California-based Shiru, an AI-enabled startup developing performance ingredients, announces the launch of what it claims to be the world’s first protein marketplace and discovery platform, ProteinDiscovery.ai.
Shiru‘s new platform catalogs millions of molecules by sequence, metadata, performance, and functional use. It allows users to discover, test, and purchase molecules for food, agriculture, personal care, and advanced material applications.
Dr. Jasmin Hume, Shiru’s founder and CEO, shares: “With ProteinDiscovery.ai we’ve made the world of natural proteins for industrial applications accessible. We’ve even added the ability for users to easily purchase samples, creating the ‘Amazon for proteins.'”
Saving time and money
Described as a first of its kind in the industry, ProteinDiscovery.ai allows users to access and utilize advanced AI in an easy-to-use web to search for ingredients and develop new products. It features a comprehensive database with more than 33 million natural molecules by sequence, functional use, and successful expression and automated biochemistry workflows.
According to the firm, users can discover multiple ingredients, from sweet proteins with a clean label and high stability to plant proteins that mimic casein to clean-label methylcellulose replacements or ice-structuring proteins.
“ProteinDiscovery.AI can save companies millions of dollars in R&D costs”
In addition, Shiru’s AI tool can quickly match the protein sequences with novel applications, creating new intellectual property of bio-based ingredients at the “speed of search.” Moreover, the system enables businesses to indefinitely acquire and protect intellectual property rights.
“ProteinDiscovery.AI can save companies millions of dollars in R&D costs — and years of work— towards accelerating the transition to better biobased products,” the startup states.
A toolbox for everyone
Founded in 2019, Shiru is powered by its patented Flourish technology that discovers ingredients such as plant-based alternatives to eggs, meat, dairy, and gelatin or sustainable fats, among others. Shiru uses precision fermentation, high-throughput screening techniques, and other methods to produce the discovered proteins, which are then evaluated for their performance.
But ProteinDiscovery.AI represents a significant step in Shiru’s diversification beyond food, expanding to services that enable companies to harness its AI capabilities for product development. “Shiru’s dual platform approach disrupts both discovery and go-to-market,” states the startup.
Last year, the Alameda-based startup launched its first commercial product, OleoPro, a plant protein-based fat (not precision fermentation-derived) for use in alt meat, other plant-based foods, and cosmetics. This oil alternative is said to deliver “previously impossible functionality” while reducing saturated fat by over 80%. OleoPro recently received a patent from the USPTO.
Leveraging its AI technology, Shiru has also partnered with Puratos and Griffiths Foods to discover, test, and scale sustainable solutions for the food industry. The innovative startup has raised a total funding of $20.6 million, backed by firms such as S2G Ventures, Lux Capital, and CPT Capital.
Hume adds, “We’ve been using AI to identify high-value, novel, scalable proteins for years, fueling our own product development. With significant recent interest from CPGs and ingredients companies alike, we decided to open our toolbox to everyone.”
