Paris-based biotech Generare.bio has announced raising €5 million to accelerate the development of its biosynthesis and cloning platform, with the goal of redefining drug discovery by leveraging soil bacteria. This funding round, backed by investors such as Teampact.ventures, Galion.Exe, and VIVES Partners, marks a new phase for the company, founded in 2023 by seasoned entrepreneurs Guillaume Vandenesch (CEO) and Vincent Libis (CSO).
A new era for natural products
Natural products have historically played a crucial role in drug discovery. More than 500 medicines, including antibiotics and anticancer drugs, originate from natural resources like microbes. However, progress in this area has stalled over the years. Generare’s platform directly addresses this bottleneck by reopening this avenue using technology that taps into microbial DNA on an unprecedented scale.
The shotgun cloning process employed by Generare fragments thousands of bacterial genomes into millions of pieces, each analyzed for bioactive molecules. This approach speeds up the discovery of new compounds by expressing hundreds of gene clusters in parallel, increasing the likelihood of finding a promising molecule. “We are unlocking nature’s untapped potential,” says Guillaume Vandenesch, CEO of Generare.bio. “By deciphering the complexity of microbial DNA, we can accelerate the identification of new bioactive molecules at a rate never seen before.”
Willy Braun, partner at Galion.Exe, adds: “Generare is unlocking a vast, untapped reservoir of bacterial molecules, offering enormous breakthrough potential in medicine, but also in other sectors such as cosmetics and agriculture. Their approach drastically reduces costs and accelerates discovery, making their platform indispensable.”
Promising results and a revolutionary platform
In just a few months, Generare has already identified over 100 previously unknown molecules, some of which show potential for applications in antibiotics, anticancer drugs, and immunosuppressants. With a faster and more systematic approach than traditional methods, Generare hopes to multiply discoveries of drugs derived from natural products, which are 100 times more likely to gain approval compared to those discovered through traditional chemistry.
“Microbes contain immense chemical diversity, with 97% still unexplored,” explains Vincent Libis, CSO of Generare.bio. “Our platform leverages this wealth to open new horizons in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and agricultural fields.”
Strategic partnerships and international recognition
Generare is not going it alone. The startup has recently signed a partnership with the French biotech Aurobac Therapeutics to accelerate the discovery and development of new drugs. The company has also gained recognition from the scientific community, notably with the i-Lab Prize 2024, awarded to the most promising deeptech projects in France, and the ERC Starting Grant granted to Vincent Libis, a prestigious distinction for groundbreaking research.
Funding to industrialize discovery
The €5 million funding will enable Generare to refine its technologies, expand its library of genetic data, and lay the groundwork for its “discovery factory.” In other words, the company aims to industrialize its approach, making drug discovery a scalable, repeatable, and far more efficient process.
In addition to R&D, the funds will be used to recruit new talent, particularly in engineering and laboratory roles, to strengthen the team internationally.
