AI-enabled protein discovery company Shiru has raised $16 million in a Series B funding round led by S2G Ventures, with participation from CPT Capital, Lux Capital, Nourish Ventures, and Meach Cove Capital. The round brings Shiru’s total funding to $36 million.
The funding will support the Californian startup’s expansion into areas such as flavor innovation, skincare ingredients, advanced materials, and agriculture as “more partners realize the benefits of AI-driven ingredient innovation.” Additionally, it will advance Shiru’s recently launched platform, ProteinDiscovery.ai.
Founder and CEO Dr. Jasmin Hume shared, “AI-powered discovery isn’t only the future of ingredient innovation — it’s here today, and we’re eager to expand our capabilities across flavor, skincare, and agriculture.”
Revolutionizing products and industries
The startup’s ProteinDiscovery.ai platform allows users to search, identify, and test highly functional, natural ingredients in a database of over 33 million molecules by protein sequence and functional use.
The platform is said to host the world’s largest database of natural proteins from plants and microbes, allowing the discovery of compounds to develop alternatives to traditional unsustainable ingredients. An important feature is the “Expressor” tool, which predicts protein expression in microbial systems, helping find viable proteins to produce cost-effectively through microbial fermentation.
In addition, Shiru’s AI tool can quickly match the protein sequences with novel applications, creating new intellectual property for bio-based ingredients at the “speed of search.” Moreover, the system enables businesses to acquire and protect intellectual property rights indefinitely.
“Our technology dramatically reduces development timelines and costs, empowering R&D teams to revolutionize products, categories, and industries through our platform, enabling valuable innovation and competitive advantage,” Hume continued.
Just the beginning
Founded in 2019, Shiru is powered by its patented Flourish technology that discovers ingredients and accelerates the development of high-performance, sustainable products inspired by nature, such as sweet proteins, plant-based casein, methylcellulose replacements, or structuring proteins.
Last year, the company unveiled its first development, OleoPro, a high-performance, structured fat that replaces saturated animal fat and unsustainable tropical oils in plant-based foods and cosmetics. The fat alternative is said to deliver “previously impossible functionality” while reducing saturated fat by over 80%, features that validate the discovery platform. OleoPro recently received a patent from the USPTO.
The Californian startup has partnered with global Griffith Foods to discover and scale sustainable ingredients and with Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition Partners to develop and commercialize sweet proteins to replace sugar and sweeteners in beverages and specialty products.
“While we’re starting with proteins, our vision extends far beyond. ProteinDiscovery.ai is just the beginning. We’re building a comprehensive platform that will revolutionize ingredient discovery across multiple molecular classes, driving innovation that benefits both industry and consumers,” Hume added.
