HTGF and Auxxo back NanoStruct with €2.6M to cut food safety testing — TFN

• NanoStruct, a deep tech startup from Würzburg, has raised €2.6 million in seed funding led by HTGF, Bayern Kapital, and the Auxxo Feminine Catalyst Fund.
• NanoStruct’s sensor chips can detect Listeria and Salmonella in only a few hours, quite than the same old two to a few days.
• Past meals, the identical platform may develop into veterinary diagnostics, pharma and human well being testing

NanoStruct, based mostly in Germany, raised €2.6 million in seed funding from High-Tech Gründerfonds, Bayern Kapital, and the Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund to assist deliver fast pathogen detection to the meals business. This funding follows earlier grants from the German Federal Ministry for Financial Affairs and the European Union.

NanoStruct, based in 2021 by Dr Henriette Maaß, Enno Schatz, and Kai Leibfried, makes nanostructured sensor chips that may detect harmful micro organism akin to Listeria and Salmonella in meals samples inside hours. Proper now, these checks normally take two to a few days, which suggests contaminated merchandise can attain shops earlier than outcomes are available in.

Meals recollects value producers hundreds of thousands and might severely injury their fame. Rules have gotten stricter in Europe and the US, with authorities demanding sooner, extra thorough microbial testing all through the availability chain. Consequently, the worldwide meals security testing market is rising, and producers are searching for methods to fulfill these requirements with out slowing manufacturing. NanoStruct goals to resolve a standard drawback for meals producers, testing labs, and regulators.

NanoStruct’s sensor chips seize the distinctive molecular fingerprint of pathogens. The know-how makes use of optical measurement, nanotechnology, and machine studying to identify dangerous micro organism straight in meals samples, so there’s no want for lengthy tradition processes. As a substitute of sending samples to a lab and ready days for outcomes, they’re now accessible on-site the identical day. This lets manufacturing amenities catch contamination earlier than merchandise are shipped, quite than coping with recollects later.

The meals security testing market is dominated by established firms like bioMérieux, Neogen, and Hygiena, which deal with lab-based pathogen detection. Most use culture-based strategies or PCR testing, that are correct however gradual. NanoStruct’s sensor-based methodology is quicker and extra automated, proving its know-how works reliably at scale exterior the lab.

 “The technological breakthrough NanoStruct has achieved in sensor improvement is outstanding. Along with the platform know-how, we have been satisfied by the corporate’s robust community within the goal market and, above all, by the workforce. I very a lot look ahead to working with Henriette and the whole founding workforce,” says Dr Stephan Ruck, funding analyst at HTGF.

The contemporary funding will assist pilot tasks with food-analysis clients, assist arrange a gross sales workforce, and allow NanoStruct to develop its workers. The corporate additionally plans to discover different markets, as its know-how may very well be used for veterinary diagnostics, human well being testing, and monitoring micro organism in pharmaceutical and industrial manufacturing.