Amulet, a US startup helping people with food allergies, has snapped $5.8 million in Series A financing. The round was led by HealthX Ventures, with participation from Incite Ventures, AllerFund, Mendota Venture Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, and individuals like e-commerce pioneer, Pinterest executive, and Daydream founder Julie Bornstein and serial founder and investor Diede van Lamoen.
This follows the recent investments in US startups, including DevRev, FLYR, and Cents.
How will it use the investment?
With this new round of funding, the company is well-positioned to scale its team, expand its detection portfolio, and execute a full product launch to serve the large and growing Amulet waitlist.
“We strive to support digital innovations that make healthcare easier and more affordable. There’s no doubt that what Amulet is creating is a much-needed product for the hundreds of millions globally managing food allergies, celiac disease, food intolerances, and the countless businesses that strive to serve them,” said Mark Bakken of HealthX Ventures. “We look forward to supporting Amulet through this next stage of growth as they bring their innovation to market.”
“We are excited to see how Amulet’s flexible technology helps manage a growing problem for individuals and businesses to enhance food safety in a multitude of settings,” said Lisa Strovink of AllerFund, the first venture capital firm with a focus on the food allergy community. “This product will provide valuable information for the tens of millions of people navigating life with food allergies and intolerances.”
“Amulet’s food-focused mission straddles so many lanes of global health, making its potential for widescale impact an exciting vision to support,” said Swati Mylavarapu, Founder and Managing Partner of Incite Ventures. “By tackling food safety, one of the most fundamental pillars of health, Amulet has the power to make the world a better place – one allergen test at a time.”
What does the company do?
Having experienced the challenges with food allergies since childhood, co-founder Abigail Barnes realised the need for a fast and portable food allergen and ingredient sensor that will make individuals feel safer when eating out. She joined hands with Joseph BelBruno in Madison in 2014 to start Amulet.
The startup equips individuals and businesses with portable sensor technology that uses rapid, on-site molecular detection to quickly identify allergens and environmental contaminants in food.
Amulet is the company behind Allergy Amulet, a brand with a signature wearable that enables people to test for food allergens on the go, and Amulet Scientific, a commercial brand with a detection platform that empowers restaurants, suppliers, manufacturers, and other food industry businesses to identify a range of molecular targets like food toxins and environmental contaminants.
The company has developed the world’s smallest and fastest first-of-its-kind consumer food allergen sensor by pairing molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) technology with an electrochemical system to detect target allergenic ingredients. In seconds, users will be able to detect the presence or absence of the top eight most common food allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, eggs, milk, and soy), as well as gluten and sesame. Its sleek and portable design makes its proprietary sensor technology easy to bring everywhere you go on a keychain, necklace, or wristband.
“Amulet’s technology has the potential to improve the safety of our food systems and, by extension, the health and well-being of millions,” said Abigail Barnes, Founder and CEO of Amulet. “From gluten to glyphosate in our food and soil, this funding will allow us to deploy rapid detection for both consumers and businesses to help ensure a safer food supply chain and reduce adverse health outcomes for the food allergy, food intolerant, and celiac populations.”
What do we think about Amulet?
The startup is pioneering a crucial innovation in food safety with its portable allergen detection technology. The $5.8 million Series A funding, led by HealthX Ventures, will enable the startup to scale its team, expand its detection capabilities, and launch its product to a growing waitlist. Amulet’s impact is poised to enhance food safety for millions, addressing a significant global health concern.
