IndieBio â now operating out of both San Francisco and New York â is proud to announce our new batches of startups. This is New Yorkâs first batch, and San Franciscoâs tenth. Though we are running the program virtually for now, all of the startups have secured access to lab and hardware space as needed. […]
At IndieBio, our perspective on gut bacteria is informed not just by the companies weâve invested in that do human microbiome science, but by all the companies in our portfolio who work with bacteria and biomes in diverse sectors from the Future of Food to the Future of Energy to Biomaterials to Agriculture. Early Popularization […]
Thanks to Connor Dickie of Synbiota for this guest post. I can’t wait to get my hands on a kit! Itâs often said that collaboration is key. Why then, has collaboration in the life-sciences been so limited, when the products (medicine, materials, food, & fuel) are so important? The problem canât be technical, Itâs almost […]
Free to Feed helps breastfeeding mothers with allergic babies. Breastfeeding babies can react to allergens passed through the motherâs milk, and Free to Feed provides solutions to pinpoint the allergenic source. The current âbreast friendâ model offers one-on-one consulting to help mothers identify the source in a couple months. Their forthcoming test kit is tailored […]
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IndieBio NY is proud to announce that the Demo Day for IBNY Class 5 is taking place in-person at our brand new headquarters on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, and followed by an online showcase on Tuesday, February 7, 2023. Investors can sign up here to request an invitation to the In-Person Demo Day on Feb […]
IndieBio helps entrepreneurs build ground-breaking biotech companies. Weâre excited to share our ninth class of 11 new startups. They have been here for thirty days, working tirelessly to derisk critical pieces of their science and business. The four month program will culminate in a Demo Day on the 6th of February. AgriSea is creating methane-negative […]
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Gwen speaks with Pablo Zamora, Co-Founder and original CSO of NotCo. From their website: “When we discovered removing animals from food production would protect the planet, the solution was simple: create an algorithm – that we named Giuseppe – who could learn infinite combinations of plants to replicate animal products, make them sustainable and taste […]
Through the development of a simple swab-based test combined with personalized nutraceutical solutions, Microgenesis is helping women facing fertility challenges forge a path to pregnancy and motherhood. Building off their impressive initial patient results in Latin America and Spain, the team just landed (literally!) in the US to begin offering their infertility solution to the […]
Yesterday, IndieBio presented New York Batch 5 for an online Demo Day, an event that highlights new companies in the IndieBio fold. Unique to this yearâs Demo Day was the location of the event: IndieBioâs new 25,000 sq. ft. office, lab, and event space at 7 Penn Plaza in New York City. IndieBioâs managing director […]
IndieBio SF’s Demo Day was a huge success! We started off the day with an online demo day at 10 AM PST with incredible videos made by the IndieBio SF team in collaboration with the founders, as an exercise to hone the narrative of the company, ensuring that differentiation is coming across to investors. Some […]
Today, we stand on the brink of the fourth industrial revolution which fuses the physical, digital and biological spheres of technology that will fundamentally alter the way we all treat our health, eat sustainable and live better. This revolution which is being built by hundreds of startups around the world will have a biological base. IndieBio […]
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BioROSA is building a blood-based test for diagnosing autism. Autism currently is diagnosed at age four, on average, with behavioral testing. Children are missing critical windows of opportunity where early diagnosis and access to treatment could improve prognosis. At BioROSA, we are mission-driven to enable earlier detection, potentially even before the child is born, in order […]
Helping parents navigate food allergies by providing an ingredient deck for the boob.
In the last two decades oncology has seen a revolution as treatment transitions to targeted genetic drugs. Yet each therapy relies on a specific genetic profile, limiting the number of diseases it can target. Filtricine is taking a unique approach to treating cancer, targeting changes in cancer cell metabolism rather than genetics. Their approach aims […]
IndieBioâs DNA-based data storage company Catalog (IndieBio 04) recently announced that it has encoded eight of Shakespeareâs tragedies onto strands of searchable synthetic DNA stored in a test tube, and then successfully conducted text searches of the more than 200,000 words. The Boston Globe highlighted this feat in the article, âBoston startup can search Shakespeareâs plays in a […]
Sequential Skin uses their unique at-home test to provide the worldâs first truly personalized skin care. Their test considers both the human genetics and the skin microbiome to generate a report tailored to the individual. Years of research have indicated that the skin microbiome, and specifically the diversity (how many different types of microorganisms), are […]
We just had our Demo Day and we’re excited to share the recording of the livestream here. We vet the newest and exciting technologies that will make a big impact on our planet. We’ve been working with these 13 companies because they hit our bar for quality, so you know you’re always watching the cream […]
Traditionally, humans have exploited biology to produce appealing foods via selective breeding of livestock and crops. Yet there remains an unmet demand for sustainably sourced, optimally nutritious foodsâa demand that can only be met with biotechnology. Food biotechnology unites the best of what biotech has to offer by providing solutions for both human and planetary […]
The world simply needs a better sunscreen â one that does the basic job of blocking UVA and UVB, to be sure. Consumer surveys scream for a sunscreen that goes on silky smooth, does not make you look like a ghost, and one that stays on and keeps doing the job without needing to reapply […]
I have this feeling, but limited means to confirm it, that deep in the archives of Russian scientific literature lies a treasure trove of valuable new technologies, just waiting to spring forth and solve big problems. It turns out that secret treasure trove landed on our doorsteps a stoneâs throw away in Nova Scotia, Canada. […]
Cell cultured meat is finally coming into its moment. Broad adoption, however, will depend on dramatically reducing the cost of cell culture media and growth factors, which currently comprise over 50% of the total cost of cultured meat. CellCrine has discovered the role of certain proteins that improve cell growth. The cost of including these […]
Note: This event took place on January 24, 2024. You can watch the replay of the demo day here. IndieBio New York is hosting its first demo day of the year, on January 24, 2024. The demo day will feature nine companies fresh out of IndieBio NYâs program (cohort #7) that are working on breakthrough innovations […]
By Lenny Teytelman In my 2.5 years as a co-founder of ZappyLab, the most surprising aspect of entrepreneurship for me has been the realization that graduate academic training is just perfect for founding a startup. I canât think of any other training program that could have better prepared me for the challenges of creating a […]
Thank you so much to everyone who attended San Francisco’s Demo Day (virtually). We are so excited to present 13 companies who are impacting the future of human and planetary health. In case you missed it, you can watch the event, see company videos, and read the blogs by clicking here. If you are an investor and would like […]
Announcing IndieBio Demo Days: Two days to showcase the IndieBio classes and the amazing work accomplished throughout the four-month IndieBio program. Rewatch IndieBio New York Demo Day: broadcast June 22, 2021 Rewatch IndieBio San Francisco Demo Day: July 15, 2021 IndieBio startups are founded by some of the most creative, ingenious, and fantastical people on […]
GavilĂĄn Biodesign emerged out of the Donald Lab at Duke University, one of the world leaders in computational drug design. During their time at Duke, they redesigned many compounds, including a new Anti-HIV antibody that is now in 9 clinical trials. Their software was also used to predict tumor resistance mutations to 17 leading precision […]
Healthcare is simultaneously one of the fastest evolving markets, and yet the one market most resistant to change. Global healthcare is so big â $8 trillion â that it can sustain this paradox. SOSV just published its Human Health 100, a list of our top healthcare investments. They are very diverse. Here’s how to understand […]
There is a major funding gap for very early stage bio-entrepreneurs. Backed by SOSventures, a $200million dollar VC fund, IndieBio is the worldâs first accelerator dedicated to early stage biology startups. We’re offering a total package of $100k, including $50k in cash, IndieBio, a dedicated biolab in San Francisco, brings together the worldâs leading scientists […]
Nyoka Design Labs produces biodegradable light wands with bioluminescence to replace toxic chemical glow sticks. Their cell-free, enzyme-based light wands are shelf stable and meet industry standards for brightness and duration. They are now selling these light wands for commercial uses, such as events and festivals, with plans to expand into industrial uses such as […]
At IndieBio, we often get bright scientists and aspiring entrepreneurs asking us what they should do to transform their idea into a company. Weâve all heard that âideas are a dime a dozenâ and âitâs all about the executionâ. So, what are the best ways to execute? Here are the steps we suggest to take: […]
Itâs no secret that the agricultural fertilizers and pesticides create major problems in our soil, water systems, animal life, and more. Thankfully there are people who aim to solve this problem, like Fatma Kaplan and Cameron Schiller, who co-founded their company Pheronym in 2012. Pheronym offers nontoxic plant protection in a new way: They are […]
In Bloombergâs recent article âVegan Mozzarella Set to Debut in Midwest Pizzerias in Latest ADM Betâ, Bloomberg reported that IndieBioâs New Culture (IndieBio SF08 2019) has partnered with agricultural trader and processor Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) to bring animal-free mozzarella to the U.S. food market. New Culture creates animal-free casein protein using a fermentation process to […]
Bloomberg Quicktake recently tweeted a video highlighting three companies revolutionizing the alt-egg industryâone of which is IndieBioâs EVERY Company (IndieBio SF01 2015). The EVERY Company creates an animal-free egg white replacement using precision fermentation to mimic the characteristics of egg, including foaming, gelation, and nutritional properties. Bloomberg Quicktake interviewed EVERY founder and CEO Arturo Elizondo […]
IndieBio NY Demo Day was a huge success! The 10 graduating startups gave 3-minute presentations on the huge problem they are tackling in human or planetary health, their technical product that solves the problem, and the opportunity for immense impact for good when these startups succeed. Thank you for all the enormous support to our […]
Getting drugs through the tumor barrier and across the blood-brain barrier is a well-known, major challenge for medicine. Many clinical trials are underway using chemotherapy co-administered with diagnostic microbubbles, energized by ultrasound at the site of the tumor â but these are performing poorly, with inconsistent acoustics, because the bubbles are highly-varied in size. Today, […]
IndieBio is proud to announce its Demo Day for New York Class 3, taking place on January 27, 2022, with activities scheduled from 12:00pm-1:00pm. Reserve your tickets here. IndieBio is the world’s leading biotech startup development program, which supports startups tackling the biggest problems facing human and planetary health. Startups develop scientific projects into products […]
BioFeyn is a company that aims to make farmed fish a truly sustainable practice. We spoke with CEO Timothy Bouley to learn more about how nanotechnology can create better fish. Watch and read an abbreviated version of the conversation below. What are the problems with current farmed fish practices? There are many ingredients used in […]
The immune system is fine tuned to defend the body from foreign invaders, but when the system malfunctions it can spell disaster for a personâs health and quality of life. The panelists of IndieBioâs Biotechnology x Immunology event are using biotechnology to offer solutions to those suffering from immune dysregulation and overactivity. Read the top […]
We are seeking up to 8 startups to receive a minimum of $250,000 each to pursue the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, disinfection, and other solutions addressing the worldwide problem of emerging infectious diseases. We have an unprecedented opportunity to contribute to solving the remarkable scale of challenges that Covid-19 presents to our planet. Scientists […]
Women experiencing chronic pelvic pain and other symptoms including infertility often have to suffer through years of appointments and invasive surgeries to get an endometriosis diagnosis. There is often a diagnostic delay of 5-12 years. Afynia co-founder and CEO Lauren Foster teamed up with Jocelyn Wessels (now Afynia’s Chief Scientific Officer) to solve this, developing […]
New York is a global center of cultural and economic affairs, such as theatre, food, fashion, and international business. At Unexpected Biotech, IndieBio featured 2 founders who envision a future where biomaterials becomes yet another area for which New York is famous. What advantages does a biomaterials startup have on the east coast? And how […]
Recently, much of the focus in cancer diagnostics has been on advances in liquid biopsy-based tests, looking at molecular markers inside the cell. So, it takes a minute to truly appreciate what Cellens is trying to pull off. It is going retro, in a way, with a major difference. For decades, pathologists have relied heavily […]
The future is in fermentation, but what does that mean to benchtop scientists who want to produce consumer or therapeutic products at industrial scale? During the IndieBio-produced event, Unexpected Biotech, IndieBio NY Managing Director Stephen Chambers spoke with Stuart Wilkinson, Co-Founder and Technology Director of BioBrew. The conversation broke down several myths of startup scale […]
It was definitely a night to remember! After months of hard work, many came together to celebrate the milestones and accomplishments our Class 04 companies achieved during our Spring 2022 program. The event began with opening remarks from Joan Spivak, Senior Director, Life Sciences for Empire State Development, an organization that we are proud to partner […]
IndieBio is proud to announce its Demo Day for New York Class 4, taking place at The Gramercy Theater Wednesday June 29, 2022. Doors open at 5pm EST! Reserve your tickets here. IndieBio is the world’s leading biotech startup development program, which supports founders tackling the biggest problems facing human and planetary health. Startups develop […]
Food Navigator reports The Every Company (SOSV IBSF01 2015) has teamed up with upmarket west-coast patisserie brand Chantal Guillon to road test its new Every EggWhiteâwhich the company has billed as âthe worldâs first animal-free egg whiteââin a product heavily reliant on the unique functional properties of egg whites: the French macaron. About the launch, […]
