Exclusive: Indonesian biotech startup gets funding from global accelerator

Nusantics, an East Ventures-backed biotech company based in Indonesia, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Illumina Accelerator, a global business accelerator focusing on the genomics industry.

(From left) Nusantics co-founders Vincent Kurniawan, Sharlini Eriza Putri, and Revata Utama / Photo credit: Nusantics

Founded in 2019, Nusantics’ core business is centered on microbiome diagnostics, applying the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure to study skin and respiratory infectious diseases. Clients can use its diagnostics tool to find the right treatment for their condition.

Previously, the startup – which also operates a direct-to-consumer skincare business – received undisclosed amounts of both seed funding and series A funding from East Ventures.

Since the pandemic, Nusantics has continued to develop Covid-19 testing methods such as PCR gargle, which detects the coronavirus through saliva. At the end of 2021, Nusantics recorded a 7x year-on-year revenue growth, according to co-founder and CTO Revata Utama.

“We will stay consistent to pursue our mission to accelerate microbiome and microbial testing for one health. Covid-19 will still be around and skin microbiome tests will stay as a business,” Utama said in a statement to Tech in Asia.

Utama said his company had joined the global Illumina accelerator competition, which selected six genomics startups from around the world for the accelerator’s fifth funding cycle. The other startups that received funding in the cycle were Acrobat Genomics, Dama Health, Pandora Biosciences, Terrapeutics Pharma, and Viridian Seeds.

So far, Illumina Accelerator has invested in 74 genomics startups through its twice-a-year cycle.

Utama told Tech in Asia that Nusantics will be closely collaborating with Illumina to advance research on the human respiratory microbiome. “More than 20 million people in Indonesia are diagnosed with microbial-related infection each year, most of them respiratory related,” he added.