Holobiome
Holobiome is a microbiome therapeutics company developing first-in-class gut-brain axis therapies for depression, sleep disorders, and pain through a proprietary bacterial strain library and culturomics platform, serving pharmaceutical and food/beverage enterprises via licensing and co-development partnerships.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersCambridge, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Holobiome does
Holobiome is a privately held microbiome therapeutics company founded in 2015 by Northeastern University researchers Philip Strandwitz and Kim Lewis, headquartered at 650 Albany Street in Boston. The company operates a microbial discovery platform consisting of a large proprietary bacterial strain library, proprietary culturomics methods designed to isolate representatives of every known gut bacterial species, and mechanism-of-action-focused screening capabilities. The platform is supported by gut behavior profiles from over 90,000 people and a reference database of more than 2 million gut bacterial genomes, augmented by an Asian donor network of more than 8,000 participants acquired through the 2022 purchase of AsiaBiome.
Holobiome's product pipeline targets the gut-brain axis with three primary programs: a depression probiotic advancing toward human testing (funded by the 2024 $9M seed round), gut-pain axis microbial therapies (supported by $1M from Japan's Corundum Systems Biology), and live biotherapeutics for sleep disorders developed in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. The company has also secured participation in the ARPA-H EVIDENT $139 million behavioral health initiative and a $500K grant from the Translational Research Institute for Space Health for mental health probiotics targeting future Mars explorers.
The business model is enterprise B2B, monetized through live biotherapeutic licensing, ingredient discovery partnerships, and bacterial strain catalog transactions with pharmaceutical and food/beverage counterparties. Named enterprise partners include Johnson & Johnson (sleep live biotherapeutics), Unilever (food portfolio microbiome products), and Ingredion (AI-driven ingredient discovery for prebiotics). With 1-10 employees, pre-clinical pipeline status, and approximately $10M in cumulative funding, the company operates as an early-stage biotech leveraging grant funding and milestone-based partnerships rather than commercial product revenue.
Holobiome firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Holobiome
- Legal name
- Holobiome Inc.
- Website
- https://holobiome.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Holobiome is a microbiome therapeutics company developing first-in-class gut-brain axis therapies for depression, sleep disorders, and pain through a proprietary bacterial strain library and culturomics platform, serving pharmaceutical and food/beverage enterprises via licensing and co-development partnerships.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Holobiome industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Microbiome Therapeutics
- NAICS
- Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)
- SIC
- Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Microbiome Manufacturing, Formulation & Delivery Technologies (encapsulation, spores, oral delivery) (HLAAAFAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Microbiome Analytics, Sequencing & Bioinformatics Platforms (HLAAAFAI), Microbiome & Metagenomics Services (HLAGANAH), Probiotics (Strains, Spore-Formers, Synbiotic Components) (AFAJAKAE), Probiotics & Digestive Health Supplements (CRADAGAF)
Keywords
Where Holobiome is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cambridge
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Holobiome business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Live Biotherapeutic Licensing: Development and licensing of probiotic and live biotherapeutic products targeting conditions such as depression, sleep disorders, and pain. The company is advancing programs into human testing and pursuing partnerships with pharmaceutical companies for clinical development and commercialization.
- Ingredient Discovery Partnership: Collaboration with Ingredion to provide AI-driven gut behavior analysis and ingredient discovery services for functional food and prebiotic ingredients. Partnerships designed to integrate AI throughout food manufacturers' reformulation processes.
- Bacterial Strain Catalog: Commercialization of characterized bacterial strains and microbial libraries to research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and food companies seeking to develop microbiome-based products.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Holobiome product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Holobiome discovers and develops first-in-class microbiome-based therapies, including live biotherapeutic candidates for depression, sleep disorders, and chronic pain, leveraging its proprietary culturomics platform and large bacterial strain library. The company also provides AI-driven gut behavior analysis and ingredient discovery capabilities to food and ingredient manufacturers such as Unilever and Ingredion, and pursues clinical development and commercialization through pharmaceutical co-development partners such as Johnson & Johnson.
Product overview
Holobiome is a microbiome science company that discovers and develops first-in-class therapies from the human microbiome. The company operates a unified platform consisting of a large bacterial strain library, proprietary culturomics, and advanced screening and development methods. The platform powers multiple therapeutic programs including a depression probiotic (advancing to human testing), pain/gut-pain axis solutions, and sleep disorder live biotherapeutics (developed with Johnson & Johnson). Holobiome's platform generates insights using profiles from over 90,000 people and a database of more than 2 million gut bacterial genomes, enabling AI-powered ingredient discovery for functional foods and therapeutics targeting the gut-brain axis.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Depression Probiotic A live biotherapeutic / probiotic candidate targeting depression, developed through Holobiome's gut-brain axis platform and advancing toward human clinical testing. Intended for pharmaceutical partners and ultimately for patients with depression.
- Sleep Disorder Live Biotherapeutics Live biotherapeutic candidates for sleep disorders developed in partnership with Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Janssen R&D. Aimed at addressing unmet needs in sleep medicine through microbiome-based interventions.
- Pain / Gut-Pain Axis Therapies Microbial therapies for chronic pain and inflammation-related diseases, developed by studying the gut microbiome's role in pain regulation. Funded by a $1M research grant from Corundum Systems Biology Inc.
- Gut Behavior Analysis Platform An AI-driven analysis platform that generates insights on ingredient behavior in the gut, using profiles from over 90,000 people and a reference database of more than 2 million gut bacterial genomes. Provided to food and ingredient manufacturers such as Ingredion and Unilever to support functional ingredient development and reformulation.
