September 27, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Finistere Ventures and Toyota Ventures have co-led a $2.1 million Seed round for Scentian Bio, a biosensor platform developer combining insect olfactory receptors with nanotechnology and AI to deliver ultra-sensitive taste and smell solutions for the food and health industries. 

Icehouse Ventures, Our Crowd, and other unnamed investors also participated in the round which brought total funding to-date for the company to $4.4 million, which also includes grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Insects, shaped by 400 million years of evolution, have perfected the art of detecting organic compounds through scent receptors that contain sensitivity levels a million times better than humans and a thousand times better than dogs,” explained Jim Adler, founder and general partner, Toyota Ventures. 

“Scentian Bio’s team of world-class scientists and biosensor technologists is bringing how insects smell to market. We’re excited to support them as they apply this amazing technology to food, flavor, fragrances, and wellness.”

Scentian Bio has developed a patented biosensor technology based on insect olfactory receptors to make the ultimate VOC (Volatile organic compounds) detection tool. Using AI, Scentian can process and interpret signals from the biosensors to replicate the neuronal network that an insect uses to detect and identify smells.

With dozens of unique receptors that effectively recognize millions of VOCs, the platform has achieved a level of sensitivity that is 1,000 times more sensitive than a dog’s nose, giving the company the ability to rapidly deliver critical information and offer accessibility at a significantly lower cost compared to existing digital sensors.

Scentian stated that it intends to use the funds from this round to further the development of its technology platform, grow its team, and accelerate plans to commercialize its industry-specific solutions, beginning with the food industry and eventually the medical sector, and beyond. 

After seeing early success in pre-market testing with a global food company, Scentian stated that it will focus on launching its first digital biosensor by the end of 2024 that will work as a quality control solution for the food industry, providing fast quality control of the smell and taste attributes for key ingredients. Initially focusing on essential oils, the company stated it will expand its platform to include other key ingredients over time. 

“We see a large opportunity to serve the food industry as companies seek out ways to increase efficiency and improve their quality control, formulation and food safety efforts,” said Good.  “Our first solution will address a primary pain point for the food industry – shifting from slow, subjective, expensive quality control methods to data-driven, objective, fast and cost-efficient digital tools. Our second push will be in the medical arena, as we continue to further the development of our non-invasive, real-time, early detection diagnostic device for human diseases using volatile biomarkers.” 

Concurrent to the investment, Scentian Bio also announced the addition of Finistere Ventures’ Dean Tilyard to its Board of Directors, and has also shared that the company has been able to synthesize a library of 52 insect olfactory receptors, and has achieved the benchmark of reaching sensitivity at the femtomolar level, which is the equivalent of one water droplet in 20,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. 

It has also demonstrated digital response on six types of transducers, and proven its ability to use a combinatorial response to distinguish two bacteria critical to food quality. Ultimately, the company’s work resulted in a scalable production process for scent and taste receptors, an advanced prediction algorithm for iOR response to match the best receptors for specific problems, and a proprietary data framework for signal analysis. 

“Biosensors are finally breaking out of the lab and changing our everyday lives,” said Jonathan Good, CEO, Scentian Bio.  “Our platform harnesses 400 million years of evolution into an easy-to-use handheld sensor. Given the huge wealth of chemical information that smell is designed to process, we see the potential for smell biosensors to deliver tremendous value and are excited to have the investors on board to help make this happen.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

*The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. All information or other material herein is not to be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.