Differential Bio, a Munich-based AI biotech startup, emerged from stealth with €2 million in pre-seed funding to redefine biomanufacturing. Its Virtual Scale-up Platform seamlessly integrates advanced microbiology, lab automation, and artificial intelligence, unlocking unprecedented speed and efficiency to optimize and scale bioprocesses. By eliminating critical bottlenecks, Differential Bio is not just improving biomanufacturing—it’s transforming it into a smarter, faster, and more scalable industry.

The funding round was led by Ananda Impact Ventures and ReGen Ventures with participation from Carbon13, Climate Capital, Better Ventures, CDTM Ventures, alongside a prominent group of angel investors.

“I remember very well how excited we were when the founding team came together. Both founders had been on our top list of founders in that cohort and together they are a perfect example of complementary skillsets, as well as a strong foundation of shared values and goals. The team took their time to get the product-market fit right, with lots of conversations with potential customers and industry contacts. It’s great to see how understanding the market requirements in depth has paid off!”

Michael Langguth, Carbon13’s Founding Partner and CSO

“I remember very well how excited we were when the founding team came together. Both founders had been on our top list of founders in that cohort and together they are a perfect example of complementary skillsets, as well as a strong foundation of shared values and goals. The team took their time to get the product-market fit right, with lots of conversations with potential customers and industry contacts. It’s great to see how understanding the market requirements in depth has paid off!”

Michael Langguth, Carbon13’s Founding Partner and CSO

Biomanufacturing stands at a pivotal moment today. Recent global disruptions—such as skyrocketing cocoa prices due to supply chain volatility, widespread egg shortages driven by avian flu outbreaks, and regulatory bans on synthetic dyes amid health concerns—have exposed the fragility of traditional production systems. These events highlight an urgent need for sustainable, resilient alternatives. Biomanufacturing, which harnesses biological systems like microbial cells to produce everything from food ingredients to pharmaceuticals, offers a promising solution. Yet, despite its potential, the industry faces a significant hurdle: scaling bioprocesses from lab to industrial levels is notoriously slow and prohibitively expensive.

“Biomanufacturing holds the key to a regenerative future, but scaling these processes remains a major bottleneck for the industry” said Christian Spier, CEO of Differential Bio, reflecting on the average 5-10 years and $100-500m it takes to develop novel bioproducts, “but we are here to change that, empowering biomanufacturers with cutting-edge tools to slash development timelines and costs, bringing bio-based products to market faster than ever before”.

Differential Bio’s Virtual Scale-up Platform integrates three core innovations: advanced microbiology to miniaturize fermentation processes, robotics to automate lab workflows and generate high-quality data, and AI algorithms to simulate and optimize bioprocesses virtually. This synergy minimizes reliance on costly and resource-intensive physical experiments, delivering precise insights into critical factors such as biomass growth rates, metabolite production, and cell viability. The outcome? Faster optimization cycles, significant cost reductions through automation, and enhanced profitability thanks to higher yields and improved process efficiency.

A Real-World Success Story: Probiotics Reimagined

Differential Bio has already demonstrated the transformative power of its technology with clients and partners. In the probiotics industry—a fast-growing segment of the health and wellness industry—the company tackled a dual challenge: transitioning a microbial strain from an animal-based to a plant-based growth medium while maintaining performance. Using its Virtual Scale-up Platform, Differential Bio not only achieved this sustainability milestone but also delivered remarkable results: a 4x increase in biomass yield – boosting production efficiency – and a 16% reduction in production costs.

These findings were presented at a leading probiotics conference in Copenhagen earlier this year, earning widespread attention from industry leaders. The case study underscored a crucial point: sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive. “This project showcased the platform’s ability to handle multi-objective optimizations,” CSO Dong Zhao explained. “We proved that sustainable biomanufacturing can enhance performance and cut costs simultaneously—no compromises required.”

Biomanufacturing is poised to revolutionize how we produce goods across multiple industries, including food and beverages, cosmetics, chemicals, and even textiles and materials. Experts estimate that up to 60% of the physical inputs in these sectors could eventually be manufactured biologically. With global biomanufacturing capacity expected to surge 10 to 20 times over the next few decades, the demand for efficient scaling solutions has never been greater – and Differential Bio is well-positioned at the forefront of this shift.

“The Differential team immediately stood out to us with their exceptional combination of deep technical expertise, innovative scientific approach, and a visionary drive to deliver impactful solutions at scale,” said Bernd Klosterkemper, Partner at Ananda Impact Ventures. “We believe their technology will redefine biomanufacturing by enabling faster, more efficient scaling of bio-based processes, accelerating the global transition to a sustainable, green, and circular economy.”

“Biomanufacturing is constrained by a scaling crisis. By leveraging machine learning on extensive phenotypic and bioprocess data, Differential has the potential to redefine biomanufacturing at scale by providing a step function reduction in cost and time to commercialization,” said Tom McQuillen Partner at ReGen Ventures. “Chris, Dong and Martin have a daring ambition to transform biomanufacturing and we feel honored to partner in the journey”.