Isospec Analytics raises $1.9M for molecular analysis in diagnostics

Swiss life sciences startup Isospec Analytics has raised a $1.9M Pre-Seed funding round led by Founderful.

Isospec Analytics is working to commercialise new technologies for molecular analysis that rapidly identify unknown molecules in minutes, helping pharmaceuticals, nutrition and agritech companies develop safer products and enabling researchers to discover new biomarkers.

Molecular analysis technology is already used within the food and agritech industries but Isospec’s R&D efforts focus specifically on expanding it for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

The $1.9M Pre-Seed round is led by Founderful (formerly Wingman Ventures), with additional participation from specialized investors Tiny.vc, another.vc and Venture Kick.

Isospec was founded in 2022 by Ahmed Ben Faleh, Stephan Warnke, and Thomas Rizzo, who partnered together to explore how they could redefine the process of molecular analysis to access new biological information and enable breakthroughs in diagnostics, therapeutics, and nutrition. Based on over 20 years of research, the founders combined technologies from multiple disciplines – analytical chemistry, photonics, and cryogenic materials initially designed for space applications – to build a tool that can generate a new data dimension about molecular structures.

Today, identifying an unknown molecule is primarily based on mass analysis, which does not provide sufficient information. Identifying a by-product or an impurity requires the combination of high sensitivity to detect trace amounts in a sample, coupled with the ability to generate data that can definitively identify the structure of a molecule.

Co-founder and CEO Dr. Ahmed Ben Faleh commented:

“In a human blood sample, there are 15,000 small biological molecules that can give precise information about a person’s health at any given time. However, less than 5% of these molecules can be identified. The ability to rapidly identify new molecules means we can now leverage the 95% unknown molecular space to develop treatments to the deadliest diseases.”