French Biotech Spore.Bio Raises Google.org Funding, Launches AI Research Unit

Alongside the funding, the company has also unveiled Spore.Labs, a new AI-native research division dedicated to addressing critical challenges in public health.

The Google.org AI for Science Fund is a multi-million-dollar initiative designed to support organisations advancing AI-driven scientific discovery. The fund provides grants to academic institutions as well as nonprofit and for-profit organisations worldwide that leverage AI to address complex challenges across a wide range of scientific disciplines.

Google.org announced the initiative following the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry being jointly awarded to Sir Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs, and Dr John Jumper for their work on AlphaFold, the AI system capable of predicting the three-dimensional structure of proteins from amino acid sequences.

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Spore.Bio stated that it is the only startup globally selected by the Google.org AI for Science Fund to work on this challenge.

“Spore.Labs embodies our vision of what microbiology research should look like in the AI era. With support from Google.org, we’re creating a research environment where the boundaries between biology, physics, and computer science dissolve, allowing us to see and understand microbes in ways that were previously impossible ” said Amine Raji, CEO and co-founder of Spore.Bio.

Founded in 2023 by Amine Raji, Maxime Mistretta (CTO), and Mohamed Tazi (COO), Spore.Labs leverages photonics and artificial intelligence to transform microbiology testing. The company builds full-stack platforms that allow industries and healthcare systems to monitor and analyse microbial activity with greater speed and precision.

Traditional microbiological testing can take anywhere from five to 20 days and often requires samples to be sent to external laboratories. In contrast, Spore.Bio claims to deliver an immediate, on-site alternative powered by its proprietary combination of biophotonics and machine learning.

The company has developed custom hardware capable of capturing signals across visible, ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths. This technology extracts the unique spectral fingerprint of microorganisms at the single-cell level and feeds the data into its AI models. According to Spore.Labs, its foundational model has been trained on millions of images, ranging from laboratory samples to field strains.

The technology is integrated into an in-house dashboard, providing manufacturers with near real-time insights while improving traceability and transparency.

“With consequent funding and Google Cloud Platform credits from Google.org, Spore.Labs will develop open datasets, publish research findings, and collaborate with academic and clinical partners to validate its approaches,” the company mentioned in the press release.

Spore.Bio has raised a total of €29.9 million ($35 million) in funding to date. In February last year, the startup secured €22 million in a Series A round led by venture capital firm Singular.

The company is currently recruiting 15 scientists across microbiology, photonics, and deep learning, with plans to expand its team to 30 scientists by the end of 2026.