AI player Nuritas raises $3.2m in record first-round financing

27 Oct 2015

Nuritas CEO Dr Emmet Browne and founder Dr Nora Khaldi

Dublin start-up Nuritas, which specialises in artificial intelligence to reinvent therapeutics, has raised $3.2m, from Singapore-based New Protein Capital.

Combining artificial intelligence (AI) and DNA sequencing, Nuritas discovers particular molecules — called peptides — in natural sources such as food that have scientifically validated health benefits.

‘I built a team who believe in what we do and together we made it happen’
– DR NORA KHALDI

“The intersection of artificial intelligence and life sciences is an exciting frontier,” said Silicon Valley investor Ali Partovi, who has served as an investor and strategic adviser to Dropbox, Zappos, and Facebook.

“The day will come when we won’t remember how therapeutic discovery used to be done without DNA analysis and artificial intelligence.”

Groundbreaking technology

The company is able to find and unlock these life-changing peptides ten times faster than the prohibitive norm and at a fraction of the cost, thus establishing Nuritas as a game-changer within the health and wellness industry.

“I was told this was impossible and I decided not to listen,” said the founder of Nuritas, Dr Nora Khaldi.

“I built a team who believe in what we do and together we made it happen. We have discovered and patented some incredible life-changing ingredients and we will discover many more.”

Nuritas has already developed and patented health-improving ingredients that can address global challenges as broad as inflammation, diabetes, ageing and MRSA, among others.

“A groundbreaking technology, scalable solutions and the ability to use big-data mining to identify new natural health-benefiting ingredients for food and other areas perfectly fits in the ecosystem of companies NPC has invested in and is looking at investing in in the future,” said Matthieu Vermersch, founder of New Protein Capital in Singapore.

“Nora Khaldi and Emmet Browne have chosen a highly innovative path to address profound consumer market challenges. From the very first discussion the harmony between our visions was obvious,” he added.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com