Deep Tech: Orbem raises € 55.5 million in Series B round

Munich — Orbem, the Munich-based deep tech company that turns magne­tic reso­nance imaging (MRI) into a powerful AI-powered tool to unco­ver hidden insights in food and biology, has raised a €55.5 million Series B funding round. The round is led by Euro­pean deep-tech specia­list Inno­va­tion Indus­tries, with parti­ci­pa­tion from Super­nova Invest and signi­fi­cant parti­ci­pa­tion from exis­ting inves­tors inclu­ding Gene­ral Cata­lyst, 83North, The Venture Coll­ec­tive, Possi­ble Ventures and seve­ral angel investors. 

The new capi­tal will drive Orbe­m’s entry into the US market, scaling its proven solu­ti­ons in the poul­try indus­try and exten­ding its actionable insights to new chal­lenges in food and human health. By combi­ning advan­ced MRI sensors and powerful verti­cal AI, Orbe­m’s solu­ti­ons reveal what we can’t see on the outside of biolo­gi­cal mate­ri­als, enab­ling rapid, non-inva­­sive analysis. 

Orbem has deve­lo­ped a breakth­rough plat­form that makes MRI tech­no­logy fast, afforda­ble and scalable, enab­ling non-inva­­sive analy­sis of biolo­gi­cal mate­ri­als on an indus­trial scale. The company is buil­ding the largest and most compre­hen­sive biolo­gi­cal data­set in the indus­try today. Orbem is alre­ady profi­ta­ble and a leading provi­der of in-ovo sexing in five Euro­pean count­ries, a posi­tion based on its deep under­stan­ding of proces­ses in the poul­try indus­try. The company will use the new capi­tal to further its expan­sion into the United States, laun­ching new solu­ti­ons for the poul­try indus­try and ente­ring the multi-billion dollar fruit and vege­ta­ble market. In addi­tion, Orbem will invest in its vision to apply its actionable insights to the field of human healthcare. 

Orbem uses AI to indus­tria­lize MRI 

Orbem uses AI to indus­tria­lize MRI, provi­ding non-inva­­sive insight into ever­y­thing from fruit to eggs to the human body. The company is trans­forming the worl­d’s largest coll­ec­tion of biolo­gi­cal data into actionable infor­ma­tion to help food manu­fac­tu­r­ers, rese­ar­chers and other inno­va­tors make better decis­i­ons. By provi­ding previously inac­ces­si­ble infor­ma­tion — the sex of an embryo in an egg, the health of a seed, the quality of an avocado without cutting it open — Orbem serves global custo­mers in the agri­cul­ture, food and health sectors. Their rapid, non-destruc­­tive insights, based on a deep under­stan­ding of indus­try proces­ses, for exam­ple in poul­try farming, reduce waste, increase quality and trans­pa­rency and acce­le­rate the shift towards a more sustainable and healt­hier future. 

A new era of growth: scaling and expansion

The Series B funding will acce­le­rate Orbe­m’s mission to solve global chal­lenges by unco­ve­ring what we can’t see about food and biology from the outside. Key initia­ti­ves include:
— US Market Entry: Follo­wing the estab­lish­ment of its first US office in Hous­ton, Texas in 2025, Orbem is brin­ging its proven solu­ti­ons for poul­try to one of the largest agri­cul­tu­ral markets in the world.
— Expan­ded Poul­try Plat­form: Orbem will further streng­then its commit­ment to the poul­try indus­try and scale its exis­ting solutions.
— New Area: Fruit and Vege­ta­bles: The company is expan­ding its actionable insights for sustainable food produc­tion to the fruit and vege­ta­ble sector. Orbe­m’s non-destruc­­tive tech­no­logy can inspect the inside of produce such as water­me­lons, avoca­dos and mangoes to detect inter­nal defects and assess quality without cutting them open. This helps growers to accu­ra­tely sort their produce, ensure consis­tent quality and drasti­cally reduce food waste before the produce reaches the consumer.
— Health­care: What Orbem learns from scan­ning milli­ons of eggs and avoca­dos leads to a deeper under­stan­ding of biology. The company is buil­ding the worl­d’s largest biolo­gi­cal data­set. This unique resource is the basis for AI models that will find profound appli­ca­ti­ons in the field of human health and make non-inva­­sive insights more accessible. 