IndieBio alum Gozen raised $3.3 million in seed funding round led by Happiness Capital, with participation from Accelr8, Astor Management, SOSV. The startup is working on a Turkey-based production facility with capacity of up to 1 million square feet. At Paris Fashion Week earlier this year, Gozen partnered with Balenciaga to unveil LUNAFORMâ˘, a lower-impact leather alternative. […]
Itâs an exciting time for the future of food, as technology has finally enabled us to grow meat without slaughtering animals. Finless Foods has applied a similar technology to produce fish from cells, creating a sustainable source of seafood. The companyâs timing is crucial as our oceans are not only being decimated by overfishing, but […]
This is an example page. It’s different from a blog post because it will stay in one place and will show up in your site navigation (in most themes). Most people start with an About page that introduces them to potential site visitors. It might say something like this: $3.4B+ Value Created 159 Companies Funded […]
Biomage is a computational biology company with a unique software that allows scientists to explore the multiverse of human cells through single-cell sequencing. We spoke with CEO Adam Kurkiewicz about the ability to turn every biologist into a bioinformatician. Watch and read an abbreviated version of the conversation below. How is single-cell transcriptomics changing biomedicine? […]
Ceragen produces probiotics for plants that help crops grow faster and bigger. Their unique discovery platform allows Ceragen to identify the ideal microbial consortia for each crop type, including crops like tomatoes and lettuce. Watch Ceragen present at IndieBio NY Class 3 Demo Day We spoke to CEO Danielle Rose about the importance of producing […]
Welcome to the second annual SOSV Human Health 100. The list captures SOSVâs 100 most exciting companies in human health as of April 2023. SOSVâs core mission, which we pursue through our IndieBio, HAX, and Orbit startup development programs, is to fund and foster startups that will improve human and planetary health. In addition to the Human Health 100, […]
âI never intended on even giving a crap about cancer. It just happened,â said John Butler. âThis isnât a matter of me wanting to build a business, itâs a matter of wanting to help my wife.â John quit his job to pursue a better cancer outcome and become co-founder and CEO of Quantumcyte. Together with […]
TechCrunch reports âNew Culture lands $25 million in seed funding to commercialize its cheesy vegan mozzarellaâ led by Ahren Innovation Capital and CPT Capital and supported by new investors ADM Ventures, Be8 Ventures, S2G Ventures, Marinya Capital and Future Ventures. New Culture (IBSF08 2019) creates the milk protein casein through a precision fermentation process to […]
Media Contact: Dorothy Lou Bailey, dorothylou@transcriptic.com San Francisco, CA – IndieBio, the leading global biotech accelerator, today announced an exclusive partnership with the robotic cloud laboratory platform Transcriptic for up to $60,000 per year in free services for the companies they fund and accelerate. The Transcriptic credits will be divided evenly among the companies in […]
The Forbes article âStartup uses genetically engineered algae to create pigments, protein, and moreâ reports that Spira (SOSV RebelBio 03) co-founder and CEO Elliot Roth won the TCS Pitch for Purpose competition for using the algae spirulinaâsourced from small farms via fair-trade practicesâto make carbon-negative dyes. More than 200 entrepreneurs from across the U.S. participated […]
Weâre excited to announce our eighth class at IndieBio. IndieBio invests in revolutionary technologies for human and planetary health, and each of these companies, though small today, has tremendous potential to become a very significant and disruptive company. We selected them from well over 300 who applied from all over the world. Over the next […]
Despite the demand from consumers and environmental benefit, organic agriculture accounts for less than 2% of global agricultural land. Reazent is on a mission to change this by providing biologic products to supercharge plant growth and crop yields. Despite being a young company, they extensive field trials showing the benefit and consistency of their product, […]
A considerable amount of effort is taken to make sure that the water that is used to process and rinse your produce is clean and clear of pathogens like salmonella and legionella. Even with all the regulations that are imposed on our food supply chain to prevent such outbreaks, we are still not impervious to […]
Guest post by Neil Cohen, IndieBio Mentor, Branding & Marketing Expert If you’re a PhD, the lab is your happy place. And if you’re persistent enough, you can create something that can change the world. But when you do, reality hits. For game changing concepts to become game changing science the world needs to know […]
IndieBio will be a big part of the SOSV Climate Tech Summit on Oct. 20-21. The event is virtual and free. The summit’s purpose is to convene the founders, investors, technologists, corporates, media and anyone else keen to understand and accelerate the climate tech startup ecosystem. Read more about the event here. Register here. Several […]
SOSVâs IndieBio NY has opened the doors to its new headquarters at 7 Penn Plazaâa 25,000-square-foot open office engineered to foster innovation and community in the New York deep tech ecosystem. The new facility will host startups in the IndieBio NY startup development program, which each year accepts 20+ pre-seed startups focused on human and […]
Back in 2012 if you had predicted that the climate tech startup category would be worth $2.6 trillion today, you would have been laughed out of the room. That year was the nadir of first âclean techâ investing wave, which poured some $25 billion into earth-saving startups. Less than half of that capital was returned according […]
Thereâs no doubt that the biotech industry has grown rapidly in New York City in the past decade. The landscape has changed from the domination of a few large pharmaceutical companies to a wide array of many biotech companies. Some New York-based startups, like Kallyope, have grown from a few founders to a team of […]
The science of skincare hasnât changed for 100 years. As we learn more about the skin, new opportunities for innovation are being uncovered that will shift the industry’s approach to beauty. Nerd Skincare is leveraging these advancements in science to innovate safer and better skincare products. I talked to the companyâs CEO, Evelyn Chen, to […]
Multus Media is a company producing the key ingredient to allow cultivated meat to become affordable and accessible to everyone. We spoke to CEO Cai Linton about his entrepreneurial journey. Watch and read a lightly edited version of the conversation below. What is cultivated meat? Conventional meat and cultivated meat actually produce the same end […]
Milk should be a delicious and protein-rich drink, but many alternatives to cowâs milk lack its nutrient depth. Upright has created the worldâs first protein-rich, allergen-free, vegan oat milk option with double (or more!) the protein of other oat milks. Upright then improves on cowâs milk to include ingredients that promote gut, heart, and bone […]
When we think of synthetic biology, we often think of synthetic DNA. However, the purpose of the DNA is often to make protein. Today we can order DNA overnight for cheap, but producing protein takes at least two weeks of lab work with various instruments and techniques. Liberum aims to free researchers from the tedious […]
Cows â and the methane they produce â are a major contributor to the overall greenhouse gas emissions of the dairy sector. Taking them out of the equation could be a net environmental positive. Alternative methods that use fermentation to produce dairy proteins could significantly cut the environmental cost of milk, cheese and ice cream. […]
I believe that computing shall be even more pervasive and ubiquitous than it is today and will evolve into a high-impact, use-inspired basic science1. Over the last seven decades, we have seen the beginning of a major technological revolution, the Information Revolution. Many of us who are middle-aged or part of the baby-boomer generation have […]
Today, Bolt Threads, previously Refactored Materials announced that they’d raised $40M in their latest round of financing and expect to have their yeast derived spiders silk (10x stronger than steel per weight) available for sale by 2016. The new Bolt Threads biomaterial will have applications we can only now dream of and likely many, we […]
What factors drive innovation and supply chain disruption in the manufacture of medicines? What technologies will be critical over the next decade to increase access to vital medication and to manufacture them sustainably? We asked these questions to 3 entrepreneur thought leaders in our latest âFuture of The Planetâ event. Below the video are our […]
We received an incredible number of great applications from across the world (more information to come in the next couple of weeks) but we have also just started sending out our rejection emails as well for the first application cycle and for some of you reading this, we’ll have attached a link to this post […]
A New York-based startup is about to commercialize the first true innovation in disinfection since Louis Pasteur. The startup, Halomine Inc, was founded by Mingyu Qiao and Ted Eveleth, and their first product, HaloFilmâ˘, extends the lifetime of bleach on surfaces from minutes to weeks. At the start of the pandemic, we at IndieBio were really […]
Diptera.ai combines computer vision and deep biological knowledge to fight mosquitoes and their diseases. We spoke with CEO Vic Levitin about Diptera.aiâs solution to the mosquito problem. Watch and read an abbreviated version of the conversation below. What is the mosquito problem? Mosquitoes are the most dangerous animal alive: they kill nearly a million humans […]
Explore the âNew Biotechâ with the IndieBio team and learn how we can re-imagine, re-materialize, and rebuild the world together. As a traditional natural science, biologists used microscopes to better understand the human body. âA lot of therapeutics have been observations through nature. Like finding a tree bark and turning that into a drug,â CSO […]
Tim Chang personifies a new breed of leadership in the venture-entrepreneur economy. Heâs part of a rising alternative to the tech-bro culture that operates on aggression, domination, and winning. From the Mayfield Fund perch on Sand Hill Road, holding the purse strings on $2.7 billion, Chang has emerged as a soft-key reverend â a humanist […]
The TechCrunch article âMeet the 13 startups in IndieBioâs SF cohort, and discover what about each swayed investorsâ gives a brief rundown of the startups in our newest cohort (IBSF12 2021) and quotes our Managing Partner Po Bronson on âthe clincherâ that earned each company its spot in the class. The cohortâs diverse and bold […]
Harmony Baby Nutrition makes baby formula that more closely represents human breast milk than any other formula on the market. Their secret? Precise fermentation of human breast milk protein to replace commonly used cowâs milk. One in five infants has an allergy to cowâs milk protein, which means one in five infants cannot use standard […]
Consumers looking for meat alternatives love their nuggs and burgers, but no company has recreated the experience of a chicken cutlet or scallop in taste and texture. Bosque Foods leverages the power of fungi to create whole-cut meats to satisfy any vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian using clean ingredients and minimal processing. We spoke with CEO […]
If you are (or want to become) a founder in climate tech, we’d love to hear from you. IndieBio is here to shape the brightest and boldest ideas and inventions in climate tech into category-defining companies. The huge facility in the picture above was a desktop bioreactor just a couple of years ago. Big things […]
RizLab Health is addressing the pandemic of antimicrobial resistance and helping clinicians by pinpointing the source of infection (and thus preventing inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions) with their point-of-care device, the CytoTracker. The CytoTracker differentiates bacterial from viral infection profiles within minutes. A 200-person clinical study demonstrated the CytoTracker beats the specificity of current testing methods, making […]
Storing Information in DNA Photo: Nathaniel Roquet (left) and Hyunjun Park of Catalog Technologies. As the amount of information that humans create grows exponentially, hard drives and older methods of storage are becoming obsolete. DNA has been discovered to be effective medium for storing the worldâs information, and it has several advantages in terms of storage space […]
Even though biotech has a huge impact on the lives of the general public, it is an intimidating and foreign space to many. The everyday person rarely feels like they can understand and play a role in this massive field. Amino Labs is making science accessible to the masses by creating an easy to use […]
Cells send “danger” signals to alert the immune system when they are under attack. Under the wrong conditions, these signals can lead to chronic inflammation and many downstream pathologies, including chronic pain. Pannex Therapeutics stops the production of one of these danger signalsâextracellular ATPâby blocking a protein called the Pannexin 1 channel, which sends ATP […]
Bucha Bio grows their biomaterial with bacteria, free from animals or any plastic additives. Their biomaterial can be personalized in every different way: colors, textures, and other new traits. Their expected production cost at scale is lower and production speed is faster than any leather companies that are in the market. And they are providing […]
MicroTERRA grows lemna with fish farmers to recycle pollution and feed the world. Lemna, also known as duck weed or water lentil, uses the nitrogen and phosphorus in the fish waste as fertilizer, preventing these nutrients from growing to toxic concentrations. It contains up to 40% protein and up to 25% pectin, an ingredient known […]
Bio-based materials are the future, and TĂ´mtex is designing the petrochemical-free revolution. The New York-based startup has garnered awards from design schools and fashion competitions for its material, which uses seashell waste as its foundation. By using entirely green chemistries, TĂ´mtex creates entirely biodegradable exotic leather substitutes with incredible strength and beauty. Watch TĂ´mtex present […]
âThis is bone blackâ she said as she handed me a sample of jet black hair. Silky smooth, shiny, and knottable — the bundle of plant-based hair extensions was, unmistakably, hair. Aja Labs’ biodegradable, plant-based hair samples on display at IndieBio Batch 11’s Expo on 12 July 2021 Co-founded by Osahon Ojeaga and Suna Lumeh, […]
Cayuga Biotech is a preclinical therapeutics company whose lead compound, CAY001, shows promise to change the way that severe bleeding episodes are treated. We spoke with CEO Damien Kudela, who explained the science and path forward for Cayuga. Watch and read an abbreviated version of the conversation below. How did you transition from academia to […]
The management guru, Peter Drucker, is said to have remarked, âYou can’t improve what you don’t measure.â This certainly applies to continuous biological measures from wearable technologies. In recent years, these cool tools have helped us gain a fuller measure â and therefore improvement â of various aspects of our personal health and wellbeing. Continuous […]
SOSV Announces Launch of IndieBio New York — Worldâs leading life sciences accelerator expands to New York City —— Call for Applications Open Now — (NEW YORK, January 7th, 10:30am EST) — SOSV, the worldâs most active investor in both life sciences and hardware, announced that the inaugural cohort of IndieBio New York will start […]
A bio-based chemical production technology that makes the world’s first emissions-free adipic acid that is cost-competitive with the petroleum-derived product.
