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§ Private Profile · Emeryville, CA, USA
Shiru leverages ML to create proteins to feed the world sustainably.
Shiru has raised $37.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Key people at Shiru.
Shiru was founded in 2019 by Jasmin Hume (Founder).
Shiru has raised $37.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Shiru develops novel functional ingredients using artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, and precision biology. The company’s proprietary Flourish™ platform dramatically accelerates the discovery and production of sustainable, high-performance protein-based solutions, transforming a multi-year process into a significantly shorter timeline. These ingredients are designed to enhance texture, taste, and nutritional value across various product categories.
Dr. Jasmin Hume founded Shiru in 2019, driven by the insight that consumer demand for healthier, sustainable options could be met through a more efficient approach to ingredient innovation. Her vision was to harness advanced scientific methods to unlock nature’s best components, integrating expertise from material science, protein chemistry, machine learning, and biomanufacturing to achieve this goal.
Shiru targets industries including food, personal care, agriculture, and advanced materials, providing companies with scalable protein solutions such as OleoPro™, a structured fat alternative, and uPro™, a texturizing protein. The company’s long-term vision centers on unlocking natural, scalable proteins to enhance product functionality while promoting sustainability, making healthier and more sustainable products universally accessible through accelerated discovery.
Key people at Shiru.
Shiru has raised $37.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $16.0M Series B in November 2024.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 1, 2024 | $16M Series B | — | Hoxton Ventures, S2G Ventures, XFactor Ventures | Announced |
| Oct 1, 2021 | $17M Series A | S2G Ventures | Beliade, Color Capital, Hoxton Ventures, SoGal Ventures, XFactor Ventures, Jaime Schmidt, Nina Faulhaber | Announced |
| Oct 1, 2019 | $4M Seed | — | Altair Capital Management, Beliade, Color Capital, Hoxton Ventures, SoGal Ventures, XFactor Ventures, Jaime Schmidt, Nina Faulhaber | Announced |
Shiru is a California-based biotech startup that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to discover and develop natural proteins for sustainable food, personal care, agriculture, and materials applications. Its core product is ProteinDiscovery.ai, a first-of-its-kind AI-powered platform and marketplace that enables companies to search, identify, test, and license novel, scalable proteins sourced from plants, algae, and microbes. Shiru serves food ingredient companies, consumer packaged goods (CPG) firms, and startups seeking sustainable, functional protein ingredients that improve flavor, texture, and bioactivity while reducing environmental impact. The company accelerates protein discovery from a traditional timeline of 10-15 years down to 1-2 years, significantly cutting costs and speeding up commercialization[1][2][5].
Founded in 2019 by Dr. Jasmin Hume, a scientist with a background in biopharma protein discovery, Shiru emerged from the insight that AI-driven protein discovery, which had transformed pharmaceutical R&D, could disrupt the slower-moving food and ingredient industries. Dr. Hume and her team built a proprietary database of over 77 million natural protein sequences and developed machine learning algorithms to identify proteins with specific functional properties relevant to food and other industries. Early traction included partnerships with major players like Griffith Foods and Puratos, validating Shiru’s technology and enabling pilot projects to scale sustainable ingredients[1][2][5].
Shiru rides the convergence of AI, synthetic biology, and sustainability trends reshaping the food and ingredient industries. The timing is critical as consumer demand for sustainable, plant-based, and functional ingredients grows alongside advances in computational biology. Shiru’s platform accelerates innovation cycles, reduces R&D costs, and enables companies to meet regulatory and environmental pressures more effectively. Its approach influences the broader ecosystem by setting new standards for ingredient discovery, fostering collaboration between biotech and food sectors, and expanding the use of AI beyond pharmaceuticals into bioindustrial applications[1][4][5].
Looking ahead, Shiru is poised to expand its AI capabilities and ingredient portfolio, deepening partnerships to bring more sustainable proteins to market rapidly. Trends such as precision fermentation, molecular farming, and increased regulatory focus on sustainability will shape its growth trajectory. As Shiru continues to democratize access to protein innovation through its marketplace, it may become a central hub for sustainable ingredient development, influencing how food and personal care products are formulated globally. Its success will likely inspire further AI-driven disruption across bioindustrial sectors, reinforcing the shift toward sustainable, scalable protein solutions[1][2][4].
Shiru was founded in 2019 by Jasmin Hume (Founder).
Shiru has raised $37.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Shiru's investors include Hoxton Ventures, S2G Ventures, XFactor Ventures, Beliade, Color Capital, SoGal Ventures, Jaime Schmidt, Nina Faulhaber, Altair Capital Management.
