Shiru, a leading AI-driven ingredient discovery company, raised a $16 million Series B to continue transforming ingredient development across various industries.

Shiru’s main platform, ProteinDiscovery.ai, is the world’s largest AI-based database of natural proteins from plants and microbes. The platform empowers corporate partners in sectors such as food, personal care, agriculture, and advanced materials to locate and test natural, high-functioning ingredients efficiently. This approach significantly lowers research and development costs, shortens product timelines, and produces nature-identical ingredients with high functionality.

"AI-powered discovery isn't only the future of ingredient innovation - it's here today, and we're eager to expand our capabilities across flavor, skincare and agriculture," said Dr. Jasmin Hume, Shiru’s Founder and CEO. "Our technology dramatically reduces development timelines and costs, empowering R&D teams to revolutionize products, categories and industries through our platform, enabling valuable innovation and competitive advantage."

This latest funding, which brings Shiru’s total investment to $36 million, was led by S2G Ventures, with contributions from CPT Capital, Lux Capital, Nourish Ventures, and Meach Cove Capital. The funds will drive Shiru’s growth strategy, including expanding its ingredient portfolio and new partnerships to enhance ProteinDiscovery.ai’s capabilities.

Recent Shiru milestones highlight its leadership in ingredient innovation:

• A partnership with Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition to advance the development and scaling of sweet proteins, a long-time objective in the food industry.
• The launch of OleoPro™, a high-performance structured fat alternative recently awarded a patent by the USPTO, along with uPro™, the active protein ingredient in OleoPro.
• Collaborations with global companies like Griffith Foods to research, pilot, and scale sustainable food ingredients.

"While we're starting with proteins, our vision extends far beyond," Hume added. "ProteinDiscovery.ai is just the beginning. We're building a comprehensive platform that will revolutionize ingredient discovery across multiple molecular classes, driving innovation that benefits both industry and consumers."