We understand the benefits of stem cell therapy for humans. These amazing cells, with their self-renewal abilities, can be taken from areas where they live in the body and transferred to an injured area of the body, where they transform into the very cells that need to be replaced. Companies are making strides to make […]
The list of uses for recombinant proteins continues to grow as they are used in consumer, medical, and research markets. This increased use means that issues of scale, cost, and output efficiency  must be addressed. Geltor is creating a new recombinant protein production platform to solve these problems. I talked to the companyâs CEO, Alex Lorestani, […]
The Green Queen article âEthical Pantry Staples Maker Voyage Foods Bags $36 Million To Accelerate CPG Aspirationsâ reports on a recent series A funding round led by UBS OâConnor and Level One Fund. SOSV, Horizons Ventures, and Social Impact Capital also participated in the round. California-based sustainable food startup Voyage Foods (IndieBio) reverse engineers allergen-free […]
For millennia, food innovators have used fermentation to create delicious things like beer, yogurt, and sourdough bread. Now, at least 88 precision fermentation startups have collectively raised more than $2.8 billion to develop animal proteinsâwithout the animals and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Essentially, they program microorganisms to produce proteins chemically identical to those found in nature. But […]
We all need oxygen to survive. But we also need to manage the potential damage that can be caused by oxygen free radicals, which plays a key role in many disorders and diseases. In 2012, Stanfordâs Dr. Scott Dixon, spearheaded the discovery of ferroptosis, an iron-mediated form of cell death that is characterized by oxygen […]
New York Climate Week is one of the worldâs leading global climate gatherings, convening innovators, investors, industry leaders, scientists, and policymakers to accelerate climate action. SOSVâs IndieBio New York is proud to host and participate in events throughout the week, spotlighting the transformative potential of deep tech solutions in driving sustainability across human and planetary […]
The only computational drug design platform that models against a moving target
The CRISPR Cas complex has been a game-changing technology for gene editing. CASPR Biotech is using the incredible accuracy of CRISPR for something differentâââto revolutionize medical diagnostics. We spoke with company founders Franco Goytia and Carla GimĂŠnez. There are a couple other prominent companies also using CRISPR-Cas systems for diagnostics. Whatâs different about your focus? […]
Brightcure is a company dedicated to improving womenâs health. We asked Brightcure CEO Chiara Heide questions about the first product, a bioactive cream that promotes a healthy microbiome in a womanâs urogenital tract. Watch and read an abbreviated version of the conversation below. Your personal story lends a lot of motivation. Will you please share […]
âThere is a day coming where everyone on the planet will be touched by SOSV companies, every day,â SOSV Managing General Partner Sean OâSullivan said in his opening remarks at the top of SOSVâs 2023 Annual General Meeting in New York City on June 1. âItâll be in the clothes they wear, the food they […]
We talked with three founders of Kresko RNAtechâ Silvana Spinelli, CEO, Daniela Teplitzki, COO, and Carla Borini, director of lab operations â in the basement of IndieBio last week after their company had just been voted âKiller of the Weekâ by their peers in Batch 14. Each week at IndieBio, the companies in our batch […]
Photo: The NeuroQore team (Mehran on far left). Depression is a major burden in many people’s lives who we know. Some of the treatments that are prescribed, like medication, are not always effective or without major side effects. Drug-resistant depression is sometimes treated with electroshock therapy, which is risky, despite being the gold standard. In […]
Sea & Believe is developing a range of plant-based seafood using Irish native seaweed and microalgae innovation that doesnât compromise on taste, nutrition or the health of the ocean. All over Europe, people know the best tasting seaweed comes from Ireland. Founder, Jennifer OâBrien, walked every beach in Ireland tasting the seaweed for her alternative […]
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Guest post By Bryan Johnson, founder of Kernel, OS Fund, and Braintree Saving the world (or some subset of people in it) is in vogue among the worldâs wealthiest. Jeff Bezos has a rocket company, Blue Origin. Bezos believes our future is extraterrestrial, and his rocket company exists because he thinks the price for getting anything […]
Today we’re delighted to announce our partnership withSpaceGAMBITÂ to accelerate Space Biology, we believe one of the weakest links in making humanity a multi-planetary species is the understanding and development of biotechnologies which could be deployed in every aspect of life in space. In this partnership, IndieBio will be supportingSpaceGAMBIT with open source capacity building biotechnologies that […]
Q. Uh, seven bestselling books ⌠you could be retired on some private island ⌠why are you here? A. Itâs simple. I fell in love with IndieBio. I mean, I really love it…
Tracking vital signs is a crucial means for preventing disease. However, itâs a big time demand on caretakers of the most vulnerable patients and rarely done for much of the general population. V-Sense is developing monitors using NASA Jet Propulsion Lab radar technology to remotely and continuously monitor key vital signs. I talked to the […]
Biology is the next big technology and we are looking for scientists that will usher the new wave of iconic life science companies. âNothing is normal in the new biotech; itâs inherently cross-disciplinary and purposefully attacks preconceptions of what canât be done.â- Po Bronson Why Scientists? Scientists make amazing entrepreneurs due to their technical expertise, problem […]
At IndieBio, we are on a mission to turn scientists into entrepreneurs to solve the worldâs biggest challenges. Biology as a technology has now come to the point where we are able to design the world around us with unprecedented speed and precision to improve planetary and human health. This renaissance is being fueled by […]
Preeclampsia, a potentially fatal pregnancy condition characterized by high blood pressure and organ damage, is the second leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide, despite the condition being straightforward to treat when detected early. The current diagnosis of preeclampsia using blood pressure and proteinuria is inaccurate and requires routine clinical visits, making it inaccessible to many. […]
As part of the upcoming SOSV Climate Tech Summitâtaking place virtually September 26-27th this yearâ weâre thrilled to announce our partnership with Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) to host a Startup Innovation Challenge (aka a startup competition!) focused on Carbon Removal and Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS). Apply hereâthe deadline is July 28. The competition is open to all […]
We caught up with the two founders of Alkali Labs â Luis Valencia, CEO, and Jacob Roberts, President â in the basement of IndieBio last week after their company had just been voted âKiller of the Week.â Each week at IndieBio, the companies in our batch compete based on their top accomplishments just in the […]
I was recently inspired by Jason Silva’s Captains of Spaceship Earth: “First we build the tools and then the tools build us” Biology, as a technology is accelerating, the technology that builds us and our environment, what many people don’t realize is that we use it everywhere and it’s only just beginning. From the moment you […]
Sequential Skin provides the worldâs first truly personalized skin care.
Powerful CRISPR-based platform for molecular diagnostics.
The $4.7 trillion chemical industry accounts for about 4% of global GDP and 5% of carbon emissions. The industry is proving hard to decarbonize due to its use of carbon-intensive feedstock (e.g., petroleum) and high heat in production. Solugen, valued at over $2B, aims to deliver the green solution. At the SOSV Climate Tech Summit […]
Climate change threatens to undermine agriculture at a moment when food production needs to increase, and quickly. The UN estimates that 1.3 billion people were food insecure in 2022, with most living in areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia that are especially vulnerable to climate change. To feed a global population of 9.7 billion in […]
The Financial Times recently released a video titled âFermenting: the future of animal-free meat?â in which Financial Timesâ San Francisco correspondent Dave Lee interviewed IndieBio founders Arturo Elizondo from The EVERY Company (SF01 2015) and Kimberlie Le from Prime Roots (SF06 2018) to learn how precision fermentation is a significant contender in the alternative egg […]
Inso Bio is solving the biggest bottleneck in genomic analysis: DNA extraction. This process currently takes highly skilled scientists several hours to complete, which Inso Bio can decrease to a 40 minute automated process. Watch Inso Bio present at IndieBio NY Class 3 Demo Day We spoke with CEO Harvey Tian, Ph.D., about the Inso […]
Stembionix is creating the biofabrication infrastructure necessary to grow organs from stem cells. Their innovative vascularization technology is built with the goal of surmounting the challenge of culturing organoids: namely, growing organs larger than 8 mm diameter, at which point the internal cells lose nutrient access and die. Their vascularization technology is complemented by other […]
BrickBuilt Therapeutics is the first company targeting the microbiome via live biotherapeutic products to treat oral diseases. They are replacing conventional therapiesâsurgery or broad spectrum antibioticsâwith bacterial strains isolated and formulated specifically to treat oral diseases. BrickBuiltâs first preclinical candidate microbial drug targets periodontitis, or gum disease. This targeted treatment will not only create a […]
Kutanios produces a peptide-based ingredient that prevents sun damage and aging via topical application. The novel mechanism stops skin cells from degrading the surrounding collagen and promoting inflammation, common causes of sun-damage related aging. Not only does this peptide protect against sun and skin damage, but their ingredient is biodegradable and safe for the environment. […]
CRISPR may be a Nobel Prize winning discovery, but its translation into a therapeutic use raises many questions on safety, edit specificity and their consequences. In CRISPR, a short RNA (guide RNA) navigates the Cas enzyme to make the edit in the right place, and this gRNA plays a critical role in safety. Helex’s novel […]
Allied Microbiota is a company using bacteria that literally eat pollution for lunch to clean contaminated soils and turn brownfields into green fields. We spoke with CEO Lauralynn Kourtz about the discovery of the Allied Microbiota strain, ThermO+â˘. Watch and read an abbreviated version of the conversation below. What compounds are in contaminated soils and […]
Beemmunity protects bees from the effects of both lethal and sublethal exposure to pesticides. Their ingestible microsponge technology absorbs all pesticides and allows them to be safely expelled without harm. Beekeepers can simply add this product to their current bee feeding processes to detoxify their bees. This prevents bees from the direct toxic effects of […]
Arvind Gupta, Managing Director & Founder of IndieBio: Meeting the challenge of climate change is commonly characterized as a tradeoff with industrial economic growth. In order to save the planet, we have to reduce consumption, and we have to stop production, and we have to give up behaviors weâve long been accustomed to. The partyâs […]
Next-generation DNA sequencing technology has revolutionized biological research over the last decade, but very few advancements have been made in proteomics, the next great frontier of biological data. MYi is developing these new methods to study proteins in order to better understand, manage, and cure disease. I spoke with Jun, the companyâs COO, to learn […]
Modern neuroscience is still relying on old methods that donât allow us to truly understand whatâs happening in the brain in real-time. As a result, we have a limited understanding of brain-related disease and ability to treat conditions early. Truustâs neuroimaging technology is providing real-time data in order to visualize energy flow in the brain, […]
Biology is the best platform for manufacturing cells. It can grow and produce all kinds of biomaterials very effectively. But for humans to be able to tap into this potential, we have to build bioreactors and figure out how to scale them in order to produce the massive amounts of biomaterials we need. Bioreactors technology […]
Enough With All the Antibiotics in Livestock. Itâs no secret that much of the animal meat consumed by humans contains antibiotics that are excessively used in the raising of livestock. This leads to damaging health effects in humans, and contributes to the ever-growing issue of antibiotic resistance. In comes Pure Cultures, a startup creating a […]
Pesticides are always a compromise: if you kill the mosquitos, you end up killing the bees too. Pyrone discovered a rare natural compound that controls mosquitos and other pests not by killing them, but by temporarily stunning them. Already fast-tracked by the EPA and being tested by the USDA in Gainesville, Pyrone is now scaling […]
In recent years weâve seen an exponential ability to sequence DNA. What in the recent past it cost billions of dollars is now available for under one thousand dollars. However, the cost of synthesizing new DNA is still prohibitive and causing bottlenecks in research and industry. Genesis DNA is working to create new methods to […]
The immune system is the cornerstone of our health and ability to fight disease, but there are no methods to truly monitor its status. As a result, medicine is forced into being reactive to illness, rather than fighting disease before it starts. Girihlet is working towards a future where the immune system is monitored at […]
As you ride the elevator to the third floor of the American Industrial Center (AIC) at 3rd Street in San Franciscoâs Dogpatch neighborhood, the smell of sweetly spiced bread permeates the otherwise industrial air. Once filled with warehousing and manufacturing companies, the sprawling AICâoften referred to as a skyscraper on its sideâis now home to […]
SOSV recently got some press in Ireland about a new, specialized fund that we established to support what our general partner Po Bronson sees as the âsecond waveâ of industrial biomanufacturing.
