Headlines
NATO fund backs biotech startup in push to counter biological threats
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
NATO Innovation Fund invests in Portal Biotech to enhance biosecurity using AI and protein sequencing, part of a $35 million round.
By Supantha Mukherjee
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -The NATO Innovation Fund has made its first investment in a biotechnology company, it said on Monday, seeking to enhance defences against biological threats
The fund is co-leading a $35 million fundraising round for Portal Biotech, which uses protein sequencing to detect engineered threats and defend against biological warfare.
UK-based Portal Biotech's capability is essential for biosecurity defence and security, said Ana Bernardo-Gancedo, senior associate at NATO Innovation Fund.
"We believe that it is absolutely imperative that we are able to detect, monitor and create countermeasures," she said.
The fund, created in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, plans to invest more than $1 billion in technologies that would enhance NATO's defences.
Portal Biotech uses an AI-backed technology with biological sensors that can work at the single molecule level on-site, giving results within hours.
"It's for everything from measuring diseases to better pandemic prevention ... you can take this out of large labs with long turnaround times and into the field," CEO Andy Heron told Reuters.
Heron said the company's instruments can detect any pathogen and can be used for continuous monitoring of anything from a field to water supply.
"It allows you not just to detect what you did know was out there, but it allows you to detect what you didn't know," he said.
Beyond biosecurity, Portal Biotech expects its portable equipment to aid in drug discovery and precision medicine.
The company's investors include Earlybird Venture Capital, Science Creates VC, Pillar VC, 8VC, We VC and British Business Bank.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in StockholmEditing by David Goodman)
The NATO Innovation Fund aims to enhance defenses against biological threats by investing in technologies like those developed by Portal Biotech.
Portal Biotech is co-leading a $35 million fundraising round as part of the NATO Innovation Fund's investment.
Portal Biotech uses AI-backed technology with biological sensors that can detect pathogens at the single molecule level, providing rapid results.
The technology can be used for biosecurity, drug discovery, and precision medicine, as well as for continuous monitoring of environments like water supplies.
The NATO Innovation Fund was established in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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