California-based Shiru, a company driving AI-powered protein discovery and partnerships, announces the launch of ProteinDiscovery.ai, the world's first protein marketplace and discovery platform. 

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Investments & Acquisitions

Shiru Expands AI-Powered Ingredient Discovery with $16M Boost to Revolutionize Products, Categories, and Industries

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, …

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Shiru and Ajinomoto Health and Nutrition partner to develop sweet proteins

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Ingredients

Shiru and Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition Partner to Develop Sweet Proteins That Can Replace Sugar

AI-enabled protein discovery company Shiru has announced a partnership with Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America to develop and commercialize sweet proteins that can replace sugar and sweeteners in beverages and specialty products. Sweet proteins can deliver up to 5,000 times more sweetness than sugar, and could potentially replace 70-90% of the sweetness provided by sugar in foods and beverages. While refined sugar spikes blood sugar levels, sweet proteins can moderate them because they are metabolized differently. This could potentially help with managing conditions such as diabetes. The cutting edge of functional ingredients This will be the first time Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition has tested sweet proteins, and the company will contribute its deep expertise in fermentation to the partnership. It is also Shiru’s first …

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A foto of a dandelion. California-based Shiru launches ProteinDiscovery.ai, the world's first protein marketplace and discovery platform. 

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Protein

Shiru Launches ProteinDiscovery.ai, the “World’s First” Protein Marketplace Touted as the Amazon of Proteins

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 …

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plant protein-based fat by shiru

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Ingredients

Shiru Launches Plant Protein-Based Fat for “Categorical Upgrade” of Alt Meats

California-based Shiru, a biotech startup that creates novel food ingredients, has launched its first commercial product OleoPro, a plant protein-based fat for use in alt meat and other plant-based food formulations. Developed using the company’s patented Flourish™ technology platform, the biotech company says OleoPro is a high-performance, sustainable, and nutritious alternative fat ingredient. Improved nutritional profile “Oils commonly used in plant-based meats today like palm and coconut are disastrous for the environment and aren’t great from a health perspective either. OleoPro™ is a categorical upgrade, bringing all the juiciness and fattiness we expect from conventional meats to plant-based, but with a much improved nutritional profile OleoPro™ is a categorical upgrade and without tearing down the rainforest,” said Dr. Jasmin Hume, founder and CEO of Shiru. Shiru’s novel ingredient …

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