The successful treatment of cancer lies in early detection. If we can detect it as early as Phase 1 and 2, the outcomes for therapy are significantly better. Unfortunately, symptoms oftentimes will not present until Phase 3 and 4 which limits effectivity of therapeutic interventions. Clinicai is making a noninvasive monitor for colorectal cancer with a device […]
Note: This event took place from February 26 to March 8, 2024. For the next matchup, please sign up here. SOSVâs free and virtual 2024 VC-Founder Health Tech Matchup just opened for registration. We expect 300 investors and 500 founders to participate. Who is this for? Investors and founders in health tech, up to series […]
Presenting the deepest (and most exciting!) of deep tech: IndieBio SF’s 15th cohort!
It all begins in the gut. We know that a balanced gut microbiome is key to a healthy (and happy) life. Probiotics, ingestible products that contain healthy bacteria and yeast, are available for people to buy and help with their digestive issues. But not all probiotics are created equal. Sun Genomics found that an individualâs […]
Harmony uses precision fermentation to produce infant formulas that most closely mirror human breast milk.
“‘Why is there no great alternative to regular animal or plastic furs?’ is the million-dollar question that led biochemist Martin StĂźbler to launch biomaterials company Biofluff,” wrote WWD, in its article on the plant-based fur alternative’s recent $2.5M seed round. âIt was important to us not to use plant material thatâs in competition with a […]
IndieBioâs Multus Biotechnology (formerly Multus Media) has raised a $9.5M Series A round to build a production facility for growth media. The UK-based startup (part of the IndieBio NY01 2020 class) received support from lead investor Mandi Ventures along with SOSV, Big Idea Ventures, SynBioVen, and Asahi Kasei Corp. The Series A raise builds on Multusâ 2021 raise […]
Green tech company OzoneBio (IndieBio SF11 2021) was recently spotlighted in Bioenterpriseâs feature, âStart-up uses waste to create worldâs first emissions-free bio-nylonâ. The Canadian company is upcycling waste from the paper and pulp industry to develop the worldâs first nylon 66 without emissions, the article reports. Adipic acid, a core building block of the common […]
Industry leading companies like Impossible, Perfect Day (RebelBio), and EVERY (IndieBio) have shown the powerful commercial appeal of animal-free proteins. Behind this first wave comes a second wave: glycoproteins. Glycoproteins require precise glycosylations to accurately fold, recognize, and bind â driving functional performance needed in the food industry. To unlock this second wave of animal-free […]
Today weâre extremely excited to announce the fourteen startups joining IndieBio Class Six in downtown San Francisco. At IndieBio, we are on a mission to solve the worldâs biggest and toughest problems by using biology as a technology. We are giving scientists the resources they need to drive innovations across food, biopharma and healthcare, agtech, […]
Khepra is building continuous flow reactors that deploy high-intensity ultrasound frequencies to take waste â everything from unrecyclable plastics to biomass to cardboard â and even mixed waste â and break the chemical bonds in the waste. The result is upcycled renewable chemicals and fuel components. Today, I sat down with the founders to learn […]
Cardiac arrest is one of the most time critical conditions that can strike anywhere. For the patient, each minute until the ambulance arrives has a huge impact on survival and future medical complications. Ember Medical is solving this by connecting the millions of high-risk patients with CPR-trained medical professionals in the community. Their app alerts […]
It was the Titan, Prometheus, who created man. Prometheus glanced down on the Earth and noticed that rainwater was making nature live, without it trees and bushes died, giving way to desert. Prometheus discovered the power of earth and water, so he mixed clay with water, moulding the shape of the first man. It was […]
Deli and groceraunt meals using fungi proteins.
IndieBioâs cultured meat startup Prolific Machines has emerged from stealth mode, announcing $42M in combined seed and series A funding. Prolific Machines started in SOSV’s IndieBio development program, and Arvind Gupta at Mayfield (previously co-founder of IndieBio) led the $3.1M seed round, followed by the series A led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures. TechCrunch described how […]
Point-of-care infectious disease diagnostics
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth usage has been up over 500%, yet little progress has been made to advance this critical technology. While a video call can offer unprecedented access to your physician, it is subjective by nature and, in its current form, cannot offer much in the way of diagnosis and […]
We just completed our two-day summit (Oct. 25-26), which included 22 panels and fireside chats with leading founders, VCs, researchers and policy experts. We had a great turnout, with more 6700 people registered this year, from 88 countries. We recognize that the event was not available during waking hours in much of the world so we wanted […]
Producing purified proteins is an expensive proposition, despite advances in expression systems, bioprocessing technologies and major strides in scale. The capital expense of bioreactors and bioprocessing equipment, combined with high variable costs for growth media, downstream processing, and quality control, continues to keep costs higher than desired. Proteins that are used as biotherapeutics are particularly […]
Founded by one of Turkeyâs most famous young fashion designers, Gozen Bioworks is a biomaterials company that has created the worldâs strongest and softest bio-based animal-free leather to date. Their latest product (Xylozenâ˘) is twice as strong as animal leather, impossibly thin, and soft enough to replace lambskin in luxury tiers. The breakthrough in their […]
In Bloombergâs article âBezos-Backed Food Startup NotCo Bucks Trend to Raise $70 Millionâ, IndieBioâs Chilean plant-based food startup NotCo (SF05 2017) is reported to have raised $70M of funding to build more co-branded alliances with other major food manufacturers. Led by Princeville Capital, the new funding round also gained support from Bezos Expeditions, Tiger Global, […]
In Green Queenâs âWhat Does the Future of Food Taste Like? A Lot Like Its Past, It Turns Out,â climate editor Jill Ettinger reflects on her attendance at Taste the Future: A Luncheon Celebration of the Future of Food, an event hosted by SOSV (IndieBioâs VC firm) and Apeiron Investment Group. The menu for the […]
The worldâs best predictor for variants of unknown significance in the genome
Photo: The Mendel Health team with Karim in the center. Do you ever feel your medical records are an unorganized mess, making it impossible for doctors with their busy schedules to match you with the latest treatments that are most optimally matched to your needs? In comes Mendel Health, a way for your data to […]
With the recent announcement of the launch of Indie Bio (our new idea stage biotech accelerator launching in downtown San Francisco this Jan and in Cork in the summer) and the addition of the Berkeley Biolabs team, we thought it was time to send out a request for startups, not just any startups, idea stage […]
Animal-free collagen for beauty, food, and beverage products.
IndieBio and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA ), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) are excited to announce a historic new collaboration aimed at accelerating the formation of biotech startups which will tackle the issues of drug abuse and addiction in the USA via the â$100K to Start a SUD […]
SOSV announced the close of its $306 million SOSV V fund, the firmâs largest fund to date. The news received coverage in TechCrunch, Bloomberg and Axios. The text below is from the press release SOSV issued on April 16th concerning the new fund. SOSV V will focus on deep tech startups in human and planetary health, with an emphasis on […]
IndieBio and Stanford Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) competition are excited to announce a new partnership to offer a fall 2016 cohort spot to the best biotech proposal! Read the full story on Medium.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently awarded IndieBioâs Re-Nuble (Food-X 02) a $4.6M grant as one of the awardees of the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities. The USDAâs program says it aims to address the climate crisis by âexpanding markets for Americaâs climate-smart commodities, leveraging the greenhouse gas benefits of climate-smart commodity production, and providing direct, […]
As humans, we love the aesthetically pleasing look of wood. Itâs a beautiful material, but our planet is being harmed by the massive rates of deforestation as a result of supplying wood to various industries. What if we could have a wood-like material without cutting down trees? Thatâs where Lingrove comes in. Using plant-based fibers […]
Stem cells have been a key source of innovation in regenerative medicine, because they possess the ability to self-renew. Adult stem cells are found within the human body, in bone marrow, tooth enamel, and other locations. When someone is injured, the inflammation from the injury acts as a signal for the stem cells to become […]
New York biotechnology is building the world of tomorrow and improving human and planetary health. IndieBio NY hosted “Unexpected Biotech: Innovative Technologies Emerging from New York Life Sciences,” to showcase the many sectors in which biology can be turned into technology. Summaries and recordings from the event are linked below. See the future of biotech at […]
In the article, âMaterials Innovator AlgiKnit Closes $13 Million Series A Thttps://www.synbiobeta.com/read/materials-innovator-algiknit-closes-13-million-series-a-to-transform-the-textile-industrys-environmental-impacto Transform the Textile Industryâs Environmental Impact,â SynBioBeta reports that biomaterials company AlgiKnit (IndieBio / RebelBio 05) has completed a $13 million Series A funding round led by Collaborative Fund with additional support from Starlight Ventures, Third Nature Ventures, Horizons Ventures, and SOSV. Just Styleâs article âH&M Group joins funding for seaweed yarn maker Algiknitâ also […]
From lab-grown fish to burger flipping robots, Hulu’s new six-episode docu-series “The Next Thing You Eat” will explore the changes in what we eat. To help advance that discussion, co-founder and CSO Ellen Jorgensen of Aanika Biosciences (SOSV RebelBio) joins an episode to explain how they use microbes to trace and authenticate products in the […]
Biomaterials company BioAesthetics (IndieBio 05) has been developing a nipple-areolar complex (NAC) graft for breast cancer survivors, and New Orleans 4WWL TV News tells the story of the first successful graft in, âBreast cancer survivor receives breakthrough nipple, areola reconstruction surgeryâ. Breast cancer survivors who have undergone mastectomies usually cannot keep their nipples and areolas […]
Lessons learned in Biotech Food Innovation Over our first four classes and 55 startups funded, IndieBio has built up a new class of food companies. We are so honored that AgFunderâs annual survey voted IndieBio one of the Top 3 most valuableâ accelerators in AgTech. Itâs been a lesson for us that biology can have […]
First-in-class blood-based biomarkers for diagnostics for Autism Spectrum Disorders
Probiotics on the market today promise all sorts of âgood thingsâ you need for a healthy gut, which we now know is important in many diseases and conditions. Unlocked Labs is taking the opposite approach â it is taking âbad thingsâ out of the gut, with a small twist. Take hyperuricemia as an example, which […]
Globally, one in ten women will suffer from endometriosis, a painful and debilitating gynecological condition. On average, women donât get a proper diagnosis for five to twelve years after the onset of symptoms because, until now, the only reliable way to do so was via laparoscopic surgery that can cost over $20,000 and require three […]
In this session, Gwen interviews Gianna Hoffman-Luca, Principal from Xontogeny, a therapeutics focused seed-stage VC fund founded by Chris Garabedian, former CEO of Sarepta. Gianna demystifies the funding landscape for therapeutics startups, recommends companies to start solving for data necessary for series A funding, at the seed and pre-seed stage.
