Chinova Bioworks
Chinova produces a powerful green label food preservative from mushroom chitosan.
- Total Raised
- $12.1 million
- Latest Round
- Series A
Investors
AgFunder, DSM Venturing, Natural Products Canada, Rhapsody Venture Partners.
Summary
Chinova Bioworks is a Canadian bio-foodtech company for the $2B food and beverage preservatives market. Founded by Natasha Dhayagude, David Brown, and Dr. Tanzania Huq, Chinova's flagship product Chiber, is a natural preservative that capitalizes on the antimicrobial properties of chitosan, a biopolymer they derive from mushrooms. Chiber is a clean label alternative in a market dominated by artificial preservatives. As an all natural product that is high in fiber, Chiber can provide health benefits to consumers while providing food and beverage producers with the ability to satisfy consumer demand for natural, safe, fresh and nutritious products.
Chinova can produce formulations for broad-spectrum protection against spoiling microorganisms like bacteria, yeast and mold. They can also make exclusive formulations that target specific strains of microorganisms to meet the needs of specific clients. It is tasteless, odorless and is high in dietary fiber.
Chinova is an alumni of the RebelBio accelerator.
Why We Invested
- CEO, Natasha Dhayagude, is highly intelligent with excellent communication skills
- Extensive research credibility led by COO and technology inventor, David Brown (Govenor General Award Winner 2017) and CTO Tanzina Huq (Named in the top 150 researchers in Canada)
- Large multi-vertical market opportunities in food and beverage, cosmetics and medical applications
- Advanced product development with a sizeable number of major global food and beverage companies already either trialing Chiber for specific applications or in discussions for multi-product roll-out
- Strong growth potential in international markets with coinvestor and global food ingredient giant DSM as likely distribution partner
- Dual-channel B2B market access strategy incorporating traditional ingredient manufacture plus bespoke “consulting” model for specialist applications
- Proprietary production process is cost efficient and easily scalable
Company Presentation
Contact Chinova Bioworks
Team
Natasha Dhayagude
CEO/Cofounder
Natasha is the CEO and Cofounder of Chinova. She was a Entrepreneurial Services Coordinator at Planet Hatch, where she helped define the commercialization plans and guidance for early stage startups. She was also one of 30 Fellow's selected for Venture Canada out of nearly 1,000 applicants. Natasha is a Volunteer at Let's Talk Science where she educated elementary and middle school students to STEM fields. Natasha has a BSc in biochemistry from the University of New Brunswick.
David Brown
COO/Cofounder
David is the COO and Cofounder of Chinova with expertise in bioinformatics, protein chemistry, GMP, bioplymers and molecular biology. David was formerly the CTO/Cofounder of Mycodev Group, a biotech startup focused on the production of biopolymer chitosan from fungal sources for medical and pharmaceutical applications. He is a former Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and a trials manager at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Agriculture. In 2017 David received the Governor General's Innovation Award. David has a BSc from the University of Alberta.
Tanzina Huq
CTO/Cofounder
Dr Tanzina Huq is a polymer and biomaterial scientist with an academic background in chemical engineering. In 2017 was named one of Canada's top 150 researchers. She has extensive experience working with bio polymer nanocomposites for microencapsulation of probiotics and antimicrobials. She is a Postdoctorial Fellow at the University of New Brunswick, was the CSO at Mycodev group, and a PhD Research fellow at University INRS. Dr Huq has a PhD from University of Quebec in Biology and an MSc and BSc from the University of Dhaka in Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.