The European Innovation Council aims to support top-class innovators, entrepreneurs, small companies, and researchers with bright ideas. The EIC co-invests alongside private investors in early-stage startups that have ESG impacts.

European Innovation Council

3CC | Third Culture Capital is an immigrant-founded, physician-led, and diversity-certified seed-stage VC firm focused on emerging healthtech and techbio companies that are revolutionizing modern care delivery while optimizing and reshaping the experience of care for both patients and providers.

3CC | Third Culture Capital

Elaia is an independent venture capital firm, focused on the digital economy and deep tech. With over €700m under management, Elaia invests in high-potential disruptive startups from the first financing rounds to the emergence of global leaders. With more than 75 years of cumulated experience in both venture capital and digital industries, the investment team offers close, proactive, and relevant support to its entrepreneurs. Elaia was founded in 2002 by Philippe Gire and Xavier Lazarus and is based in Paris, Ile-de-France, France.

Elaia

Massachusetts Financial Services Company is a privately owned investment manager. The firm also provides retirement planning, college planning, and education and planning services. It provides its services to investment companies, pension and profit sharing plans, corporations, pooled investment vehicles, state and municipal government entities, high net worth individuals, trusts, Taft-Hartley plans, institutions, public pension plans, corporate pension plans, bank trust clients, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, multi-employer plans, and investment advisory firms. The firm manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also manages equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe. It also invests in ADR securities to make its investments. For its equity investments, the firm typically invests in growth and value stocks of all-cap companies, including large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap companies. It benchmarks the performance of its investments against the S&P 500 index, the various Russell indices, and the various MSCI indices. The firm benchmarks the performance of its fixed income investments against the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index and the JP Morgan EMBI Global Index. It employs a combination of fundamental and quantitative analysis with a bottom-up stock picking and a disciplined investment approach. The firm conducts in-house research to make its investments. It was founded in 1969 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts with additional offices in Argentina, London, Mexico, Australia, Japan, and Singapore. Massachusetts Financial Services Company operates as a subsidiary of Sun Life Financial, Inc.

MFS Investment Management

Aviwell

Aviwell’s mission is to develop healthy, native, natural, and sustainable solutions to improve animal health and growth to better nourish the planet ... At a fraction of the cost.

<div>Aviwell is a France-based deep tech agrifood startup with additional operations in the US. The company uses a hybrid AI/ML discovery platform, Aneto, developed based on over 30 years of university research on glycemic control in the gut-brain axis and intestinal microbiota. Aviwell has a three-part approach: harnessing refined and adapted biomimicry, leveraging insights from its discovery platform, and developing and producing feed solutions.&nbsp;</div>

Driving livestock productivity using next-generation biotechnology

Livestock Biotech

Aviwell Announces €9M in Seed Funding to Accelerate Development on its AI-based Discovery Platform

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 Aviwell is a France-based deep tech agrifood startup with additional operations in the US. The company uses a hybrid AI/ML discovery platform, Aneto, developed based on over 30 years of university research on glycemic control in the gut-brain axis and intestinal microbiota. Aviwell has a three-part approach: harnessing refined and adapted biomimicry, leveraging insights from its discovery platform, and developing and producing feed solutions.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Aviwell's key product offering is Nectar, a range of native and natural direct-fed microbials, for enhancing growth and health in livestock and aquaculture.
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 
 
 In April 2023, Aviwell partnered with Microba Lifesciences, an Australian precision microbiome science company, to leverage their combined expertise to expedite the identification and commercialization of direct-fed microbials.
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 
 In July 2023, Aviwell raised EUR 9 million (USD 9.7 million) in seed funding co-led by Elaia Partners and MFS Impact Investment Development. The funds were earmarked for accelerating the development of Aviwell's AI-based discovery platform. Furthermore, the company has received substantial non-dilutive funding, including a EUR 2.5 million (~USD 2.7 million) award from the EIC Accelerator program under Horizon Europe and additional grants from BPIFrance. 
 
