BCD BioScience raised $4.8M funding

A Davis-based biotechnology company founded by professors at the University of California Davis has raised $4.8 million in equity investment to research new uses for carbohydrates for nutrition and immunology.

BCD Bioscience Inc. is working to develop proprietary techniques to transform food-grade substances into products at the cellular level which may have nutritional and immune benefits. It's also building a library of natural sources from which to derive those products and how to do it.

BCD is still in research phase, CEO Steven Watkins told the Business Journal, and the company isn’t providing details on its final products yet. BCD reported that it concluded its financing in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Watkins said the company may license research from UC Davis. BCD was launched in January 2019.

The company uses mass spectrometry approaches to investigate chemical compositions of carbohydrates, which are the most abundant biomolecules on earth. They are also very complex structures. BCD is building a platform that allows potential partner companies or customers to get in-depth chemical compositions of carbohydrates, which can be sourced from vegetables, yeast, fruit, fungi, algae, plants and animal sources.

On its website, the company says that BCD stands for “Better Carbohydrate Design.”

The founding scientists include UC Davis professors Carlito Lebrilla, a professor of chemistry; Bruce German, the director of UC Davis’ Foods for Health Institute; and David Mills, the Shields Endowed Chair in Dairy Food Science at UC Davis, according to BCD’s website. German has developed or assisted in technology for several companies. BCD's principal scientist is Matt Amicucci, a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry at UC Davis.

On its website, BCD says it’s developing the world’s first library of oligosaccharide molecules. The company says its techniques can create substances with “a wide variety of chemical structures that support diverse biological functions and patentable applications.”