producer, and ICL Group, experts in ingredient manufacturing and distribution, as we position ourselves to go fully downstream and deploy products on the market.”
