Johnson & Johnson, the US-based pharmaceuticals company, has been one of the most active investors in microbiome-based startups over the past five years, followed by Royal DSM, the Dutch nutrition, health and beauty company.
Johnson & Johnson’s, for example, was an early backer of DayTwo, an Israeli startup that uses sequencing of the gut biome to create personalised nutritional advice to help people with type 2 diabetes stabilise their blood sugar levels. The company has raised $90m, with the most recent round in May 2021. Samsung Next is also one of the backers.
Johnson & Johnson has also backed Infinant Health, a California-based company that sells a probiotic that helps babies establish a healthy gut microbiome. The product is based on research that indicates the bacterial strain B. infantis EVC001, together with breast milk, can shield against immune conditions. This bacterial strain is missing in more than 90% of infants born in the US.
See our list of 12 microbiome companies to watch.
Another microbiome company on Johnson & Johnson’s list is Holobiome, a Boston-based startup developing products to target the gut-brain axis. This area of research is based on the idea that gut bacteria produce neurotransmitters, chemical messengers that can have a calming or stimulating effect on the body – and even on mental health. Understanding how these work could allow us to use food and drink in targeted ways to improve mental and physical health.
British consumer goods company Unilever, too, is active in the microbiome sector and has a research partnership with Holobiome, with the aim of understanding which ingredients neurotransmitter-producing bacteria like to interact with that could be included in the company’s foods.
Other microbiome investments by Unilever include doubling down on two microbiome investments: Straand, an Australian scalp care startup developing treatments for conditions like dandruff; and Ombre, a San Francisco-based startup providing microbiome testing kits and personalised probiotics. Unilever Ventures was a seed investor in Ombre in 2021 and backed an early VC round for Straand in December 2023.
DSM’s investment arm, DSM Venturing, meanwhile, is a backer of Nutrileads, a spinout from the research university in Waegeningen in the Netherlands, which has developed a carrot-based probiotic fibre to improve immunity and gut health. DSM Venturing invested €4.5m in Nutrileads’ series C funding round in December 2023.
DSM has also partnered with Sun Genomics, a California company that has created customised precision probiotics, based on whole DNA sequencing and gut composition analysis. The two will partner on reseaerch, with DSM using Sun Genomics’ algorithms to gain insight into novel ingredients and helping the startup source ingredients.
