NATO Just Funded A British Startup That Says Its AI Tech Can Spot Deadly Bio Threats Before They Spread—Even The Ones We Didn't Know Existed

The NATO Innovation Fund has co-led a $35 million Series A round into Portal Biotech, a U.K.-based life sciences startup that claims it has developed the world's first platform for full-length, single-molecule protein sequencing.

This marks the fund's first investment in a biotechnology firm and signals a strategic move to boost global defense against future biological threats, Reuters says. Portal Biotech was founded in 2021 by Andy Heron and Giovanni Maglia, according to the company's website. The following year, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the NATO Innovation Fund was launched with plans to invest more than $1 billion into cutting-edge defense technologies, Reuters reports. The fund is backed by 24 NATO member nations, including the U.S., U.K., Germany, Italy, and France, according to the NATO Innovation Fund’s website.

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According to Portal Biotech, its technology allows rapid, on-site protein sequencing without the need for large labs or long turnaround times, offering a real-time advantage in identifying both known and engineered pathogens.

According to Ana Bernardo-Gancedo, senior associate at the NATO Innovation Fund, the technology could play a defining role in future biosecurity efforts across Allied nations. "Portal Biotech's ability to characterise proteins at the molecular level onsite anywhere could help detect engineered biological threats faster and more accurately — crucial in defending against biowarfare and preparing us for the next pandemic, boosting the resilience of Allied nations for generations to come," Bernardo-Gancedo said in the statement.

Why This Breakthrough Could Be the Key to Precision Medicine and Pandemic Prevention

Portal Biotech's breakthrough positions it as a leading innovator in the race to unlock what many in the life sciences field have called the "holy grail" of proteomics: full-length, single-molecule protein sequencing.

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According to the company, the ability to read intact proteins at this level of detail, without breaking them into fragments, has never been achieved before and holds the potential to reshape drug discovery, diagnostics, and biological research. Portal Biotech says its technology addresses long-standing blind spots in how proteins are analyzed, offering a new level of accuracy, speed, and accessibility for labs worldwide.

Legacy methods like mass spectrometry slice proteins into fragments, often losing critical information about protein modifications and functions, Portal Biotech says. The startup's benchtop instruments aim to provide full-length sequencing at the single-molecule level, maintaining the integrity of the protein data while significantly cutting costs and time.

Portal Biotech CEO Andy Heron said in the statement that the startup's AI-enhanced sequencing tools will allow researchers to monitor the proteome with unmatched accuracy and speed. “These powerful advances are essential for accelerating drug discovery and enhancing diagnostic precision, positioning Portal Biotech as the frontrunner in the race to unlock the full potential of protein sequencing,” he added.  

The company expects its platform to not only accelerate go-or-no-go decisions in drug pipelines but also to enable portable, field-level surveillance tools for pandemic and biowarfare preparedness.

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NATO, Earlybird, and Big-Name VCs Line Up to Back Portal Biotech's Bold Play

Portal Biotech says the $35 million round was co-led by the NATO Innovation Fund and Earlybird Venture Capital, with support from returning investors SCVC, Pillar VC, 8VC, Amino Collective, and Outsized. New investors include We Venture Capital, British Business Bank, and WS Investment Company, the venture arm of Wilson Sonsini.

The founding team includes scientists with deep expertise in nanopore genomics, drawing from over a decade of research in the Maglia lab. Dr. Rabab Nasrallah, principal at Earlybird Health Fund, said in the statement that Portal Biotech is poised to do for proteomics what next-generation DNA sequencing did for genomics.

The raise will support the expansion of Portal's commercial efforts, research and development team, and pharmaceutical partnerships. With the human genome already sequenced, Portal Biotech aims to decode the proteome next, potentially unlocking answers that DNA alone could never reveal.

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