Brightseed: The 'ChatGPT of Nutrition' Files IPO Prospectus

The “ChatGPT” of the Nutrition World Is Here!

Not long ago, the AI model launched by the artificial intelligence organization OpenAIChatGPT, within less than a month, it had already been used and experienced by 1 million users. In addition to the brand-new AI experience, ChatGPT has also sparked people's fantasies about the industrial applications of AI,The nutrition industry is also included.。

Little known is the fact that the combination of “AI + Nutrition” emerged several years ago,Brightseed is one such practitioner.In 2017, Stanford University plant biologist Lee Chae, recognizing the potential of plants, co-founded Brightseed together with Jim Flatt, a biological and chemical engineer at MIT, and Sofia Elizondo from the BCG Henderson Institute.To discover more natural compounds from plants that can serve human health through AI platforms.

It turns out their decision was the right one. In less than three years, Brightseed successfully secured nearly $100 million in funding and established partnerships with leading nutrition companies such as Pharmavite, Danone, Ocean Spray, and OFI. How exactly did they achieve this?

Like many innovative companies, Brightseed originated from the whimsical ideas of researchers.

In 2015, Lee Chae was still justResearcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Department of Plant Biology, Stanford University, he has nearly a decade of experience in the research and development of phytochemicals. In his view, plants are a treasure trove of inexhaustible resources; humanity has simply not yet found the key to unlock this vault.

In the development of plant-based products, the most challenging aspect is organizing various complex information and data, as well as comprehensively inferring all related possibilities.Fortunately, AI technology has matured and is adept at supporting innovative decision-making as well as the summarization and organization of data.

Lee Chae believes that AI technology may be the key to unlocking the “plant treasure trove.” However, as a botanist with no expertise in the development and application of AI, he sought help from two partners—Jim Flatt, a biological and chemical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Sofia Elizondo of the BCG Henderson Institute。

▲ (Left) Lee Chae (Center) Sofia Elizondo (Right) Jim Flatt (Source: Brightseed official website)

Jim Flatt is well-versed in chemistry and biology, with significant achievements in compound research. During his time as a researcher, he frequently collaborated with Lee Chae on the analysis of natural compounds. Prior to joining Brightseed, Sofia Elizondo worked at the food technology company Hampton Creek and was also a member of the BCG Henderson Institute, bringing extensive experience in leveraging AI for food nutrition development. Thanks to Sofia Elizondo’s strong AI capabilities, Lee Chae’s vision was ultimately realized.

In 2017, the three co-founded Brightseed and leveraged Forager, an AI platform they designed,Predicting the Specialized Metabolites Potentially Produced by Plants and Their Clinical Application of These Natural Bioactive Compounds. Using this approach, Brightseed identifies leads for natural compounds at a speed faster than traditional medicinal chemistry research.Nearly 10-fold。

This has also drawn the attention of major venture capital firms and nutrition companies.Danone, Ocean SprayNumerous companies have extended olive branches, inviting Brightseed to collaborate on the research and development of new nutritional supplements. Additionally, internationally renowned venture capital firms such as Temasek have invested nearly $100 million to support its continued development.

Jim Flatt stated, “Millions of phytonutrients are hidden within plants, and our goal is to discover these compounds, understand their functions, and incorporate them into our products.”

BrightseedA significant portion of the success stems from the creation of the Forager platform.

Forager is an integratedHigh-resolution omics, high-throughput robotics and automation, scalable computing powerAI platform. It can help researchers select study subjects (plants) and extract relevant compounds from them; it can also predict the functions of novel nutrients and identify their related targets, among other capabilities.

During the early development phase of the Forager platform, Lee Chae and his colleagues converted a large number of plant specimens into computable data structures for Forager to learn from. Over time, through machine learning, Forager became capable of processing plant samples or natural samples it encountered.Automatically generate large-scale chemical and biological datasets.

Furthermore, Forager not only analyzes specimens provided by researchers but also autonomously identifies specimens based on their nutritional composition. By learning from natural environments, evolutionary relationships among plants, and omics data, Forager can rapidly scan for the optimal sources of target bioactive compounds.Assisting Researchers in Identifying Relevant Plant Species。

It is understood that, currentlyTwo-Thirds of Small-Molecule DrugsOriginally derived from natural compounds found in plants, bacteria, and fungi, yet there are still in nature99% of compounds remain undiscovered by humans. Meanwhile, the natural compounds that have been discovered have not been systematically summarized. But with Forager’s established"Phytochemical Compound Database", researchers can rapidly and accurately identify suitable natural compounds, thereby facilitating the development of pharmaceuticals or nutritional supplements.

During the treatment phase, Forager can monitor the user's physical condition and automatically match natural compounds to improve their health status.

Forager has successfully built by mining and learning from decades of biomedical research,Digital Models of Human Health. By leveraging this digital model, Forager’s algorithms can identify specific bioactive substances, along with their activity levels and quantities, thereby assessing the user’s health status and determining which compounds are needed to improve their condition.

According to the Brightseed platform, Forager has identified approximately700,000 typesNatural Compounds with Health Benefits Expected to Exceed by 202510 million types, and health monitoring for the human body is becoming increasingly accurate, enabling it to provide health guidance to more people in the future.

In summary, Forager can not only learn through AI“Herb Collection”、“Pharmaceutical Manufacturing”, and can alsoPersonalized "Prescription", providing a range of services from preventive care to treatment for human health.

Certainly, this platform has also gained recognition and support from the industry. On the final list of winners for the 2021 R&D 100 Awards, Brightseed, with its Forager platform, joined many “century-old” companies, such asThermo Fisher, PerkinElmerStanding together, sharingThe "Oscars" of the Tech Innovation World。

Leveraging the Forager platform, Brightseed has discovered numerous novel compounds. As previously featured in Cell Death & Disease》 magazine'sN-trans-caffeoyltyramine(N-trans-caffeoyltyramine, NCT) andN-trans-Feruloyltyramine(N-trans-feruloyltyramine, NFT) has been confirmed to be effective in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Recently, they have also converted hempseed hulls into a dietary fiber ingredient rich in highly concentrated bioactive compounds, which they namedBrightseed Bio 01。

It is reported that Brightseed Bio 01 is currently the only hemp fiber used in functional foods and beverages, containing two unique bioactive compounds. Research by Brightseed indicates that Brightseed Bio 01 has the potential to enhance gut integrity and repair the intestinal lining, thereby maintaining healthy gut barrier function.

Currently, Brightseed Bio 01 has been incorporated into the development of select functional foods and beverages, providing consumers with an efficient and unique source of fiber. In the future, Brightseed will focus on metabolic health, cognitive function, and gut health to develop additional natural compounds.

In a nutshell, Brightseed’s success is largely built on its application of AI, which inspires us to adeptly integrate cutting-edge technologies into the nutrition industry. As public demand for health continues to rise, the integration of intelligent technologies into the nutrition sector has become an inevitable trend, with significant room for growth across research and development, processing, and sales.In the future, we may all ultimately enter an era of personalized and intelligent nutrition.