Aanika Biosciences, a Brooklyn, NY-based biotech startup advancing food tracing technology, raised $12M in Series A funding.
The round was led by Jon Cholak of Adit Ventures with participation from existing investors Draper Associates and SOSV.
The company intends to use the funds to scale its food tracing technology platform, advance research and expand its Brooklyn food safety and manufacturing facility to approximately 30,000 square feet.
Led by Vishaal Bhuyan, CEO, and Dr. Ellen Jorgensen, Chief Science Officer, Aanika leverages proprietary technology to accelerate the speed and accuracy of how food safety issues are handled. The platform, which uses edible microbial ‘tags,’ has already been tested on leafy greens and has the potential to be applied to other foods and ingredients including oils, coffee, meats and grains.
The technology enables farmers to ‘watermark’ crops with edible, food-friendly microbes that can be detected at any point in the product’s journey through the supply chain, so that when there is a case of foodborne illness it can be traced directly to the source.
FinSMEs
30/11/2021