Nat4bio makes food-grade coating to guard fruit from microscopic menace • TechCrunch

Right here’s a type of questions you’ve in all probability by no means thought-about, however in all probability ought to: What goes in your fruit? Not out within the area — although clearly that’s one thing price contemplating too — quite in that interval between the selecting and buying? Seems pesticides aren’t simply the stuff that will get sprayed out the again of a giant bi-plane.

Nat4bio is a younger Argentinian startup give attention to exactly that — specifically the skinny layer of coating utilized to provide. This serves two key functions. First is the aforementioned pesticide requirement. Past coping with bugs within the area, growers and distributors need to reckon with microscopic threats.

The second is the ever-tricky ripening course of. How, when and the place a chunk of fruit ought to ripen isn’t a straigh ahead proposition. Some fruits, like bananas, are sometimes picked when inexperienced and inspired to ripen en path to their locations. Berries, however are totally different. In circumstances like that, the place issues begin to break down quickly, a very good coating will delay the ripening course of.

After all, there’s one large caveat in all of this: It’s occurring fruit, and due to this fact must be edible.

“The product is fabricated from two most important compounds, each of them are obtained via microbial fermentation of native and non-GMO strains,” co-founder and CEO Joaquin Fisch tells TechCrunch. “The primary most important compound is glucose-based polymer. It’s mixed with different food-grade excipients in a really small amount. These excipients are supposed to present the formulation-desired mechanical properties, comparable to viscosity, adherence and elasticity of the movie.”

Along with defending the produce from probably dangerous microbes, it additionally limits the alternate of gases that speed up the ripening course of. The corporate is at the moment focusing on produce grown in Latin American, together with its native Argentina, in addition to Chile, Peru and — probably — Mexico.

The corporate remains to be fairly small, with 4 full-time workers, Fisch included. He met the opposite two founders as a part of a company-building train run by Argentina-based Incubator/VC, Inexperienced Exponential. It has since taken half in SOSV’s IndiebBio program, operating March to June of final 12 months. It has up to now raised a pre-seed spherical of $750,000.

Nat4bio is exhibiting their food-grade coating for citrus fruits this week at Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt, with extra plans to prototype formulation for avocados and berries.