Nuritas lands US$45M in funding, announces US expansion
18 May 2022 --- AI-powered bioactive peptide company Nuritas is expanding across the US with a new facility in Connecticut. Set to be the headquarters for North America, the move follows a US$45 million Series B fundraising round, led by the Chicago, Illinois-based venture fund and accelerator Cleveland Avenue.
“The new headquarters signals continued growth and operational expansion ahead of global innovation and commercialization,” Marie Bruckert, growth marketing and business strategy director at Nuritas, tells NutritionInsight.
The commercial and R&D facility will be located in Connecticut, US near Yale University. Nuritas’ most recent location anticipates the launch of more solutions, adding to the company’s product portfolio.
Nuritas, which specializes in bioactive peptides, plans to share details behind R&D developments in Connecticut at the 2022 Yale Innovation Summit. The Summit is Yale University’s largest entrepreneurship event on campus and is said to be the largest gathering of venture capitalist investors in Connecticut.
Nuritas’ founder and CEO, Dr. Nora Khaldi, is relocating to Connecticut to oversee the transition.
Furthering innovation
The Yale Innovation Summit offers opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors across industries.
Nuritas is currently working with AdvanceCT and Yale Ventures, the university’s recent initiative to support entrepreneurship and product development.
“AdvanceCT works to engage, retain and recruit businesses and advance overall economic competitiveness in Connecticut,” says Bruckert.
She continues that Yale Ventures is an initiative to support and expand innovation and entrepreneurship across the university and throughout the greater New Haven region.
“Both will play an integral role in helping us choose the final location [in Connecticut] for our new headquarters and also help us recruit the best talent across medicine, science and engineering. They are both connected in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem and have a pulse on all things in that space.”
Lifelong impact
Bruckert explains that Nuritas discovers new ways to take advantage of substances found in plants, to use in food and other products with health benefits. “Improving things like muscle health or glucose management has the power to impact individuals’ health at every stage of life – everything from slowing natural aging to disease management.”
“We have learned how to speak the language of life, finding peptides that are hidden and embedded within proteins and helping the human body to use them more efficiently.”
The company’s most-known feat is its proprietary AI and genomics platform, Nπϕ –Nuritas Peptide Finder. The platform boasts of being able to identify and develop new bioactives “10 times faster” and more accurately than traditional methods.
Nπϕ is said to rapidly analyze billions of untapped, hidden peptides contained in plants and natural sources, predicting and identifying how they can impact different health areas, receptors and molecular pathways.
Once uncovered, the peptides are validated in a lab and clinically tested. After this point, they are scaled and patented before being commercialized. Nuritas’ products are applicable for topical or oral products.
By Olivia Nelson