Dr. Pedro Gómez, co-foun­­der and CEO of Orbemsays: “We are the first and so far only company in the world to demons­trate the use of MRI in less than a second and without human inter­ven­tion. We have star­ted to show the poul­try indus­try what is possi­ble when you can see the inside of an egg, and we are just getting star­ted. This new funding will allow us to acce­le­rate our expan­sion in the US and help more food manu­fac­tu­r­ers and health­care provi­ders make better decis­i­ons with data. Our scalable plat­form and fast-growing proprie­tary biolo­gi­cal data­set are the perfect foun­da­tion to accom­plish this. We are proud of the trust our inves­tors have placed in us and our vision to help the world see from the inside out.”

Pleuni Hooij­man, Invest­ment Mana­ger at Inno­va­tion Indus­tries, explains: “Orbem is truly excep­tio­nal. Few compa­nies manage to make such a complex tech­no­logy acces­si­ble and scalable for so many indus­tries. Orbem is alre­ady trans­forming entire indus­tries with its plat­form and we are deligh­ted to accom­pany them on this journey.”

Michaël Thomas, Invest­ment Direc­tor at Super­nova Invest, adds: “We are deligh­ted to be working with Orbem, a visio­nary company that perfectly embo­dies Euro­pe’s excel­lence in deep tech. By combi­ning cutting-edge AI and MRI tech­no­logy, Orbem is deli­ve­ring concrete answers to some of the biggest chal­lenges of our time, from redu­cing animal suffe­ring to tack­ling food waste and buil­ding a more sustainable global food system. This invest­ment under­lines our belief that Europe can lead the way in physi­cal AI and turn scien­ti­fic breakth­roughs into major indus­trial innovations.”

About Orbem — The Inside Out Company

Orbem uses AI to indus­tria­lize MRI, provi­ding non-inva­­sive insight into ever­y­thing from fruit to eggs to the human body. The company is trans­forming the worl­d’s largest coll­ec­tion of biolo­gi­cal data into actionable infor­ma­tion to help food manu­fac­tu­r­ers, rese­ar­chers and other inno­va­tors make better decis­i­ons. By provi­ding previously inac­ces­si­ble infor­ma­tion — the sex of an embryo in an egg, the health of a seed, the quality of an avocado without cutting it open — Orbem serves global custo­mers in the agri­cul­ture, food and health sectors. Head­quar­te­red in Munich, Germany, with offices in Hous­ton, Texas, the Orbem team uses its inside-out intel­li­gence to change the way huma­nity sees and under­stands biolo­gi­cal matter. — www.orbem.ai

About Inno­va­tion Industries

Inno­va­tion Indus­tries is a leading Euro­pean deep-tech venture capi­tal firm with €1 billion of capi­tal under manage­ment. The company invests in visio­nary science-based compa­nies that address the worl­d’s most pres­sing chal­lenges. Convin­ced that deep tech can deli­ver both supe­rior finan­cial returns and global impact, Inno­va­tion Indus­tries part­ners with excep­tio­nal entre­pre­neurs and rese­ar­chers to turn scien­ti­fic breakth­roughs into trans­for­ma­tive compa­nies. The company provi­des long-term capi­tal and stra­te­gic support from lab to market and actively bridges the gap between acade­mia and indus­try by working closely with leading tech­ni­cal univer­si­ties, rese­arch insti­tu­ti­ons and indus­try part­ners. Inno­va­tion Indus­tries has offices in Amster­dam, Eind­ho­ven and Munich. https://www.innovationindustries.com/

About Super­nova Invest

Super­nova Invest is the leading deep-tech venture capi­tal firm in Europe with appro­xi­m­ately €800 million in assets under manage­ment. The current port­fo­lio compri­ses more than 80 inno­va­tive and impact-orien­­ted compa­nies deve­lo­ping products and services that leverage disrup­tive tech­no­lo­gies in four future-orien­­ted sectors: Clean­tech, Digi­tal, Indus­trial Tech­no­lo­gies and Health­care. For 20 years, Super­nova Invest has provi­ded long-term capi­tal, opera­tio­nal expe­ri­ence and stra­te­gic support to foster the sustainable growth of tomor­ro­w’s deep tech and indus­trial cham­pi­ons throug­hout the venture capi­tal life­cy­cle: seed, early, late and growth stage. Super­nova Invest also brings toge­ther the entire deep-tech value chain to support the port­fo­lio compa­nies: Compa­nies, rese­arch insti­tu­ti­ons and co-investors.
Super­nova Invest is backed by both Amundi, the largest asset mana­ger in Europe, and CEA, the most inno­va­tive public rese­arch orga­niza­tion in Europe.