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Meet
Seco Bio keeps living bacteria alive, so probiotics deliver what the label promises.
Spun out of MIT in 2025, Seco builds on eight years of NASA and DARPA‑funded research into making microbes tough enough for soldiers and astronauts, published in Nature Materials (2024).
Seco’s platform wraps each live cell in a custom protective coating made only from safe, GRAS / FDA‑approved ingredients, with no genetic modification.
AI models and lab robotics rapidly identify the right protective formula for each strain, and Seco licenses these formulations to brands, manufacturers, and ingredient suppliers across the probiotic industry.
Problem They’re Solving
Probiotic bacteria die during manufacturing, storage and shipping. To make sure enough live cells survive to match the label, brands pack in far more than they need, often 200% to more than 36,000% above the label claim, which drives up cost and still leaves many products short by the end of their shelf life.
The same fragility limits what can be sold at all: live probiotics on the shelf today come from a handful of hardy strains, while a healthy gut holds around 1,000 species. Seco Bio makes each strain stable on its own, so brands can cut overfill, lower their cost of goods, meet the label claim when the product is taken, and bring new, more fragile strains to market.
Where They Are Headed
Seco Bio is starting in consumer probiotics, licensing stabilized formulas strain by strain to leading supplement brands and ingredient suppliers, with seven formulas ready to license now and five more in development. Alongside that, we are developing what we expect to be the first live, shelf-stable dry form of Akkermansia muciniphila, a next-generation probiotic linked to metabolic health, as Seco-owned IP.
Our AI-guided, robotic formulation engine aims to cut the time to develop a stable live product from the industry’s 5 to 7 years to 12 to 18 months, and every program adds to a formulation database that makes the next one faster. Over time, we plan to take the platform beyond human health into animal health, agriculture, defense and pharma.
Opportunity Highlights
- Proven, published science: 8 years and $4M of NASA- and DARPA-funded research at MIT, published in Nature Materials (2024), with no government equity rights or commercial encumbrances.
- Fits existing factories: Works with manufacturers' existing drying lines and uses only safe GRAS / FDA-approved ingredients, so there is no genetic modification and no new ingredient approval needed.
- A licensing model that builds IP: Each strain-and-use combination becomes a new licensable asset, and every program trains Seco's AI formulation database.
- First mover in live Akkermansia: Seco aims to deliver the first live, shelf-stable dry form of a next-generation probiotic whose pasteurized (non-living) version drew a strategic acquisition by Danone in 2025.
- Industry-leading advisors: Former Nestlé Health Science leaders in M&A and finance, and the former CEO of Atrium Innovations (Garden of Life, Pure Encapsulations).
Management Team
Joe Collura, MS, MBA – Co-founder & CEO
Joe has led venture incubation and company formation, including building a 60,000 sq ft Boston venture incubator, and as a portfolio director and program lead in biotech helped launch QALSODY (ALS) and OGSIVEO (oncology). He holds an MBA from Northwestern–Kellogg, an MS in Bioengineering from Northeastern and a BSc from the US Air Force Academy.
Miguel Jimenez, PhD – Co-founder & Inventor
Miguel invented Seco's core technology at MIT and is first author of the foundational Nature Materials paper; he is now an Assistant Professor at Boston University, where he leads the Microbial Integration Group. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from Columbia and an A.B. from Harvard.
Giovanni Traverso, MD, PhD – Co-founder & Inventor
Giovanni is the Karl Van Tassel (1925) Career Development Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. A serial biotech founder (Syntis Bio, Vivtex, Lyndra, Celero Systems), he earned his MD at Cambridge and his PhD at Johns Hopkins.
Executive Advisory Board
Peter Luther - Former President & CEO, Atrium Innovations
Peter led Atrium Innovations, the company behind Garden of Life and Pure Encapsulations, through its $2.3 billion acquisition by Nestlé. He spent 25 years at Johnson & Johnson, serving as President of its Consumer Healthcare, Beauty Care, OTC, and LifeScan divisions. He is Executive Chairman of Vytalogy Wellness and holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Martin Hendrix, PhD - Former Head of Global BD & M&A, Nestlé Health Science
Martin built Nestlé Health Science's M&A function in 2012 and has grown its portfolio ever since through acquisitions, licensing deals, and venture investments. He has represented the company on the boards of Enterome, Evelo, Kaleido, Kintai, and Microbiome Diagnostic Partners. He came to Nestlé after 14 years at Bayer and holds a PhD from The Scripps Research Institute.
Dan Stroud - Founding CFO, Nestlé Health Science
Dan spent 34 years at Nestlé, serving as CFO of Nestlé USA and President of Nestlé Business Services. As a founding member and CFO of Nestlé Health Science, he led the planning and execution of its major acquisitions, including Atrium Innovations. He is now a Senior Advisor to New Mountain Capital and holds a BS in Economics and Finance from Bemidji State University.
Key Metrics
- 10,000× more surviving cells than an uncoated commercial strain
- 3,000x more stable than the existing commercial E. coli Nissle 1917 product after one month at room temperature
- 2,080 formulations tested; 6 months in an accelerated (high-temperature) stability test, indicating more than 1 year at room temperature without overfill
- 12 strain programs in the pipeline, 7 ready to license now
- $2.5B U.S. probiotic supplement category, growing 10.4% a year (Nielsen + Amazon, 52 weeks to Nov 2025)
Milestones
- 2017–2024: 8 years of NASA- and DARPA-funded research at MIT ($4M)
- 2024: Foundational technology published in Nature Materials
- 2025: Seco Bio spun out of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts
- 2026: Lab up and running at The Engine, original MIT results replicated, and $310K DARPA award secured
- 2026: Final-stage contracting with a global corporate partner on an anchor licensing program
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