Boston-based biotechnology-meets-food-safety company Sample6 announced Wednesday afternoon that it has secured $11 million in a Series B round, according to a release. The round was led by Canaan Partners, with Cultivian Sandbox, a fund that invests in emerging technologies in the food and agriculture industry, and existing investor Flybridge Capital Partners also participating.
“We are poised to bring to market our diagnostic and data analytics solutions that have the power to radically change, at first, the food industry’s safety processes – taking a detection and remediation process that takes days down to one that takes hours,” stated CEO of Sample6 Tim Curran in the release.
Sample6 will use the additional cash to commercialize the company's first pair of products, Sample6 DETECT/L and Sample6 CONTROL, which together are designed to enable in-plant and in-shift pathogen detection in food processing environments.
While the Sample6 DETECT/L was created to identify Listeria contamination, Sample6 CONTROL is an online platform that helps food companies plan, execute, remediate and analyze food safety programs. Together, the two compose the world’s first synthetic biology-based bacteria diagnostic system, enabling the detection and remediation of bacteria in food in under eight hours. The company reports that tests are able to detect levels of bacteria as low as one colony forming unit in one milliliter of liquid in only a few hours.
The Sample6 DETECT and Sample6 CONTROL are expected to be available in the beginning of 2014.
