May the 11th, 2023 – The Croatian startup Ani Biome wants to take on and conquer the ever-demanding global market with its fermented microbeverages, but it needs to raise a few million euros first.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, the Croatian startup Ani Biome, which has developed a very personalised approach to microbiome health, has opened a new investment round in which it aims to raise a massive ten million euros.
The lowest amount that can be invested is 100 thousand euros, and they have already collected their first 100K. The investor, as revealed by Bruno Balen, the co-founder of Ani Biome – is a lawyer and business angel from Germany, and he cannot reveal his identity. According to Balen, co-founder Nika Pintar wrote the contract with the help of the controversial ChatGPT.
“The investor said it was excellent,” he pointed out. The young TechAgeBio company, with the very ambitious goal of becoming number one in the world in the longevity industry, plans to invest a third of the desired 10 million euros in scientific integrity, i.e. into studies that will prove that the product they are working on is not just a “cute brand”, but that it is backed up by science. They plan to invest the second third in their production capacities, in which 600 thousand euros have been invested so far, Balen announced, adding that the last third will go to marketing efforts.
Metabolite studies
The products the Croatian startup Ani Biome plans to conquer the world with are fermented microbeverages. “Our product is a kind of revolution in potential intervention in the field of the longevity industry, that is, in increasing healthy longevity. Therefore, it isn’t only important how long we live, but how well we live. We see metabolic fermentations as a tool that can improve everything that is damaged during the aging process and by diseases related to aging,” explained Iva Hlapcic, the coordinator for scientific projects at Ani Biome, who also pointed out that the Croatian startup Ani Biome is currently in the phase of comprehensive metabolite research.
“We’re investigating their interactions, their synergistic influence, i.e. in which metabolic pathways they’re involved, so that we can use them to target exactly that pathway and use it as an intervention for a health condition that has caused impairement,” explained the young scientist in the field of biomedicine and healthcare, who joined the Ani Biome team three months ago. They also want to confirm the effects of their products with ongoing clinical research.
At the event held at Zagreb’s Bird Incubator, where the Croatian startup Ani Biome announced their plans, Hlapcic explained that in addition to metabolite research, their goal is to combine everything discovered with machine learning models in order to personalise them as much as possible. Ani Habit, an app for interacting and anticipating client needs, is already out, but will continue to be upgraded.
Ani Biome’s fermented microbeverages improve the overall health of the intestines, that is, the gastrointestinal tract, according to Hlapcic. “We know that the intestines aren’t isolated and that they communicate with all parts of the rest of the organism in multiple ways. Today, for example, we know that various neurological disorders such as depression, anxiety and similar conditions can be influenced through gut health. We also know that at the level of mitochondria, which are responsible for the energy levels in the body, we can carry out certain interventions in the body using metabolites and thus improve the level of energy and vitality present. This is something we strive for and something we ultimately believe in,” Hlapcic pointed out.
In order for the effect of their products to be as good as possible, the Croatian startup Ani Biome is also developing a bank of metabolites, which currently holds 1,500 of them and which will serve for a personalised approach to each client.
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