Opportunity
The world needs more intelligent decision making and problem solving to detect disease, ensure our food and water is safe to consume, and our air is safe to breath.
Solution
Scentian Bio's biosensor technology, based on insect olfactory receptors combined with AI, has created a detection that is 1000x more sensitive than that of even the best beagle.
Over hundreds of millions of years, insects have developed finely-tuned smell receptors allowing them to find mates, sniff out food, and detect predators.
Based on pioneering work undertaken by Dr Andrew Králíček at Plant & Food Research, spin-out Scentian Bio has developed biosensors designed to detect a wide range of chemical compounds with high sensitivity and specificity. The technology has potential applications in agriculture, healthcare, environmental monitoring, and food safety.
The path to commercialising this unique technology moved up a gear when Králíček participated in Sprout Agritech’s Founder Accelerator programme, where he was mentored by entrepreneur and 1000memories co-founder Jonathan Good.
That led to Scentian Bio also joining Sprout’s Deep Tech Incubator, where numerous accelerator graduates have migrated, and Good joining Scentian Bio’s Board, followed by a much more hands-on role as Chief Executive Officer in 2023 to work alongside Králíček. Sprout’s Chief Investment Officer Warren Bebb, says Sprout focuses on aligning cutting-edge technologies with the right people to create successful companies.
"Our approach is very much about getting the right people alongside the technology to help develop it into a company that is attractive to investment," he says.
Scentian Bio is one of ten companies in the incubator, drawn from around 80 companies that have gone through Sprout’s Founder Accelerator since 2020, which was when the deep tech incubator was established. The incubator participants not only benefit from mentorship, support and access to local and international expertise but access to precious capital as well. Scentian Bio has raised a total of $7.2 million to date, including a $3.5 million seed funding round last year featuring Toyota Ventures, and Sprout’s longstanding investment partner Finistere Ventures.
Good says Sprout helped Scentian Bio transition from a technology-focused entity to a market-oriented business. This included identifying initial market opportunities in the food industry and developing a strategic roadmap.
“Deep tech is hard, and the Callaghan Innovation repayable grant made a big difference by enabling us to prove a couple of key technology proof points supporting us to then raise subsequent capital,” says Good.
Through Sprout’s network, Scentian Bio has also assembled a team of global experts in technologies essential to advancing their innovative solutions.
“We’re at the conjunction of synthetic biology, nanotechnology and AI, and we’ve got PhDs and world-class folks in each of those to be able to do what we’re working on,” says Good who has also been able to tap into Callaghan Innovation expertise through the agency’s Health Tech Activator.
The homegrown support, and growing momentum provided through the likes of a US$1.7 million grant secured from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has positioned Scentian Bio to achieve its goals.
Says Good: “Our ambition at Scentian Bio is to change how we live. We’re about unlocking the power of realtime chemical information to provide humanity with remarkable new abilities.”
It's about aligning technologies with the people you need to make them great companies
- Warren Bebb Sprout Agritech
We have the aim of building a multi-billion dollar business, based here in New Zealand, that changes lives all around the world.
- Jonathan Good Scentian Bio
$7.2 million raised to date
Read more from the Unleashing innovation: A decade of Deep Tech report.
