Ancera, Inc., Branford, Conn., raised $8.9 million in Series A financing to commercialize its single-cell transport technology.
Ancera’s patented MagDrive technology analyzes contamination in food sources in near real-time enabling rapid, straightforward detection and quantification of microbial threats. Glass Capital, an existing investor in Ancera, led the funding round with participation from Packers Sanitation Services (PSSI), a Kieler, Wis.-based leader of cleaning and sanitation services for the food industry, and Metabiota, a San Francisco-based pioneer in epidemic risk analytics.
Ancera is positioned to play a critical role in planning and monitoring a hierarchy of control measures that provide companies with deeper clarity and actionable outcomes in food production. The company’s Piper platform was developed to provide near real-time identification of contamination and quantification of microbial load across all points in the food production process, from farm to consumer. Ancera’s MagDrive technology powers the Piper platform by rapidly manipulating, sorting and enumerating viable pathogens directly from complex food samples, such as produce and poultry.
By integrating MagDrive with Metabiota and PSSI, Ancera can now deliver intelligent insights into assessing pathogen risk for the food industry.
“Ancera and Metabiota are a natural fit, as we are both committed to leveraging data to decrease pathogen risk in food systems and reduce the threat of a foodborne disease outbreak,” says Robert Mann, president and COO of Metabiota. “We are so confident in this platform that we are partnering with Ancera to help food companies easily identify and quantify pathogens in their supply chains, which will ultimately help protect global health.”
"With this funding and our new collaborations, Ancera is truly positioned to shift the status quo in the food industry," adds Arjun Ganesan, co-founder and CEO of Ancera. "Our ability to rapidly deliver microbial risk information will help the food industry continue to improve the safety and quality of its products through every stage of the production process.”
Ancera will use the new funds to continue building its team, while ramping up commercial operations for a product launch in early 2017.