We talked with the founder of TippingPoint Biosciences â Laura Hsieh, CEO â in the basement of IndieBio last week after her company had just been voted âKiller of the Weekâ by her peers in Batch 14. Each week at IndieBio, the companies in our batch compete based on their top accomplishments just in the […]
Photosynthesis wastes sunlight. Many scientific efforts are underway to improve the efficiency of photosynthesis to increase yields. None of these efforts have translated from research/academia into the field. Others are too complicated for real world applications. Climate Crop â decades in the making at Weizmann Institute â will outgrow them all. They have found a […]
Maria Soloveychik is the CEO and co-founder of SyntheX Labs, a biotech company developing peptide therapeutics for cancer and other rare diseases. A: Tell me about your background, how did you get interested in the biotech space? M: So it started in 8th when I decided I wanted to do biology so I could clone […]
Today we celebrate the company SyntheX, which announced a $550 million research collaboration with Bristol Myers-Squibb to develop better cancer drugs with SyntheXâs drug discovery platforms. Itâs an astounding achievement, a great long-term partnership, and very meaningful validation of SyntheX and its founders, Maria Soloveychik and Charly Chahwan. Itâs also the culmination of everything we […]
There is a quiet âmoon landingâ for the stroke survivor community: Reach Neuroâs patented spinal cord stimulation device has been able to restore upper limb function to patients even 9 years after the initial stroke event, immediately restoring their ability to self-direct a spoonful of food into their mouth, and even sign their own name. […]
Join SOSV and IndieBio for a panel discussion about the forthcoming “Meat the Future” documentary. This virtual event on December 7, 5:30-6:30 pm PT, is free and open to the public. Register on Hopin. Told over the span of five years (2016 – 2021), the award-winning documentary Meat the Future chronicles the birth and acceleration of the […]
Since its founding, IndieBio has worked with biotech startups addressing the biggest challenges in human and planetary health. âPlanetary healthâ isnât merely a tagline, but a new reality that IndieBio companies have created by rewriting the way we make food, design materials, and utilize waste streams. The need to mitigate human-made climate change through novel […]
Human health is one of the twin missions at SOSV, right alongside planetary health. SOSVâs very deep health portfolio spans the HAX and IndieBio startup development programs in categories including diagnostics, therapeutics, medical devices, computational biology, assistive robotics, and more, in line with the SOSV Human Health 100 published last year. Thatâs why on April 3-7, SOSV […]
As the population keeps growing, we are increasingly turning to our oceans to feed a hungry world. This pressure is leading to unsustainable practices that damage ecosystems and our health. New Wave Foods is creating healthy and sustainable plant and algae-based seafood to meet this growing demand. I talked to the companyâs CEO, Dominique Barnes, […]
Beeline takes engineered immune cell therapy in a new direction. They are unique in how they have engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs), which play a natural role in ramping down the immune system. This has wide applications for autoimmune diseases and organ transplantation. We talked with company founders Dimitre Simeonov and Michael Wyman. Since youâve […]
Why we invested: The message from the market is crystal clear: electric vehicles need to be cheaper. Since up to 40% of an electric vehicle is the battery, and in turn 70% of the cost of the battery is in materials, itâs an imperative for the industry to develop cheaper and higher performing materials. Silicon […]
Matias Muchnik and Karim Pichara founded NotCo to modernize R&D in the food industry. While it might look like a plant-based food company, NotCo is in the data and AI businessâand aims to disrupt R&D in many industries that use animal and plant ingredients. It was March 2015 and Matias Muchnik was bracing for rejection. […]
The AltProtein space is abuzz, but lacking in products that engender the same finger-licking scrumptiousness of devouring a plate of tasty wings. Sundial Foods developed a novel processing technology for creating plant-based whole cuts of meat — complete with skin, meat and bone. The beauty is in how it ends up on your plate from […]
Traditionally, people in pain are given Opioidsâwhich, although they relieve pain, can have dangerous side effects such as loss of motor function, and addiction. Ocycontin, Vicodin, and other pain relievers are effective in subduing pain, but they are extremely addictive, which causes major problems in families and communities. The Opioid Crisis is a reality weâre […]
Friends and labmates who trained together in the Oxford University silk group, Alex Greenhalgh and Dr. Martin Frydrych are tackling climate change one silk shirt at a time. From their lab in Oxford, Alex answered some of my most pressing questions around the environmental damage fashion manufacturing is inflicting on our planet, Spintexâs unique take […]
Halomine is a company revolutionizing the way we disinfect surfaces. We asked Halomine CEO, Ted Eveleth, to tell us about the first product, Halofilm. Watch and read an abbreviated version of the conversation below. What is your first product, Halofilm, and what does it do? Halofilm is a very versatile product that allows you to […]
OncoPrecision cultures patient-derived cancer cells using a proprietary 2.5D co-culture technology to rapidly screen and select the right cancer treatment – the first time.
OncoPrecision can predict a patientâs response to cancer therapies by replicating the tumor microenvironment ex vivo. Their unique, triple co-culture method increases patient-derived cancer cell viability 60x in a 2.5D format that has been validated using real patient data. For patients in dire need of the right cancer treatment the first time, OncoPrecision offers doctors […]
ZymoChem is breakthrough science for a fossil-free future. We develop bio-based materials for everyday products without compromising Cost, Performance, Scale, or Sustainability. Since 2015, ZymoChem has refined its processes and patented technologies to replace petroleum ingredients and become one of the worldâs most efficient biomanufacturing platforms. Materials underpinning our lives are made from fossil inputs with […]
The science of gene therapy poses one of the greatest technical challenges in modern medicine. Researchers and industry face the significant challenge of introducing new functioning genes into cells, and doing so in a scalable and affordable manner. Indee is a biotech startup developing new tools for gene therapy to bring it to the masses. […]
Cellular protein production is used across industries to create products for medicine, consumers, research, and more. However, the technology to do so in the most efficient and effective ways has lagged behind production. Circularis is using their expertise in discovering, analyzing, and evolving cellular promoters in order to regulate protein production with revolutionary precision. I […]
Drug delivery is one of the greatest challenges in treating cancer today. There are a multitude of effective drugs that arenât able to be delivered to tumor sites, or can not be delivered in combination. Vali Nanomedical is now solving these drug delivery problems with a revolutionary programmable drug delivery system, and working towards a […]
Three ag tech founders and SOSV IndieBio Po Bronson will discuss s the future of ag tech and climate
A wide number of cancers exhibit misregulated genome packaging at the chromatin level. If chromatin that should be tightly condensed, becomes loosely packed (or vice-versa), the normal brakes on cell growth arenât operant, leading to uncontrolled cell growth. Being able to regulate and control the chromatin state has been a high-value target for oncology. Coming […]
Closing out 2022, TechCrunch+ compiled the top investor perspectives of the year across various sectors from climate tech to fintech to construction tech. The year-end compilation, âThe best TechCrunch+ investor surveys of 2022â, featured SOSV general partner and IndieBio CTO Pae Wuâs thoughts on the future of climate tech. TechCrunch asked Wu two questions: Which emerging […]
Cell-based meats, or clean meats, can alleviate pressures on the environment, end animal suffering, and produce sustainable protein for the growing world population. Yet, we are still far away from making cell-based meats a reality due to technological challenges. New Age Meats is tackling these challenges with automation and data to accelerate product development and bring pork […]
Electronic Embryo Alteration. Photo: Arshia Firouzi (left) and Gurkern Sufi. There are numerous reasons why new therapeutics take so long to become accessible to people suffering from life-threatening diseases. Many lab animals which are used in the testing of new treatments, most notably mice, often need to be genetically modified in order for them to best represent […]
Science is catching up with cancer. We are in a new era of personalized medicine for diagnosing and treating patients, now zooming in even closer, on an individualâs genome. By understanding the genetic causes of cancer, and measuring the differences between someoneâs cells that are affected by cancer with the ones that are not, Onconetics […]
Although doctors mean well by prescribing antibiotics, we canât ignore the fact that antibiotic resistance as an effect of overuse has become an overwhelming problem in the healthcare industry and elsewhere. The situation can appear hopeless to some, but the team at Antibiotic Adjuvant sees it as a challenge they are willing to accept. They […]
California Cultured produces sustainable chocolate from plant stem cells cultured to highlight the vast array of flavinols and functional compounds. Led by CEO and repeat founder Alan Perlstein, the team at California Cultured created the worldâs first cell-cultured chocolate bar grown in a low-cost, high performance, food-grade cacao cell media. Or as Alan prefers — […]
The majority of MDF (an engineered wood product) is composed of wood dust and the resin (a plastic) that binds it. The resin is the smallest component of MDF, but the biggest cost driver. MirĂĄ Biotech eliminates the resin so that they can sell MDF for the same price as traditional MDF, but with 3-4 […]
Shake Shack just expanded its dairy-free milkshakes and custards made in partnership with NotCo (IndieBio 05) to all 260 locations in the US. NotCoâs AI âGiuseppeâ analyzes the product structure of foods at the molecular level and then replicates it using only plant-based ingredients. Giuseppe has the ability to find matches in flavor, texture, nutrition and […]
CellCrine discovered an enzyme that transforms cell culture for the cell-based meats industry. It’s made recombinantly, but can be used at such low concentration that only a tiny bit is needed. The impact is dramatic — reducing the need for insulin, transferrin, FGF2, TGFb, and other expensive media ingredients. The cells grow nearly as fast […]
In âSOSV 2021: The year in review,â SOSV Managing General Partner Sean O’Sullivan goes over the factors that drove a 40% increase in assets under management and lifted several portfolio companies to unicorn status in what was a âstunningâ year for SOSV. More important, OâSullivan argues that the deep tech investing category has hit an […]
With recent bans on real fur going into effect across the EU, United States, and beyond, and a decline in customer acceptance of plastic-based furs, luxury brands are actively seeking novel sustainable fur alternatives to animal and synthetic furs. BioFluff is working on developing a cost-competitive, biodegradable, and high quality alternative to both. BioFluff is […]
Multus Media supplies animal-free growth media that is the key ingredient to make cultivated meat affordable and profitable.
For centuries, chocolate has been a staple ingredient and sweet treat in diets all over the world, but its future is in trouble. Chocolate production has long been associated with significant carbon emissions and deforestation, with a looming supply deficit predicted by 2030. To save chocolate, Nukoko is transforming the industry with its sustainable and […]
A synbio platform to brew the functional and flavorful proteins found in eggs
In its recent quarterly report (Q2 2022) on the foodtech sector, PitchBook identified SOSV as the most active VC investor in foodtech this year, citing scores of successful startups in SOSV and IndieBioâs portfolio. While the foodtech industry boomed amid the COVID-19 pandemicâespecially e-commerce businesses that provided safe grocery and meal accessârecent price inflation for […]
We talked with three key team members of Los Angeles-based Karma Biotech â Andrew Gray, Co-Founder and CEO, Alan Johnson, Co-Founder and COO, and Joe Turner, CFO and CBO â in the basement of IndieBio last week after their company had just been voted âKiller of the Weekâ by their peers in Batch 14. Each […]
We talked with two founders of Bloom Labs â Sim Gulati, CEO and Richard Freundlich, CTO â in the basement of IndieBio last week after their company had just been voted âKiller of the Weekâ by their peers in Batch 14. Each week at IndieBio, the companies in our batch compete based on their top […]
NURO is the architect of the NUOS product line allowing Communication by Brain. Instantly and without any surgery.
