Bactolife receives USD 5 million in new funding to address gastrointestinal infections worldwide

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is investing to accelerate Bactolife’s mission of developing effective and affordable food and feed ingredients to combat some of the largest gut health issues worldwide.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, 30 August 2022 – Bactolife today announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed, in alignment with the foundation’s charitable mission, an investment of USD 5 million to accelerate the impact of Bactolife’s technology platform to develop Binding Proteins, a novel biologic solution to reduce the risk of gut infections in humans and animals.

Mads Laustsen, CEO at Bactolife, commented: “With this investment, Bactolife is able to boost our efforts in our technology platform, allowing us to reach our end customers faster and with affordable products that can benefit the many – thereby potentially impacting millions of peoples’ lives worldwide.”

Sebastian Søderberg, Deputy CEO at Bactolife, added: “We are proud of and humble for the confidence the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has shown us. We are pleased to have funding from both Novo Holdings and the Gates Foundation, and regard this as a strong validation of Bactolife’s potential to improve human and animal health worldwide and make these products accessible in developed and developing countries.”

Aleks Engel, Partner, Novo Seeds, Novo Holdings, said: “At Novo Holdings, we are very pleased that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has decided to invest in Bactolife – and we see that this testifies to the immense potential of Bactolife’s Binding Protein™ platform to circumvent and avoid antimicrobial resistance. Our shared concern for global access to effective treatments for prevalent infectious diseases makes the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation an ideal organization to collaborate with, and we are excited for the potential impact this work will have in addressing pressing global health challenges.”

Gut infections – a major global threat

Globally, there are more than 1.6 billion cases of diarrheal diseases annually, which at best means stomach upsets. At worst, they can lead to life-threatening illnesses. Annual healthcare costs are increasing, and there are limited options to avoid disease manifestation in the first place. An estimated 760,000 children die annually from gut infections, and of those who survive, both infections later in life and growth stunting are observed. Especially in developing countries with poor access to clean water and sanitation, among immunocompromised children and older people, travelers and deployed people, gut infections are a major risk.

Today, most infections are treated with antibiotics that are either very expensive or contribute to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Bactolife takes a unique approach to gut health for the greater good of humans and animals by developing breakthrough Binding Proteins that can reduce the risk of developing gut infections at an affordable price. With Bactolife’s technology platform and the investment made by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Binding Proteins can be formulated into food and feed products, making them easy to ingest.

About Bactolife

Bactolife is a growing company in the field of gut microbiome health in the food and feed industry. Bactolife uses its proprietary Binding Protein technology to develop novel biological solutions, strengthening the gut microbiome and helping solve the daunting challenge of antimicrobial resistance development as well as the general burden of infectious diseases. Its proprietary platform consists of a technology for selecting and producing Binding Proteins without targeting growth or killing the bacteria directly. Binding Proteins are stable and highly cost-effective and can be produced at a large scale using leading-edge systems for biomanufacturing.

About Novo Holdings A/S

Novo Holdings A/S is a private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It is the holding company of the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, and is responsible for managing the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s assets.

Novo Holdings is recognized as a leading international life science investor, with a focus on creating long-term value. As a life science investor, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in growth and well-established companies. Novo Holdings also manages a broad portfolio of diversified financial assets. Further information: www.novoholdings.dk.