French BioTech Spore.Bio secures multi-million-euro Google.org funding and launches AI-native research unit
Paris-based Spore.Bio, a BioTech startup developing AI-based microbiology testing technology, today announced that it has secured multi-million-euro funding from the Google.Org Fund for AI in Science. Additionally, it has also launched Spore.Labs, an AI-native research division focused on tackling the critical challenges in public health.
The Google.org AI for Science Fund is a multi-million-dollar initiative supporting organisations working towards AI-driven scientific discovery. It awards grants to academic institutions, nonprofit and for-profit organisations worldwide that apply AI to solve complex challenges across scientific disciplines.
Google.org announced this fund after Sir Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs, and Dr John Jumper were co-awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing AlphaFold, an AI system that predicts the 3D structure of proteins from their amino acid sequences.
According to Spore.Bio, it is the only startup in the world selected by the Google.org AI for Science Fund to tackle this challenge.
“Spore.Labs embodies our vision of what microbiology research should look like in the AI era. With support from Google.org, we’re creating a research environment where the boundaries between biology, physics, and computer science dissolve, allowing us to see and understand microbes in ways that were previously impossible,” said Amine Raji, CEO and co-founder of Spore.Bio.
Founded in 2023 by Amine Raji, Maxime Mistretta (CTO), and Mohamed Tazi (COO), Spore.Labs uses photonics and AI to disrupt microbiology testing technology. It develops full-stack platforms that enable industries and healthcare systems to monitor and analyse microbial activity with improved speed and accuracy.
According to the company, the current microbiological tests typically take between five and 20 days and require samples to be sent off-site to external labs, Spore.Bio reportedly offers an immediate and on-site solution. Its proprietary technology is a mix of biophotonics and machine learning.
It claims to have built a proprietary hardware that collects signals from the samples in visible, UV, and near-infrared wavelengths. It gathers the unique spectral fingerprint of the microorganism at the single-cell level and feeds this data into its model. Spore.Labs notes that its foundational model has been trained on millions of images, from lab samples to field strain.
The company’s tech is integrated with its internally developed dashboard, enabling manufacturers to gain near real-time insights with enhanced traceability and transparency.
“With consequent funding and Google Cloud Platform credits from Google.org, Spore.Labs will develop open datasets, publish research findings, and collaborate with academic and clinical partners to validate its approaches,” the company mentioned in the press release.
Spore.Bio has raised €29.9 million ($35 million) in funding to date. Last year, in February, the startup secured €22 million in a Series A funding round led by VC firm Singular.
It has opened 15 positions for scientists in microbiology, photonics and deep learning, and will hire 30 scientists by the end of 2026.
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