Recalls in the food and beverage industry due to contamination incidents can have catastrophic effects. Not only do companies have to pay fines and damages, but the impacts on the brand’s reputation can be long-lasting.
That’s why Spore.Bio, a Paris-based deeptech startup, is trying to reinvent microbiology testing to avoid the next PR crisis in the food industry. After raising an €8 million pre-seed round ($8.3 million at current exchange rates) a little bit more than a year ago, the company just secured a $23 million Series A round.
Singular is leading the round. Point 72 Ventures, 1st Kind Ventures (the family office of the Peugeot family), Station F and Lord David Prior are also participating. Existing investors LocalGlobe, No Label Ventures and Famille C are putting more money in the company as well.
The reason why Spore.Bio managed to raise so quickly after its pre-seed round is that there’s real customer interest. The startup has already signed a few commercial contracts that can cover up to 200 factories. Spore.Bio had to open a waitlist to make sure it can keep up with demand.
So what makes Spore.Bio’s technology special? In the food and beverage industry, microbiological tests require several days. Companies have to take a sample and send it to a specialized lab for testing.
“Picture this, we’re in 2022, everything is hyper-optimized. You’ve got lean manufacturing everywhere, every step is optimized and counted in minutes to get a result, to move from one step to the next,” co-founder and CEO Amine Raji told TechCrunch. “And bam, you’ve got a 5-day imponderable test in the agri-food sector, and 14-day test in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics sectors, to get a result because you have to wait for the bacteria to grow.”
First, testing has to happen offsite because petri-dish-based testing involves demultiplying any potential bacteria. So you can’t risk contam …