Quantifiable outcome
- Platform screens gut behavior using profiles from 90,000+ people and 2M+ bacterial genomes
Companies that use Holobiome
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Holobiome technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature4 records
Holobiome partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- IngredioncorePartnership to accelerate discovery of new food ingredients focusing on prebiotics and gut behavior analysis. Holobiome's platform generates insights on gut behavior using profiles from over 90,000 people and a database of more than 2 million gut bacterial genomes. The collaboration integrates AI throughout Ingredion's reformulation process for functional ingredients.
- UnilevercoreFeatured collaborator for Unilever to transform its food portfolio with microbiome products and advance one program into human testing. Partnership leverages Holobiome's microbiome expertise and proprietary microbial library for consumer health applications.
- AsiaBiomecoreHolobiome acquired AsiaBiome (formerly Civet Biosciences, founded 2016 in Hong Kong), Asia's first microbiome startup. The acquisition includes a human microbiome donor network of more than 8,000 participants in Asia, fecal transplant study data, and expanded bacterial strain collection. Co-founder Jonathan Krive joined Holobiome as Chief Business Officer. Deal included cash, milestone and royalty payments, and equity.
- Johnson & Johnson InnovationcoreJ&J Consumer, J&J Innovation, and Janssen R&D announced partnership with Holobiome to develop live biotherapeutics for sleep disorders. The collaboration represents one of 15 new collaborations with Holobiome. A second collaboration was also announced to create novel microbiome therapeutics.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Holobiome competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- 4D pharma: Clinical-stage microbiome company developing live biotherapeutics (single-strain and consortium approaches) across oncology, respiratory, and CNS-adjacent indications. Direct peer in live biotherapeutic development with a comparable platform-discovery model.
- Second Genome: Microbiome drug discovery and development company using a platform approach to identify microbiome-derived therapeutics. Comparable in platform-driven discovery model and pursuit of CNS-adjacent and inflammatory indications.
- Seres Therapeutics: Clinical-stage microbiome therapeutics company developing live biotherapeutics for serious diseases. Direct competitor in the live biotherapeutic product category with overlapping interest in CNS-adjacent indications, though Seres has historically focused more on ulcerative colitis and C. difficile.
- Finch Therapeutics: Microbiome therapeutics company developing treatments for recurrent C. difficile infection and other conditions using defined microbial consortia. Direct peer in live biotherapeutics, though Finch has focused more on inflammatory bowel and CDI rather than CNS.
- Vedanta Biosciences: Clinical-stage company developing defined bacterial consortia as live biotherapeutic products. Direct competitor in microbiome therapeutics with similar platform-based discovery approach and pharma partnership model, including programs in inflammatory and infectious disease indications.
Emerging players
- Siolta Therapeutics: Clinical-stage company developing live biotherapeutics for inflammatory diseases including asthma and allergic disease. Adjacent peer with comparable live biotherapeutic development model and academic-spinout origin.
- Assembly Biosciences: Biotechnology company with a microbiome program developing live biotherapeutics for conditions associated with liver disease and inflammation. Comparable in live biotherapeutic development with a partnership-driven model.
- Seed Health: Microbiome science company developing consumer probiotics and B2B microbial applications. Comparable in the platform-plus-partnerships model and gut-brain axis focus, though more consumer-facing than Holobiome's pharma orientation.
- Eligo Bioscience: Biotechnology company developing engineered microbiome-based therapeutics using synthetic biology. Adjacent peer with overlap in microbiome-based drug development, though focused on phage-delivered gene therapy rather than live biotherapeutics.
Broad incumbents
- BioGaia: Established Swedish probiotics company with a broad portfolio of probiotic consumer health products and a licensed pharmaceutical pipeline. Comparable in probiotic strain commercialization and gut health focus, though primarily CPG rather than pharma-led.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Holobiome social profiles
Digital presenceHolobiome financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Holobiome leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Holobiome subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Holobiome funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds11 records
Investors12 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Holobiome M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Holobiome
What does Holobiome do?
Holobiome discovers and develops first-in-class microbiome-based therapies, including live biotherapeutic candidates for depression, sleep disorders, and chronic pain, leveraging its proprietary culturomics platform and large bacterial strain library. The company also provides AI-driven gut behavior analysis and ingredient discovery capabilities to food and ingredient manufacturers such as Unilever and Ingredion, and pursues clinical development and commercialization through pharmaceutical co-development partners such as Johnson & Johnson.
Is Holobiome a public or private company?
Holobiome is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Holobiome founded?
Holobiome was founded in 2015. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Holobiome based?
Holobiome is headquartered in Cambridge, United States, in the North America region.
How does Holobiome make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Live Biotherapeutic Licensing is the primary driver. The others are ingredient Discovery Partnership and bacterial Strain Catalog.
Who are Holobiome's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are 4D pharma, Second Genome, Seres Therapeutics, Finch Therapeutics and Vedanta Biosciences. Emerging players are Siolta Therapeutics, Assembly Biosciences, Seed Health and Eligo Bioscience. BioGaia is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Holobiome have an API?
No public API is recorded for Holobiome.
What industry is Holobiome in?
Holobiome's product category is Microbiome Therapeutics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAAAFAJ, Microbiome Manufacturing, Formulation & Delivery Technologies (encapsulation, spores, oral delivery), with a secondary code of HLAAAFAI, Microbiome Analytics, Sequencing & Bioinformatics Platforms. Its NAICS code is 325414 and its SIC code is 2836.