The celebrity turned investor trope isn’t a new story; from Leo DiCaprio to Magic Johnson, the rich and famous have often turned to the tech world either as an investor and sometimes as a founder. Recently, we’ve seen some high-profile investments in the food tech space – including actor Ashton Kutcher and his investment in Keurig-like juice startup Juicero.
The latest celebrities to jump on the food tech train are none other than U2 frontman Bono and the band’s beloved drummer The Edge. The lucky startup? Irish AI and DNA food startup Nuritas, a company working to find combinations of elements within our food and develop supplements that could act as cures to common diseases.
Nuritas joins a wave of companies launching with the plan to study and use DNA analysis to help people live healthier lives. Startups like Habit take a similar approach but use biological data to deliver customized health and dietary plans for users, tackling their nutritional needs at the molecular level.
Nuritas is currently awaiting patents for its technology which uses a combination of artificial intelligence and DNA analysis to dive deep into billions of molecules and extract components that can benefit human health. The company calls these compounds “bioactive peptides” and claims they can be used to manage a host of issues, including inflammation and potentially blood sugar levels in diabetics.
The U2 frontmen are joined by CEO and founder of Salesforce Marc Benioff along with tech entrepreneur Ali Partovi as early investors in Nuritas’ seed round of funding. Bono is no stranger to successful tech investment, having poured money into both Facebook and Dropbox in their early days.
Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest areas of tech – 2016 was a huge year for machine learning and the technology is finding its way into every vertical. The potential for AI influence on our food – from the ways we eat and cook to the types of food we consume along with the commerce, storage and healthcare implications that accompany these changes – is enormous.
Read more about Nuritas’ plan for expansion and the investment from U2.
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