August 15, 2018

Canadian bioagtech startup Chinova Bioworks has raised $2 million through a seed round co-led  by DSM Venturing BV and Rhapsody Venture Partners. Additional investors in the round include AgFunder and Natural Products Canada.

Launched in  April 2016 by co-founders Natasha Dhayagude and David Brown, Chinova Bioworks began with a mission to resolve the paradox that food preservatives are designed to prevent food waste, but are often not healthy for the consumer. Answering growing consumer demand for healthy ingredients, while at the same time retaining food quality and shelf-life, the company developed a natural food preservative derived from a mushroom extract called chitosan, which protects foods from bacteria, yeast, and mold with no organoleptic impact, and is customizable to each food company’s needs.

“In just two years, Chinova has developed a unique and innovative preservation technology using mushroom-based chitosan that can be customized to fit the needs of food and beverage producers’ individual microbial issues. Our product fits the standards of the clean label that consumers want and that producers need,” said Natasha Dhayagude, CEO of Chinova Bioworks.

From their headquarters in New Brunswick, Chinova has worked with multiple top food companies to verify the ingredient’s validity, and is on pace to have a product with regulatory approval for use by small and medium sized companies by this fall, reports Food Navigator.

Although chitosan can also be extracted from shellfish, Chinova’s method of extraction from mushrooms is better aligned with consumer’s growing demands for plant-based ingredients, while also eliminating the possibility of allergen issues. Furthermore, Chinova’s proprietary methods produce chitosan that is far more effective and consistent than existing versions.

“Most food and beverage producers have heard about chitosan but they have given up on it because of inconsistent efficacy. Our process ensures consistency,” Dhayagude told Food Navigator.

The company plans to use the funds to scale up production, and to flesh out its team with plans for an initial hire of a senior process control engineer, according to Agfunder.

We are fortunate to already have customers ready to launch and a large and rapidly expanding sales pipeline,” said Dhayagude. “With our product now validated with leading food companies, we will use this investment to quickly scale our production to meet demand.”

-Lynda Kiernan