NATO funds biotech startup to counter biological threats

It announced on Monday that the NATO Innovation Fund had made its first investment into a biotechnology firm, in order to improve defences against biological attacks

The fund co-leads a $35 million fundraising campaign for Portal Biotech. This company uses protein sequences to detect engineered threats, and defend against biowarfare.

Ana Bernardo Gancedo is a senior associate with NATO Innovation Fund and said that the UK-based Portal Biotech has a capability essential to biosecurity, defence, and security.

She said, "We think it's absolutely essential that we can detect, monitor and develop countermeasures."

The fund was created in 2022, after the Russian invasion in Ukraine. It plans to invest over $1 billion in technology that will enhance NATO's defenses.

Portal Biotech is a company that uses AI-backed technologies with biological sensors to work on site at the molecule level, giving results in hours.

Andy Heron, CEO of the company, said that it can be used for many things including measuring diseases and better pandemic preparation.

Heron's instruments are able to detect any pathogen, and can be used in a variety of applications from monitoring a water supply or weeding a field.

He said that the technology allows users to not only detect what they already knew, but also to discover what they didn't.

Portal Biotech's portable equipment is expected to be used for more than just biosecurity. It will also aid in drug discovery, precision medicine and precision drugs.

Investors include Science Creates VC (Earlybird Venture Capital), Pillar VC (8VC), We VC (British Business Bank) and British Business Bank. Supantha Mukherjee, reporting from Stockholm. Editing by David Goodman

(source: Reuters)