"BASF Venture Capital invests in biotechnology company Advanced BioNutrition Corp. "

BASF Venture Capital GmbH, Ludwigshafen, is investing in Advanced BioNutrition Corp. (ABN), Columbia, Maryland. ABN is an emerging biotechnology company focusing on functional nutrition to prevent disease.

ABN has raised $7.5 million in its Series B financing, of which BASF Venture Capital is providing $2 million. Other investors include U.S. venture capital group Sherbrooke Capital and Swiss venture capital group SAM.

ABN has developed a vegetable-based diet for fish using a renewable source of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) that replaces the current and non-sustainable diet of fishmeal and fish oil. DHA and ARA are essential lipids needed for the growth and development of fish. This new diet will enable significant advances in aquaculture feed.

ABN has also developed an encapsulation technology that helps protect sensitive substances, for example probiotics (health-promoting bacteria), from harmful external influences such as changes in temperature or pH. Probiotics help prevent disease and
promote growth in aquaculture without the use of antibiotics.

“ABN’s technology gives it a leading edge in a market with strong growth potential,” said Patrick Huebler, BASF Venture Capital’s investment manager.

ABN was spun off from Martek Biosciences Corp in 2001, and set up its headquarters and laboratories in Columbia, Maryland, after raising $6 million from its initial Series A financing.

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