This French startup aims to make consumer goods safer with its novel bacteria detection device; exits stealth mode with €8M funding

Paris-based Spore.bio, the deeptech startup behind the world’s first real-time pathogen detection device for factories, announced on Tuesday that it has secured €8M in a pre-seed round of funding.

The funding round was led by LocalGlobe with participation from top-tier investors and angels with experience in the industry, FMCG, and AI, including EmergingTech Ventures, No Label Ventures, Famille C (Clarins Family Office), Better Angle, Mehdi Ghissassi (Google DeepMind), Roxane Varza (Station F) and more. 

The French startup will use the funds to accelerate the development and deployment of its AI-powered technology and grow its team.

Spore.Bio: Developing pathogen detection device for factories

Founded in 2023 by Amine Raji (CEO), Maxime Mistretta (CTO) and Mohamed Tazi (COO), Spore.Bio has built the world’s first device for detecting pathogens immediately, directly on the factory floor. 

The device uses advanced machine learning models to train its system to identify the concentration of bacteria in food, drink, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic products before alerting quality managers to the potential risks. 

Currently, the company consists of 12 employees, including scientists and engineers from across microbiology, machine learning, optics, photonics, and chemometrics. 

Within one year of launch, the company already signed commercial contracts. 

The waitlist for the prototypes is already oversubscribed, with plans to deploy hardware and software systems globally next year.

Typically, quality sampling would take between five and 20 days with products having to be sent off-site to external labs, at great time and financial expense. 

With Spore.Bio, manufacturers get almost real-time insights with unprecedented levels of traceability and transparency. 

This not only reduces cross-contamination risks, and costs but allows manufacturers to address sources of contamination before they pose a public health risk.   

Amine Raji, CEO and co-founder of Spore.Bio says, “Our mission is to redefine microbiology and to bring 21st-century technology to an age-old problem. The risks around pathogens in FMCGs are only growing, causing needless suffering for families and detrimental effects on the reputations and finances of global companies. We’re changing the status quo with Spore.Bio by combining AI and our deep expertise in this space. We’re delighted to be working with such a respected group of investors too that have the technical and strategic backgrounds that will help us scale and grow Spore.Bio into a globally significant business.” 

The Investor

LocalGlobe is a UK-based venture capital firm that focuses on seed investments. The VC has invested in various companies, including TransferWise, Zoopla, Improbable, Citymapper, Algolia, Oxford Nanopore, and Robinhood.

Julia Hawkins, general partner at LocalGlobe says, “Spore.Bio’s innovation is where photonics and AI meet the same level of bacterial detection as traditional methods, in real-time. It’s not just a technological advancement; it’s a stride towards a safer, healthier society and a clear case of how AI can solve real, industrial problems. Every one of us, directly or indirectly, interacts with products from these industries. Making sure these products are free from harmful bacteria should therefore be a significant concern for us all. The expert team’s solution gives industry, manufacturers, and consumers the confidence that their products are as safe as possible.”