Nuritas, Dublin startup funded by Bono reaches €25m for food molecule research

A Dublin-based research enterprise has raised €25 million to develop health solutions against diabetes through the use of natural food molecules.

Nuritas is a startup established in 2014 which uses digital data processing to discover antimicrobial agents in food known as bioactive peptides.

Bioactive peptides are naturally produced molecules found in most living organisms from plants to humans. In some cases they act as a barrier to fend off microbes and bacteria and protect the functions of the organism, but they are limited.

Peptides are a commonly-used ingredient in protein supplements and the company are currently launching an anti-inflammatory ingredient for sports nutrition in the US.

They are also being developed as an alternative to chemical food processing as their antimicrobial qualities help to preserve food.

Nuritas uses genomics – the study of DNA – to analyse the genetic makeup of basic foods in order to find bioactive peptides that help fight against the contraction of diseases. The company claim that its analysis can help eradicate diabetes in a vast majority of cases.

CEO Emmet Brown says the company can help with the process of managing diseases by ‘targeting, predicting and unlocking peptides that can positively impact in conditions like pre-diabetes while reducing the cost and time needed to find them.’

Nuritas’s latest investor, Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, will join a litany of other figures who raised funds for the company, including U2’s Bono and The Edge and Enterprise Ireland.

Prepared and edited by Arthur Velker.

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