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 Aviabiotic (formerly Chicken Probiotic) is a biotechnology company innovating in poultry health. The company specializes in creating probiotics engineered for enhanced thermostability, elimination of antibiotic resistance, and dependency on corn sugar, making them environmentally friendly. These probiotics are designed specifically for integrated poultry operations, addressing both health and efficiency in poultry production.
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 
 
 Aviabiotic's latest funding was a grant received in 2020, which has facilitated the development and commercialization of its specialized probiotics.&nbsp;
 
 
 
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Aviabiotic

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 ZeaVaxx is an animal healthcare company using advanced biotechnology to improve vaccine effectiveness for animals. Its plant-derived nanoparticle adjuvant platform claims to offer advantages over aluminum-based ones that are falling short in current animal vaccine formulations due to low efficacy and compatibility issues. This platform is designed to enhance the immunogenicity of vaccines to ensure that the vaccines can provoke a stronger and more effective immune response in animals.
 
 
 
 
 ZeaVaxx flagship product, Zea-11, is a proprietary glucan-based nanoparticle derived from plants. Zea-11 claims to offer simplified extraction and chemical finalization, making it the first economically viable nanoparticle adjuvant for animal vaccines.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 
 
 In June 2018, the company secured USD 50,000 in pre-seed funding from the Purdue Ag-celerator.
 
 
 
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ZeaVaxx

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 Malcisbo, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), is a Swiss biotechnology company developing novel vaccines for animal and human health. The company focuses on glycoengineering technologies to create efficient glycoconjugate vaccines to address bacterial diseases that impact animal health, human food safety, and zoonotic diseases.
 
 
 
 
 Its primary product offerings target Campylobacter infections in humans (to reduce food poisoning from chicken meat) and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (to reduce economic losses in the swine industry due to mortality, growth retardation, and the need for antibiotics).
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 
 
 As of May 2024, the company had been awarded 10 grants totaling CHF 3.5 million (~USD 3.8 million).
 
 
 
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Malcisbo

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 eggXYt is an Israeli biotech company that specializes in ultrasound technology for eggs. The company has developed a non-invasive, pre-incubation sex detection technology for chicken embryos, named seXYt, which allows poultry farmers to separate male and female layer chicks before incubation. This process claims to prevent unnecessary incubation of over 8 billion male layer chicks annually, which are otherwise disposed of after birth due to their unsuitability for the industry. These eggs are then repurposed and used outside the food industry, leading to lower costs and reduced resource waste in hatcheries.
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 
 
 In November 2020, the company signed an R&amp;D licensing agreement with Tropic Biosciences to develop Avian influenza resistance in chickens through gene editing.
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 
 
 eggXYt has received over USD 2.5 million in funding from the European Union through the Horizon 2020 SME Program for its sex detection technology and to expand its research into new areas such as disease resistance in poultry.
 
 
 
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eggXYt

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 BioRefic is a Latvian biotech company that develops biorefinery technology to produce advanced prebiotic ingredients and microbial Omega-3 fatty acids. It primarily serves the animal feed and aquaculture sectors by providing sustainable alternatives to traditional feed ingredients. Biorefic&rsquo;s products, which include xylooligosaccharide prebiotic (a gut microbiome enhancing ingredient to improve health and immunity and boost performance), are designed to enhance animal health and efficiency, thus reducing the overall environmental impact of agriculture.
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 
 
 BioRefic has raised a total of EUR 250,000 in funding over two rounds, with its most recent funding coming from a non-equity assistance round supported by RootCamp. 
 
 
 
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BioRefic

Companies that offer solutions that edit (gene editing) or modify (gene modification) an animal's genome in a precise and targeted manner using methods such as TALEN's, CRISPR/Cas9, recombinant retroviruses, and sperm-mediated DNA transfer. The techniques change the existing genome to improve/express desired traits in livestock. The segment also covers companies that use an AI-based platform or otherwise to offer diagnostic testing services of the animal's genome that help livestock farmers identify genetic changes or diseases present in herds.

Companies that offer next-generation vaccines based on developments in DNA technology (e.g., mRNA vaccines) and biotechnology. The segment also includes medicines developed for the prevention and treatment of livestock diseases.

Companies that use a range of genetic techniques that can alter the DNA of animals more precisely than traditional breeding techniques. Techniques such as gender selection via sexed semen, genomic selection, or even gene editing methods like CRISPR are used to breed animals precisely with superior genetic traits.

Companies that produce natural ingredients or biological additives that can be added to animal feed for purposes such as improving nutrient uptake and the gut microbiome.

Biotech solutions to grow livestock that are of better traits and sustainable

Uses AI/machine learning to facilitate their platform/biotech processes like gene editing

Offers customization of genes and traits as required by farmers

Aviwell

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