Now in its second year, the SOSV Climate Tech 100 is shaping up to be a great showcase for SOSVâs climate tech mission and investing. More than half of the companies on the listâ58 to be exactâgraduated from IndieBio. In the past year, the 100 have doubled in valuation, reaching more than $11 billion, and […]
We’re delighted to announce that IndieBio is partnering with the World Agri-Tech Investment Summit! This year more than 400 international ag technology leaders, innovators, and investors will gather in San Francisco on March 16-17th. This yearâs theme is âConnecting Business and Technology to Create Scalable Innovationâ and already an outstanding faculty of speakers have confirmed their participation, including: Jim […]
Co-founder, Emerald Cloud Lab & Emerald Therapeutics
The future of our species depends on procreation, but today the world is at an all-time high in infertility due to disease, stress, and the decision to delay having kids. But what if we can generate healthy egg and sperm from your skin cells? Ivy Natal is attempting just that using stem cell technologies and […]
Co-founder, Emerald Cloud Lab and Emerald Therapeutics
MCJ Collective podcast hosts Sean O’Sullivan, Managing Partner and Founder of SOSV to discuss how his team pioneers and runs its world-leading startup development programs, IndieBio, HAX, Chinaccelerator, MOX, and dlab. Sean explains the company’s founding story, his transition from cloud and internet technology to deep tech, and what makes a meaningful climate investment. He […]
Mobi Health News reports âSynthace raises $35M Series C to accelerate the development of cures and expand reach.â The Synthace Life Sciences R&D Cloud automates data, streamlines insight sharing, and enhances experimentation with machine learning. Using the Synthace platform, scientists can speed up the decision-making process and lower the cost of creating new drugs and […]
Portable artificial kidneys, smaller than a backpack
Co-founder & Co-CEO, Emerald Cloud Lab; Co-founder, Emerald Therapeutics
In theory, the holy grail of diagnostics is simple: a rapid, universal probe that detects hundreds of pathogens at once, with broad coverage that doesnât compromise sensitivity, uses small sample volume, doesnât need long wait times from R&D and manufacturing, and is cheap. In practice, it is much harder. Melio overturns the traditional one-pathogen one-probe […]
The world’s leader in using DNA for high-density data storage and computation.
Revolutionary lab-in-a-box that is seeding the world’s largest repository of longitudinal microbiome data
Three Ph.D. students at the University of Washington started brainstorming about how they could help each other complete their research and graduate sooner. Jason Fontana was iterating on guide RNAs for CRISPR applications. David Sparkman-Yager was deciphering the rule book for how RNAs dynamically respond to binding. Chuhern Hwang was working on how to make […]
The global fungicide and bactericide market is expected to reach $28B by 2024. Between 20â30% of these chemical pesticides will soon be banned due to health concerns. Additionally, 64% of global farmland is at risk of small molecule pesticide pollution. Pressure from supermarkets and governments to reduce the usage of chemical pesticides to control agricultural […]
Two years after starting the IndieBio NY program as its Managing Director, Dr. Stephen Chambers, PhD, SOSV named him a general partner. Stephen has been active in synthetic biology for 3 decades and founded multiple organizations. Immediately prior to joining IndieBio in 2020, Stephen was Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence at Imperial College London where […]
Ten63 Therapeutics raised $15.9 million in Series A funding to advance and expand its internal pipeline of first-in-class small molecules inhibiting high-impact, but thus far undruggable, cancer targets. Despite advances in drug discovery, 80% of the proteins in the human body remain evasive, and some of these so-called âundruggableâ proteins are believed to be major […]
Wayfinder has built a drug discovery platform for small molecules that modulate RNA targets. Their technology generates highly quantitative data on RNA-small molecules interactions at high-throughput. Combined with their AI/ML virtual screening models, they can search billions of molecules for RNA modulators in just 3 days. And they do it way faster than anyone else […]
The public-private nonprofit Partnership for New York City is âdedicated to mobilizing private sector resources and expertise to advance New York Cityâs standing as a global center of economic opportunity, upward mobility, and innovation.â In their recent post âSOSVâs IndieBio â New Yorkâs Latest Launch Pad for Early-Stage Biotech,â the organization describes how âthe commercial […]
Maritime shipping, aviation, and trucking will account for at least a tenth of global CO2 emissions by 2030 and cannot be electrified anytime soon. To meet EU emissions standards, cargo operators are already ordering methanol-powered ships. However, green methanol is currently produced using energy-intensive processes, resulting in a greenish fuel that canât compete with oil […]
If you haven’t been following the trends in synthetic biology, just know that bio-based chemicals are the future. Capra Biosciences reimagined biosynthesis by developing a low-cost, continuous flow method that scales OUT without having to scale up. Pairing a proprietary continuous flow bioreactor with a novel biofilm forming organism, they are producing hyrdophobic products like […]
Karma Biotech is an oncology company targeting solid tumors, starting with colorectal cancer. Their technology aims to deliver cytokines and other biologicals, such as IL-15, specifically to tumor and metastatic sites, avoiding the dangers of systemic toxicity. This localized IL-15 will turn cold tumors hot, allowing the body to clear the cancer. The founders at […]
IndieBio is excited to announce our newest class of thirteen biotech startups. These companies are bringing innovation to a host of industries, from classical biotech spaces like drug development and medical devices all the way to veterinary, information storage, and utilities markets. While these companies will be based in downtown San Francisco for the next […]
In May 2020, a McKinsey report found that the global bioeconomy is slated to become a $4 trillion gold rush as synthetic biologyâs promise to make high-quality, sustainable products gains traction. These products range from food to textiles to medicines, and biofermentation is the manufacturing process that makes all of it instead of having to […]
UPSIDE Foods has secured the trifecta of regulatory approvals needed to take its cell-cultivated chicken commercial. âNo Questionsâ Letter from FDA â November 2022 After rigorous evaluation of UPSIDEâs products and processes, the FDA issued a âNo Questionsâ Letter (NQL). USDA Label Approval â June 2023 UPSIDE received a USDA âlabel approval,â showing that it demonstrated […]
In an interview with Forbes âHow NotCo Is Saving The Planet By Making Plants Taste Like Meat,â NotCo (IBSF05 2017) co-founder and CEO Matias Muchnick describes their process for using artificial intelligence algorithms to replace animal-based foods with sustainable plant-based alternatives. He also explains how the disruptive nature of their product has led the company […]
Increased yields in berries and almonds while protecting bee health.
“Rehab on Your Phone” Photo: John Mendelson (center) and the DxRx team. Not everyone who occasionally overdrinks is seen as an alcoholic in need of help. DxRx is a service for people who want to manage their alcohol consumption using an app, a breathalyzer, and medication if needed. DxRx wants to break the stigma of alcoholism […]
Amino makes learning biotechnology easy and accessible. Their DNA Playground and BioExplorer kits bring bio to any home, school, or makerspace!
In a time when extreme climate makes crop harvests uncertain, greenhouses offer consistent yields while using fewer water and land resources. Ceragen contributes to the sustainable intensification of crop production with a single application of their ACCelerate probiotic, which increases hydroponic tomato yields up to 16% in field trials. Ceragenâs microbial discovery platform has a […]
Two Cornell-based IndieBio startups Halomine (NY 01) and Inso Biosciences (NY 03) won support from the New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund to develop solutions that will help prevent future disease outbreaks like COVID-19, the Cornell Daily Sun reported in the article âNYS Funds Cornell Startups To Combat New Disease Outbreaksâ. Halomineâs primary technology, HaloFilm, […]
For billions of people, cell and gene therapies offer the possibility of curing incurable diseases, but access to these life saving treatments feels out of reach as large scale manufacturing remains one of the biggest bottlenecks in producing these game changing solutions. These therapies can cost as much as $3.5M per patient and 30% of clinical trials […]
Period pain has an immediate negative impact on the quality of life, forcing 41% of menstruators to miss work or school. For places like the US, this results in over $7B loss annually. Current treatment options such as painkillers (NSAIDs), hormones, opioids, and surgery have serious side effects like kidney failure, stomach ulcers, blood clots, strokes, […]
Plant-based food producer NotCo (IndieBio SF05 2017) has a secret weapon against critical supply chain disruptions, according to Bloombergâs recent article, âThe AI Platform Behind a Bezos-Backed Startupâs Vegan Burgersâ. The Chilean-based company is tapping into an artificial intelligence platform named Giuseppe to find an alternative to sunflower oilâa crucial ingredient to one-third of all […]
The TĂ´mTex mission is to create innovative material designs that parallel lifecycles observed in nature and serve as alternatives to the production methods that have contributed to our worldâs environmental crisis. Our revolutionary bio-based materials offer a sustainable, accessible, and practical alternative to currently available commercial material options.
Why we invested: Reactosome uses synthetic nuclei as a novel class of gene therapy. This is not a âbetterâ LNP, AAV, etc â This would be peerless in delivering very large DNA payloads ALONG WITH the transcription machinery to transcribe RNAs. As a result, the internalized nuclei can continuously pump out mRNAs into the cytosol. […]
Seventy percent of Americans have tried alternative protein products, but the sectorâs actual market share is still just around 3%. This suggests consumers are very open to new products, but making an impact on the climate is going to take wholesale adoption. At the SOSV Climate Tech Summit, Po Bronson, General Partner of SOSV, Managing […]
Votano; Open Cell Media
Rice cultivation in the open ocean or land overtaken by rising seas.
On Conscious Leadership: Jack Sim By his count, before he turns 80 and is confined to a wheelchair and canât remember his wifeâs name, Jack Sim has 6,734 days left to live. Less than one thousand weeks. He counts his days in order to focus, in order to make it count. Today, heâs at IndieBio, […]
We are a group of scientists and engineers designing a new system to mass-produce adult stem cells. Our pilot project is the rapid large-scale production of mesenchymal stem cells, for use in basic research and bioprinting. With federal science budget cuts of almost $600M in Canada alone between 2008 and 2013, it is becoming increasingly […]
Laguna is developing the first ever targeted cell therapy platform that requires no patient cell engineering, providing the benefits of adoptive targeted cell therapy without any of the complexity, cost, or safety issues associated with extraction and ex vivo manufacturing. Their QUAIL platform activates and expands endogenous đđ T cells from 1-10 million to 1-2 billion circulating cells. This technology can […]
TechCrunchâs story âUpside Foods bites into $400M round to serve cultivated meat later this yearâ reported the blockbuster series C round, led by Temasek and the Abu Dhabi Growth Fund. The round in Upside Foods (IBSF02 2015) is reported to be the largest investment in the alternative protein industry to date and, according to Crunchbase, […]
In America alone, an estimated 12 million tons of textile waste â equivalent to 85% of all textiles â end up in landfills on a yearly basis, because recycling is not trivial. There are almost two dozen methods to recycle specific fiber types, ONLY if the garment waste happens to be 100% of a single […]
MezoMax is developing calcium stereoisomers shown to increase the rate of bone healing in international investigator-driven clinical studies.
Digitizing the smells in the environment around us so we can see the unseen.
Vertical Oceans is elevating shrimp through its advanced vertical aquaculture system integrating 83 different technologies to build a perfect ecosystem for the worldâs cleanest, freshest, and most sustainably produced shrimp. Below we caught up with John Diener and Enzo Acerbi, co-founders and CEO and CTO, respectively, of Vertical Oceans. It was 3 AM in Singapore, […]
Canaery leverages the animal kingdom’s superior sense of smell to detect and digitize the world of scent. A dog’s nose is a smelling machine. From cancer to covid to cocaine to citrus greening, no other chemical sensor on the planet can smell and sort through the billions of environmental compounds like an animal’s olfactory bulb. […]
Point-of-need blood tests that deliver results to the clinician within minutes.
NY1 published a segment âHow New York City is expanding its life sciences industryâ featuring Opentrons, an SOSV HAX startup. If youâve ever taken a COVID-19 test in New York City, itâs highly likely your sample was processed by Opentrons, a Brooklyn-based company that builds lab robots for biologists. And this is by designâpegged as […]
IndieBio’s fellow startup development program, HAX, just recorded a big win, as reported by Bloomberg in “SoftBank Invests in Robotic Company Behind NYC Covid Testing. HAX alum Opentrons Labworks Inc. raised $200 million in round led by Softbank to reach a valuation of $1.8 billion. The Brooklyn-based, laboratory robotics company used its automated systems to […]
This recent article in The Economist âMeat no longer requires animal slaughterâ explores the burgeoning cultured meat industry with a focus on UPSIDE Foods (SOSV IBSF02) and its founder and CEO Dr. Uma Valeti. The article tracks the emergence of lab-cultured proteins, like chicken, as a response to the moral issue of animal slaughter as […]
Making pathway prototyping possible with push of a button. No bugs needed.
