Momenta Insights

AI for Bioprocessing | Venture Capital | DataHow | Momenta

Written by Ken Forster | May 28, 2024

Momenta leads Series A investment round in DataHow 

 

Momenta, the leading Industrial Impact® venture capital firm, has led the Series A investment round for DataHow, a leader in AI-powered solutions for bioprocess development and manufacturing. Momenta's investment, along with the participation of Rockwell Automation and

Zürcher Kantonalbank, will accelerate the Zurich-based company's deployment of its digital bioprocess development and manufacturing platform, DataHowLab.

An ETH spin-off founded in 2017 by a team of experienced researchers with industry experience, including Dr. Alessandro Butté and Dr. Michael Sokolov, DataHow has pioneered the development of hybrid models for bioprocess development, implementing their innovative technologies with many of the biopharmaceutical industry's largest players. Combining hard-coded process knowledge with data-driven AI algorithms, DataHow’s hybrid models provide process engineers with richer process insight when developing complex manufacturing processes while requiring less data. 

With their innovative technologies available with their digital bioprocessing solution, DataHowLab, the company is poised to transform bioprocess development and manufacturing:  

  •  Generate richer bioprocess insight with a user-friendly digital solution designed for process scientists to benefit from advanced hybrid modeling technology without data-science knowledge.
  • Accelerate process development across all phases by generating more process insight with less development effort and by transferring insights across products and scales. 
  • Increase manufacturing productivity by supporting the development of more robust, higher-yield processes through increased process knowledge and AI-enriched insight. 
  • Digital twin technology powered by hybrid process models to enable process simulation and automated process monitoring and control for development and manufacturing. 

The investment underlines the belief that DataHow’s technology will transform digital bioprocessing and play a vital role in the biopharmaceutical industry's digitalization drive. The capital raise will accelerate the development of DataHowLab and its deployment in the market and provide the firm with two strong investment partners with expertise in industrial automation and digital transformation.

We sought out investment partners that understand the impact of digital on manufacturing and are deeply rooted in the market, ecosystem, technology, and culture.”, said Dr. Alessandro Butté, CEO and co-founder of DataHow. “We have a deep understanding of research and development but need partners now to help us scale up our market and solutions towards manufacturing and regulated production environments.” 

 "The past several years have reinforced the value of flexible and rapid scale in bioprocess manufacturing, quickly bringing new medicines and compounds to improve the environment and people's quality of life," said Ken Forster, Executive Director of Momenta. “DataHow is a pioneer in applying AI models to accelerate the scale-up of bioprocess manufacturing.” 

 “We are excited to support DataHow in expanding their capabilities from early-stage process development to commercial manufacturing,” said Arvind Rao, vice president of Industry Solutions at Rockwell Automation. “With Rockwell’s engagement, DataHow can provide customers with a complete set of solutions from the lab to commercial scale manufacturing that will accelerate time to market (including batch release), increase product yields, and reduce costs.” 

This is the second company to receive investment from Momenta's Digital Industry Fund IV, anchored by Rockwell Automation, the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation. 

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Momenta is the leading Industrial Impact® venture capital firm, accelerating industrial innovators across energy, manufacturing, smart spaces, and the supply chain. Our team of deep industry operators has helped scale industry leaders and innovators to improve critical industries, the environment, and people's quality of life for over a decade. PitchBook has ranked Momenta as one of the ten best-performing venture capital firms for 2023 in its prestigious Global Manager Performance Score League Tables, and the firm is the only European-headquartered VC to secure a Top 10 spot on the list. For more information, please visit http://www.momenta.one. 

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