Differential Bio secures €2 million pre-seed

The Munich-based AI biotech start-up Differential Bio is emerging from stealth mode. The Virtual Scale-up Platform aims to make bio-based production processes more efficient and scalable.

Munich, March 26, 2025 - Munich-based AI biotech startup Differential Bio has closed a €2 million pre-seed financing round. The company is developing a virtual scale-up platform that combines microbiology, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize and scale bioprocesses more efficiently.

The financing round was led by Ananda Impact Ventures and ReGen Ventures, with participation from Carbon13, Climate Capital, Better Ventures, CDTM Ventures and a group of business angels.

Biomanufacturing is constrained by scaling issues. Differential Bio uses AI to make production processes faster and more cost-efficient.

Bernd Klosterkemper, Partner at Ananda Impact Ventures

Challenges in biomanufacturing

Biomanufacturing uses biological systems - such as microorganisms - to produce food, medicines or bio-based materials. A key challenge in the industry is scaling up: the transition from laboratory production to industrial production is time-consuming and cost-intensive.

Differential Bio addresses this problem with its Virtual Scale-up Platform, which integrates three core technologies:

• Microbiology for miniaturization of fermentation processes
• Lab automation and robotics to generate high-quality data
• AI-supported simulations to virtually optimize bioprocesses

This combination is intended to reduce dependence on resource-intensive experiments, shorten development cycles and cut costs.

First successes in probiotics production

Differential Bio's technology has already been applied in the probiotics industry. The company supported the conversion of a microbial culture from an animal to a plant-based growth medium without any loss of performance. The result was a four-fold increase in biomass yield and a 16 percent reduction in production costs.

The team combines in-depth scientific know-how with a visionary strategy. Their platform can drastically reduce the cost and development time for bio-based products.

Tom McQuillen, Partner at ReGen Ventures

The results were presented at a specialist conference in Copenhagen and attracted a great deal of attention in the industry.

Next steps and growth plans

Differential Bio plans to use the funding to expand its platform and scale its technology. The funds will be used for the following measures:

• Expansion of the platform for more complex bioprocesses
• Expansion of the "Self-Driving Lab" to generate more precise data sets
• Recruitment of specialists in the fields of biotechnology, AI and automation
• Establishing new partnerships with companies from the food, cosmetics and chemical industries

"Our goal is to make biomanufacturing as seamless and scalable as modern software development," says Martin Patz, CTO of Differential Bio.