The Bloomberg article âStarbucks Tests Alt-Milk From Unicorn Startup Perfect Dayâ reports two Starbucks stores in Seattle will consumer test milk made by alt-dairy startup Perfect Day (SOSV RebelBio01). Made using yeast and age-old fermentation techniques, the Perfect Day milk-alternative works as foam or steam and can be served hot or iced. The article reports […]
Restoring women’s fertility using advanced diagnostics and microbiome insights
Mohan S. Iyer is the newest general partner at SOSV, focused on the IndieBio SF program with fellow SOSV general partners Po Bronson and Pae Wu. Prior to joining IndieBio in 2021, Mohan was the COO of Pendulum Therapeutics working on probiotics for metabolic health to help people with type 2 diabetes to manage A1C, […]
The TechCrunch post, âPrellis Biologics raises $14.5M, debuts a âhuman immune systemâ in a dishââ reports that the series B round for Prellis Biologics (IBSF05 2017) was led by Celesta Capital and existing investor Khosla Ventures. SOSV IndieBio also invested in the round, as it did all Prellisâ prior rounds. The article notes Prellis recently […]
The Wall Street Journal, along with scores of other outlets including AP News, The New York Times, STAT, and WIRED, recently hailed a pilot study published in Nature Medicine demonstrating a breakthrough in post-stroke treatment to return mobility to the arms and hands of stroke patients. Indie Bio’s Reach Neuro (SF13 2022), which participated in […]
Over 53 million tons of electronics are discarded every year, wasting $57 billion worth of recoverable metals. Typically incinerated, this e-waste releases toxic fumes, causing people serious health problems. Only 17% of e-waste is recycled because existing methods are too expensive, energy-intensive, and pollutive. BioMetallica has developed the first eco-friendly biotechnology for recovering palladium, platinum, […]
IndieBioâs materials company Novoloop (RebelBio 02) has partnered with athletic shoemaker On to produce an outsole for Onâs Cloudprime sneaker from upcycled thermoplastic polyurethane, TechCrunch reported in the article âMaterials startup Novoloop brings its upcycled outsole to Onâs new running shoeâ. Novoloop transforms low-value plastic waste into high-quality chemicals and materialsâitâs first product being Oistre, […]
The number of high-profile athletes suffering from neurodegenerative disease, the result of repeated concussions during their sports career, has raised awareness of the problems associated with recurrent concussions and the resulting brain trauma. Concussions in athletes are very common. About 3.8 million concussions occur each year in the U.S. from sports-related injuries. The CDC estimates […]
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San Francisco, CAâSOSV/IndieBio, a leading venture capital firm focused on deep tech investments, is proud to announce several collaborations between its 200+ portfolio companies. The firm’s investments have been at the bleeding edge of innovation, and these collaborations further highlight the ingenuity of its founders and the potential for revolutionary new ideas. âWe crowdsourced ideas […]
Carbon capture, utilization and storage has a dirty little secret that divides its proponents and opponents: capturing CO2 out of the air is cheap, but then releasing it from its capture solvent into a purified tank is up to 10x more energetically and financially costly. This is one of the reasons why opponents argue weâll […]
IndieBioâs OncoPrecision (IndieBio SF11 2021) recently announced the closing of a $3.3 million seed funding round, âOncoPrecision Raises $3.3M Seed Funding to Improve Cancer Patient Outcomes and Drug Development Efforts with âPatient Micro Avatarsâ. This most recent funding round bring OncoPrecisionâs total funding to date to $4.2M. The seed round included investors SOSV (IndieBio), GRIDX, […]
Artificial ecosystems for shrimp production.
All over Europe, people know the best tasting seaweed comes from Ireland. Sea & Believe founder Jennifer OâBrien walked every beach in Ireland, tasting the seaweed for her alternative seafood. She found one beach where the seaweed was remarkably tastier than all others. âIt just had that distinctive spray of the ocean,â said OâBrien. But […]
Viruses have evolved to become shapeshifters that can evade and distract our immune system by hiding some of their most vulnerable sites. History has shown that pandemics are not only lethal but also inevitable. Currently, the vaccines we know best poorly protect against pandemics and other viral outbreaks and leave many at-risk populations unprotected. By […]
âItâs really important to understand the distinction between what it is to build a business, and what it is to build a research program.â SOSV GP and IndieBio CTO Pae W recently took the stage with Brian Heater at TechCrunch Early Stage to share her insights on how to turn research into a businessâand why potential founders should consider leaving the âsafetyâ of the […]
Shrimp shell-based âleatherâ maker TĂ´mTex (IndieBio NY03) was recently the subject of two feature articles from Bloomberg and WIRED. TĂ´mTex turns raw chitosanâa biopolymer that makes up crustacean shells, mushroom cell walls, and insect exoskeletonsâinto a viscous liquid that can be dyed, molded, stamped, and 3D printed. The final product can act as a one-to-one […]
Aluna (IndieBio 03), the San Francisco-based respiratory management platform, has closed out a $15.3M Series B funding round led by previous investor Matrix Partners with support from SOSV, Rho Ignition and Dr. Warner Carr, an allergist and early adopter of Alunaâs platform. The round brings Alunaâs total funding to date to $27M. Alunaâs FDA-cleared spirometer […]
Biological sample preparation has not kept pace with the dramatic changes in analytical techniques. Nowhere is this more evident than in DNA sample prep, which continues to be a low throughput process serving high throughput next-generation DNA sequencing. This mismatch is limiting the accelerated uptake of next generation sequencing. Inso Bio envisions a future of […]
We talked with the founder of ViAn Therapeuticsâ JP Robles, CEO â in the basement of IndieBio last week after his company had just been voted âKiller of the Weekâ by his peers in Batch 14. Each week at IndieBio, the companies in our batch compete based on their top accomplishments just in the previous […]
Cell-based chocolate. Addresses deforestation in equatorial regions.
Why we invested: Our investment in BryoSphere is an addition to SOSVâs next-gen biomanufacturing portfolio that spans a diversity of chassis, processes, vessels, and feedstocks. BryoSphere is one of the only companies in the world to use moss cells in photobioreactors as an expression system. These ancient plants are really good at making compounds to […]
Why we invested: At a small networking event, the founders said softly to us: âwe are working on a technology that can completely upend the entire sequencing industry.â We leaned in to listen; after all, the founders have been working the front lines during every major pivotal point in sequencing history: Illuminaâs acquisition of Solexa […]
In the U.S. alone we use 12 to 15 billion pounds of food packaging film annually, but less than 5% is recycled. Moreover, these plastic films contain PFAS (aka, âforever chemicalsâ) that leach into foods and have been linked to serious health risks. So far, sustainable alternatives to petrochemical film are either too expensive or […]
Enabling home-based lung health management for patients and doctors of chronic respiratory conditions with their portable, digital spirometry platform.
Innate Biology produces supplements to mimic the same cellular benefits you would get from fasting, without having to fast. Their formulation uses a unique combination of natural human molecules and has been clinically shown to produce the same anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cardioprotective benefits of fasting — so you can live life and thrive. Sibling founders […]
Four founders, each with deep experience in related areas, came together to form Pyrone Systems, an unusual company with an unusual platform and go-to-market plan. Alex Hutagalung, a biochemist, had patented a novel process of converting fatty acids to polyketides. He leveraged this patent into a proprietary bioprocess to make triacetic acid lactone, or TAL,which […]
We all know the over consumption of animal products is a major cause of global warming and environmental degradation, and that the best way we can lower our carbon footprints is to switch to a plant-based diet. However, consumers are compromising on products that are ultra-processed, not necessarily healthy, and lacking variety: todayâs meat-alternatives are […]
The business magazine Inc. just named Huue (IndieBio) founders Tammy Hsu and Michelle Zhu to its Female Founders 100. Inc. recognized the two founders for their development of planet-friendly microbe-based dyes that are scalable for denim manufacturing. The editors did a great interview with the Oakland-based duo about the global need for Huue’s technology and […]
To stand out in the increasingly crowded cultured-meat market, Berkeley-based New Age Meats, an IndieBio alum, aims to provide “the best of both worlds: the sensory experience and irreplaceable flavor of meat thatâs safer and more sustainable than conventionally-grown meat.” That message helped the company raise a $25 million series A, according to a story […]
Bioengineered human milk oligosaccharides to improve baby formula
Thoughtfully crafted nutritional drinks for the 50-plus consumer
Mendel uses machine learning to organize unstructured electronic medical record and clinical literature into compliant data.
The Popular Science compilation list âThe feats of engineering that dazzled us in 2021â explores the best of what âhelps us adapt to the realities of an ever-changing world.â Among the companies featured is Vertical Oceans (IBSF11 2021), which tackles the challenge of sustainably grown animal protein with zero-waste urban shrimp farms run on biocomputers. […]
Decentralized platform of continuous laminar flow bioreactors for biomanufacturing
Exosome decoration platform for receptor agonist therapeutics
Personalized microbiome prebiotics
Drug development costs over $2 billion per drug with a failure rate of 90% because in vitro methods do not mimic the systemic organization of the human body and animal models are too different from Humans. As a result, the limitations of in vitro testing reduce the probability to develop safe and efficient drugs for patients needing them and […]
Concrete production has quietly doubled in the past 20 years as we are building more and more cities, and with that comes the carbon footprint of cement, which is the glue that binds concrete together. Cement production is 8% of our global GHG emissions, and efforts to âgreenâ the cement-making process have largely been around […]
IndieBioâs biomaterial company TĂ´mTex Co. (NY03 2021) recently appeared on the runway in Peter Doâs first-ever menswear collection, according to Hypebeastâs article âHereâs a Closer Look at Peter Doâs âGreen Chemistryâ Used in His SS23 Showâ. Do partnered with TĂ´mTex to create leather-like materials from shrimp and mushroom food waste, demonstrating a sustainable step forward […]
Approximately 50% of the worldâs fisheries are currently fished at unsustainable levels as demand increases and climate change accelerates the collapse of our oceansâ ecosystem. Wildfish populations in particular are being pushed to the brink – many of these species cannot be grown via aquaculture and will go extinct with our current trajectory. Atlantic Fish Co’s […]
Forte Protein has developed an expression system to produce bio-identical animal proteins such as ovalbumin and lactoferrin within plants like kale or lettuce. Their technology platform allows them to quickly and economically produce and harvest a complete spectrum of complex animal proteins in plants sustainably. Their proteins can be used as ingredients in all kinds […]
We have just published the Agenda for the main stage of our fourth annual SOSV Climate Tech Summit. There are 19 main stage programming sessions on Oct. 16 and 17 that cover climate tech challenges, such as the investment slow down; emerging categories, including geologic hydrogen and solar engineering; and well established sectors, including batteries, […]
Prime Roots, which makes deli-style plant-based meats from koji mycelium, announced $30 million in Series B funding to bring its first-of-its-kind Koji-Meat to more deli counters and grocery shelves across the U.S. Prime Roots makes whole cut, plant-based using koji mycelium. At a microscopic level, koji mycelium mimics the texture of meatâand its umami mouthfeelâproviding […]
UPSIDE Foods has made history yet again. The first company ever to create cultivated meatballs, chicken, and duck now has the first-ever approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sell its chicken commercially. UPSIDE chicken debuted August 4, 2023 at San Franciscoâs Bar Crenn in partnership with three-Michelin-star chef Dominique […]
Over 32 million cancer survivors face the risk of recurrence. Patients are told they are âcancer-freeâ only to discover that a few undetectable cancer cells survived initial treatment and have begun to multiply. FREZENT is developing a novel class of bispecific antibodies for targeting dormant cancer cells that have survived chemotherapy and may cause recurrence. […]
The $500 billion personal care and cosmetics industry is alarmingly reliant on raw materials from livestock. The three most important proteins in skincare and haircare productsâcollagen, keratin, and elastinâtypically come from bovine hides, chicken feathers, and meat processing byproducts, respectively. Thus, cosmetics contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and deforestation. With two-thirds of consumers […]
Why we invested: Today, one ton of conventional fertilizer covers about 20 acres. What if, from the same raw materials, we could make fertilizers that covered 20,000 acres? Using a novel emissions-free process, Farm Minerals has reinvented the efficiency of fertilizers to cover 1000x the land. The key to their process is a high-surface-area carbon […]
Can plants replace the animals in our diet? Livestock accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, uses almost 80% of worldwide agricultural land (including cropland for animal feed), and consumes 10% of annual available freshwater. Yet livestock provides less than 20% of humanityâs calories. If innovators could make plants taste like actual dairy and […]
Welcome to the agenda for the main stage of the SOSV Climate Tech Summit. The event is virtual, free and will be held on Oct. 25-26, starting at 8 a.m. PDT. Register today. The main stage features conversations between the worldâs top climate founders and investors across all the major categories of climate tech â from energy to industry and […]
Milk should be a delicious and protein-rich drink, but many milk alternatives lack the nutrient depth of cowâs milk. Upright has created the worldâs first protein-rich, allergen-free, vegan oat milk option with double the protein of other oat milks. In addition, each cup of Upright Oats saves 39 gallons of water compared with cowâs milk, […]
Co-Founder & CEO, Free to Feed
The TechCrunch article âThe Every Co. grabs $175M as it cracks code on animal-free protein productsâ reports on a series C round raised by the IndieBio alum The Every Co. (fka Clara Foods), from IndieBioâs first cohort (IBSF01 2015). The round was co-led by McWin and Rage Capital and also includes SOSV / IndieBio, Temasek, […]
At SOSVâs IndieBio and HAX, two new team members are helping deep tech founders address scientific challenges. Earlier this year, Sabriya Stukes, PhD, joined IndieBio as Chief Scientific Officer in Manhattan and Susan Schofer, PhD, joined HAX as Partner and Chief Science Officer at its Newark, New Jersey facility. Stukes and Schofer both bring world-class […]
Hi, my name is Ethan. Iâm the Founder and CEO of Perlstein Lab. Perlstein Lab is a biotech startup and public benefit corporation based in San Francisco. Our mission is precision (personalized) orphan disease drug discovery. In this inaugural post, I will briefly recount the genesis of Perlstein Lab, the science behind our evolutionary approach, […]
IndieBio is incredibly excited to announce our fifth class of life science companies. Founders have come to San Francisco from all over the world, including Chile, South Africa, Canada, and across the USA. These teams are tackling problems in a host of industries such as gene therapy, regenerative medicine, the future of food, and Health […]
Bioreactor system enables bio-based lubricants for motors. Reduces petrochemical use.
