🔒Ireland-based Nuritas’ New Haven expansion spurred by city’s thriving bioscience sector

For Dr. Nora Khaldi, her relocation to Connecticut this July signifies the next phase of her Dublin, Ireland-based biotech company, Nuritas, which is establishing its North American headquarters in New Haven later this year.

The move is also evidence of the growing appeal of the Elm City’s thriving bioscience ecosystem.

Nuritas’ expansion has been made possible by a recent $45 million Series B capital raise, which is being used to support the company’s commercialization phase.

Nuritas, which Khaldi founded in 2014, said it has created a new artificial intelligence (AI) technology platform that can identify and develop bioactive peptides 10 times faster and 600 times more accurately than traditional discovery methods.

Peptides are chains of amino-acids that can be used to help improve a variety of health-related issues, including anti-aging, muscle strength and mobility, blood pressure and glucose management. They are used in products from skincare and food to pharmaceuticals.

“Our goal is to make the everyday products we use safer and healthier,” Khaldi said. “We’re the first company globally that has taken an AI-discovered [peptide] molecule all the way through clinical scaling and now to market.”

And that market, as consumers shift toward more health-conscious goods, is expected to grow rapidly. Zion Market Research projects that the oral proteins and peptides market will grow annually by more than 10 percent from $1.2 billion in revenue in 2021 to more than $8.4 billion by 2028.

Why New Haven?

The opportunity to be part of New Haven’s bioscience network was one of the primary reasons Khaldi said she selected the Nutmeg State as Nuritas’ North American operations.

“Connecticut brings a great combination of talent, strong universities, [proximity] to major hubs [like Boston and New York], lifestyle, and [lower] costs,” she said.

The state also has coordinated economic development organizations that are exposing companies like Nuritas to Connecticut’s ecosystems, including help with site selection.

Peter Denious — CEO of AdvanceCT, which helps Connecticut recruit and retain companies — has been working with Nuritas for more than nine months, he said.

“We did a lot of research and spent time with [Nuritas] to understand what’s important to them,” Denious said. “Then we work to convene the [relevant] players in economic development, including Yale, UConn, area CEOs and David Lehman, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development.”

Denious said courting smaller companies like Nuritas is an economic formula that is most likely to produce results for the state.

“The successful playbook for Connecticut is to find these five- to 10-person rapidly-growing, highly-innovative, disruptive companies — in life sciences or other industries — and grow them into [bigger] companies,” he said.

Building talent pipeline

Josh Geballe, senior associate provost for entrepreneurship and innovation at Yale University, wants Yale to be a core part of those efforts.

Geballe is also managing director of Yale Ventures, which launched this past April to support the translation of university research into impactful products, services and social ventures, while helping to accelerate and expand New Haven’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“We want to connect the ecosystem in New Haven and in Connecticut to make sure our students — both undergraduate and graduate — have visibility into career opportunities in Connecticut,” he said.

Geballe noted that there have been five IPOs from Yale spinout companies over the past five years.

Khaldi is looking to tap into that talent pool over the coming months to build Nuritas’ U.S.-based team. She said her current focus is to hire 10 to 15 senior-level leaders for business development, marketing and regulatory compliance as the company embarks on commercialization.

“Many of the ingredients in the foods we eat have not changed in 100 years,” Khaldi said.

Humans, she added, don’t fully get the health benefits of peptides even in peptide-rich plants and beans we eat, because they’re not fully absorbed by the body.

“Through machine learning, we are identifying those hidden benefits that we are losing and we are creating ingredients [from peptides] that will make products we consume healthier, safer and [eco-friendly],” she said, noting Nuritas’ discoveries will help the food industry to remove unwanted additives and ingredients.

Since 2014, the company has discovered more that 5.2 million peptides and participated in 12 human clinical trials. The company currently has partnerships with major food and pharma companies including BASF, Nestle, Mars, Metagenics and Pharmavite, but also has its own proprietary product offerings.

Khaldi said about 70 percent of Nuritas’ revenue comes from co-developing ingredients with these larger players.

The company also has two flagship products: PeptiStrong and PeptiYouth, focused on muscle strength and preservation, skin health and cellular regeneration. They account for roughly 30 percent of revenue.

The longer-term goal, Khaldi said, is for the company’s proprietary product line to drive revenue, but that will take more venture capital for research and development to continue to evolve technology and conduct clinical trials.

When she relocates to Connecticut later this summer, Khaldi will ink a lease to get U.S. operations up and running. Working with AdvanceCT, she said she’s eyeing office space to start, but will need additional lab space down the road to support Nuritas’ technology and further scientific discoveries.

With a number of commercial real estate projects in the works to meet that demand, Khaldi said she is confident she’s found the right home for her company’s expansion.

“Connecticut,” she said, “is a hidden gem.”