Diptera.ai uses computer vision and deep biological knowledge to create an affordable, sustainable, and universal solution to the mosquito problem.
Producing high-value, recombinant proteins via insect larvae “mini-bioreactors” to dramatically increase the scale and decrease the cost of development and production.
Bioaesthetics is developing a tissue engineered Nipple-Areolar Complex (NAC) for patients with incomplete or removed NACs due to disease, surgery or birth defects. Bioaesthetics will provide an off-the-shelf-ready, human-derived, acellular NAC graft to plastic and reconstructive surgeons.
Plant-based meat and dairy products, powered by AI
The Wall Street Journal broke an exclusive on Perfect Day’s big fund raise and planned IPO. Perfect Day launched in Cork, Ireland in 2014 as part of SOSV’s now retired Rebel Bio program, and SOSV was its first investor. From the Wall Street Journal story: “Perfect Day Inc. raised $350 million in a late-stage funding […]
Sythetic biology to create natural flavors, fragrances and ingredients for food and cosmetics. Lower costs and more sustainabie.
Solid Ox is building Range Extenders for commercial fleets of electric trucks and buses. These range extenders use liquid fuel, where the CO2 is captured on board, right back into the fuel tank. Emissions-free. Commercial fleets that need long range are very price sensitive to fueling costs. They also run day and night, so have […]
At a recent showcase in New York, NBC affiliate WNYT reported on MycoWorks (SOSV IBSF03 2016) in âMushroom leather ready for the runway.â The video segment shows Fine Mycelium, the natural, plastic-free, leather alternative made by the startup in a wide array of textures and colors. The article indicates MycoWorks currently has a partnership with […]
Thereâs thousands of ways that cells become unhealthy. But until 2012, there were only two ways that cells actually die. That year, the cofounder of Prothegen, Dr. Scott Dixon, discovered a new way cells die, called ferroptosis, an iron-mediated failure of antioxidant defenses. Now Dixon has partnered with Roche alum Davide Zanchi and chemist Derek […]
The Wall Street Journal article âSustainable Chocolate Made Without Cacaoâ explores the projects underway to make chocolate production more sustainable. According to the Journal, the industry is plagued by child labor, worker exploitation, deforestation, and soil contamination, and business is trying to improve the situation. For example, chocolate giants NestlĂŠ, Mars, and Hershey signed an […]
Solid Ox Motors is building an onboard trickle charger solution, initially for commercial fleets of electric trucks and buses. This unique range extending solution uses liquid fuel, where the CO2 is retained on board, right back into the fuel tank. Emissions-free. Commercial fleets that need long range are very price sensitive to fueling costs. They […]
Every day, more food (and more resources to grow that food) is required to feed an ever-increasing world population. Consequently, reducing spoilage is becoming a vital element of any sustainable strategy. Nat4Bio is a biotechnology platform that develops naturally-sourced and zero-residue coatings that protect fruit from spoilage. They leverage microbial fermentation of selected fungi & […]
On its âTime100 Most Influential Companies of 2022,â Time magazine listed cow-free dairy company Perfect Day (SOSV RebelBio01). The compilation features companies and corporate leaders that âmake an extraordinary impact around the worldâ and âchart an essential path forward.â Time recognized Perfect Day in the Innovator category for their novel process, which creates dairy-identical products […]
Pae Wu is the newest general partner at SOSV. She runs IndieBio SF with fellow SOSV general partner Po Bronson. Pae is also the CTO of the program. Prior to joining IndieBio in 2020, Pae served as the Scientific Director of TelefĂłnicaâs moonshot factory â Alpha (Barcelona), Science Director at the US Office of Naval […]
The Forbes article âSocial entrepreneur creates a plastic-free substitute for everything from leather to latexâ details the journey of 22-year old Zimri T. Hinshaw, founder and CEO of Bucha Bio (SOSV IBNY02 2021). Hinshawâs business model has evolved from designing jackets from sustainable leather-like material, the article reports, to âdeveloping a plant-based, sustainable, customizable material […]
The Bloomberg article âReady to eat some lab-grown meat? The FDA will soon decide,â reports âthe science experimentâ that is lab-grown meat âcould soon reach your supermarket.â The meat it refers to is grown by Upside Foods (SOSV IBSF02 2015), a startup founded by cardiologist Uma Valeti which recently opened a 53,000-square foot culture-meat production […]
Killing an animal and eating its flesh is not the only way to gain protein. Now more than ever, we need alternatives to conventional animal farming and fishingânot just because of animal welfare, but for human and environmental health. Whatâs happening now is not sustainable. Terramino Foods uses fungi as a complete protein source which acts […]
In order to supply our agriculture and industries with an available source of nitrogen, we rely on a chemical process that requires 400ËC of heat and more pressure than at the bottom of the worldâs deepest lake. Itâs no wonder that ammonia production releases 500 million tons of CO2 annually (3% of the worldâs carbon […]
On April 20 at an Expo at IndieBio SF, investors and media got a peek at the technology and products of several of the programâs alum and had a chance to meet the founders of the current IndieBio SF cohort. The CGTN video âTech startups combine technology with natureâ features four of the startups, including […]
Alternatives to animal protein include plant-based, fermentation-based, and cellular agriculture-based options – but all suffer from a lack of true âmeatiness.â Kyomei is using a novel strategy to scale production of meat myoglobin produced in plants. Their innovative ingredient will be the foundation of truly satisfying plant-based protein, providing the umami flavor that consumers crave. […]
Vertical aquaculture to bring the cleanest most sustainable shrimp from harvest to your doorstep in under 8 hours. Farm to fork doesn’t mean low tech.
Americans spend over 40 billion dollars every year taking care of their oral health, yet conditions like bad breath, gum disease, and tooth decay are incredibly common. Oralta is looking to change the paradigm of oral health by going beyond the symptom based treatment of todayâs products. Theyâre doing this by targeting the oral microbiome, […]
As the worldâs population continues to balloon, demand for seafood is going with it. Aquaculture is the primary method to meet demand, but relies on feeding billions of small fish to larger fish. A process that is inherently unsustainable and is only getting worse as ocean fish supply dwindles. NovoNutrients is looking to solve this […]
Gene therapy recently has been extremely exciting in the news. However, the limitation of gene therapy is ineffective delivery. When injecting genes to be delivered, especially in adeno-associated virus (AAV), we are seeing an induced immune response where the body starts clearing out the virus. Serenity Bioworks is working to rid the immune response and instead induce […]
Neurodegeneration is one of the most devastating diseases of aging, and today there is no cure. Stem cells are a very promising way of regenerating the faulty neurons, which would potentially create a cure. Convalesce is working on injecting stem cells into the brain using a special matrix that mimics the brainâs architecture, allowing the stem cells […]
Over 600,000 people suffer from slow and difficult to heal bone fractures within the U.S. every year. These ânon-unionâ fractures are common in people with low and imbalanced hormones, such as the elderly, but may also result from infection, inadequate blood supply to the bone, and incorrect splinting. Surgery, which has a low level of success, is the current […]
As ambitions to create newer and faster supercomputers grow, so do the challenges. Increasing computational power comes with demands of scale, stability, and accessibility. Koniku is a startup working to solve this by harnessing the power of biological neurons to create the next generation of supercomputers. I talked with Konikuâs CEO, Oshiorenoya E. Agabi, about […]
Cancer cells have defense mechanisms that can cause chemotherapy and other standard cancer treatments to become increasingly difficult for a patient to endure, as stronger drugs are often needed after the cancer cells adapt. Instead of killing cancer cells with stronger drugs, Nivien has a found a way to break down the defense mechanisms of […]
Itâs been clear for some time that a personalized approach to cancer treatment is key in overcoming the disease. Since certain types of cancer, like glioblastoma (brain tumors), have been found to be resistant to chemotherapy, new (and less toxic) approaches are desperately needed to combat the resistant cells. Stelvio is a company with a […]
What if instead of undergoing life-altering chemotherapy or surgery, a patient could take a daily pill to fight cancer? Thatâs the ultimate vision of DNALite, a new biotech company that wants to actually prevent instead of manage symptoms. Their technology aims to deliver genetic cargo to areas of the body that are hard to reach, […]
What if sugar was good for you? The consumption of excess sugar has led to health issues in humans, such as autoimmune diseases and IBD, that begin in the gut. Sugarlogix has found a way to create prebiotic sugars to fix this problem and make sugar thatâs actually healthy for people to consume. Although there […]
Liquid Dark Chocolate Is Now a Reality. Photo: Francia (center) and the GEA Enzymes team. GEA Enzymes engineers designer enzymes. Their first application is in food, with enzymes which reduce saturated fat levels while maintaining consistent aroma, taste, and feel. This makes it possible for a substance like dark chocolate to obtain that rich, liquid consistency […]
Just like an Epi-Pen for Snake Bites. Photo: Deepankar Roy (left), Daniel Dempsey, and Alexio Capovilla of Venomyx Therapeutics. Snake bites are one of humanityâs oldest medical problems, but theyâre definitely not a thing of the pastâmillions of people are bitten by poisonous snakes every year, and if they are lucky, those people are able to get […]
A Biomedical Lab the Size of Your Phone. Photo: The Scaled Biolabs team – Brendan Griffen (left), Justin Cooper-White, and Drew Titmarsh. Biological experiments are time-consuming, and space-consuming, while requiring repeated manual motions from lab technicians. But technology has allowed Scaled Biolabs to shrink down the entire system of experimentation down to the size of your […]
Photo: Ray Chiu (far right) and the BioInspira team. Every year, more than 200 natural gas pipeline-related incidents happen on average in the United States, and $5B in economic opportunities are lost as a result of gas leaks. BioInspira is aiming to solve this problem by bringing air chemical detection to the next level. At […]
Itâs not uncommon for a pet dog or cat to have digestive issues, especially early in life. Instead of treating the root of the problemâan imbalance of good and bad bacteria in the gutâveterinarians commonly prescribe antibiotics. Without a true fix for the problem, pets can fall victim to a number of other health issues […]
What if people suffering from cancer, tuberculosis, and other life-threatening diseases didnât have to wait as long for the right drugs to be developed to help them stay alive? A2A Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company committed to the advancement of innovative scientific research and new therapeutic agents. We asked the companyâs founder, Ed Painter, a few questions: […]
Global demand for cement, a key ingredient in concrete, is expected to grow from 4.2 billion tons today to 6.2 billion by 2050. The construction industry relies on it to build everything from homes and buildings to roads and bridges to dams and seawalls. Cement, however, is responsible for almost 90% of concrete emissions. So […]