Naicons

What Naicons does

Naicons is a Milan-based Italian biotechnology company that operates one of the world's largest proprietary actinomycete strain collections, comprising approximately 45,000 microorganisms spanning over 60 genera and a 10,000+ historical soil-sample reserve, from which it has built a database of more than 150,000 natural molecules. Its core product, micro4all, is positioned as the first Molecule Search Engine and combines this proprietary library with MS-MS and UV-Vis molecular fingerprinting and molecular networking to identify known, unusual, and novel bioactive metabolites. Supporting assets include ready-to-screen dried microbial extracts in 96-well microplates, pre-fractionated extracts, purified compounds (including molecules first reported by Naicons scientists), and an open-source Java/Python retention-time prediction package (jp²rt) built on CDK descriptors and scikit-learn models.

The revenue model is multi-stream: subscription access to the micro4all platform, direct sale of extracts and purified compounds (including custom purification), and licensing royalties on proprietary molecules — exemplified by a GE2270A derivative licensed to Cassiopea SpA that is now in Phase 2 clinical development. Customer segments include pharmaceutical drug discovery, agricultural chemicals (notably via a March 2025 partnership with Oxford-based Moa Technology for next-generation herbicides), flavor & fragrance, cosmetics, animal health, and academic research institutions. Distribution to research customers is supported through a partnership with AdipoGen Life Sciences.

Naicons has grown primarily on non-dilutive capital, including a €2.95 million Italian Ministry of Research grant awarded in 2020 and participation in five or more EU Horizon 2020 / Horizon Europe consortia (CLEAR, MAGic-MOLFUN, BREAKthrough, INNOTARGETS, PEST-BIN, MARBLES, CARTNET, TOPCAPI, Rafts4Biotech, Train2Target), supplemented by a €600,000+ equity crowdfunding raise in May 2021. The team is led by founder and CEO Stefano Donadio with scientific founders including Sonia Maffioli and co-founder/CFO Ermenegildo Beghè, and is rounded out by board and advisory members with AI/IT and drug-development expertise.

Name

Naicons

Legal name

Naicons Srl

Website

https://naicons.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Naicons is an Italian biotechnology company operating a proprietary 45,000-strain actinomycete collection and the micro4all Molecule Search Engine. It serves pharmaceutical, agricultural biotech, and academic researchers through subscription-based molecule discovery, extract and compound sales, and licensing of proprietary bioactive compounds.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Natural product drug discovery platform

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836), Medicinal Chemicals & Botanical Products (2833)

akta.pro primary industry

Infectious Disease & Antimicrobials Pharmaceuticals (HLAIAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Microbiome Modulating Small Molecules & Antibiotic Alternatives (HLAAAFAG), AI/ML-Enabled Biologic Discovery Platforms (computational design, in silico screening) (HLAAAIAE)

Keywords

• Microbial drug discovery
• Natural product research
• Bioactive molecule screening
• Actinomycete strain libraries
• Molecular networking platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Saronno

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Online Subscription - Search-and-Order Molecules Engine: Subscription-based access to micro4all platform enabling users to search for molecules, access producer strains, extracts, fractionated extracts and/or pure compounds through online subscription.
2. Extracts and Compounds Sales: Sale of dried microbial extracts in 96-well microplates, pre-fractionated extracts, and purified microbial products including undescribed compounds, molecules first reported by Naicons' team and other rare metabolites.
3. Licensing Royalties: Licensing of proprietary molecules and derivatives to pharmaceutical companies. Example: GE2270A derivative licensed to Cassiopea SpA currently in Phase 2 clinical studies.
4. Custom Purification Services: All molecules can be custom-purified to meet customer needs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Naicons sells access to micro4all, the first Molecule Search Engine, which is an online subscription platform that lets researchers search more than 150,000 natural molecules by name, SMILES, InChIKey or molecular descriptors and identify the producing strains and extracts. Underlying the platform is a proprietary actinomycete strain library of approximately 45,000 strains from 60+ genera, which Naicons also monetizes through direct sales of dried microbial extracts in 96-well microplates, pre-fractionated extracts, purified rare compounds, custom purification services, and out-licensing of proprietary molecules and derivatives to pharmaceutical and agritech customers.

Product overview

Naicons offers micro4all, the first Molecule Search Engine for accelerating bioactive molecule discovery in health, agriculture, and biotechnology. The platform combines a proprietary strain library of approximately 45,000 actinomycetes, a searchable database of 150k+ natural molecules (MoleculesGateway), and associated asset libraries including microbial extracts and purified products. Users access the subscription-based platform to search molecules by name, SMILES, InChIKey, or molecular descriptors, identify producing strains and extracts, and order compounds. The ecosystem includes supporting tools like the jp²rt retention time prediction package available on GitHub.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• micro4all: The first Molecule Search Engine accelerating discovery in health, agriculture, and biotechnology. A platform built upon NAICONS' proprietary strain library, molecules produced by microbes, and a database connecting different types of information on molecules.

Products and services

• micro4all Molecule Search Engine The first Molecule Search Engine for natural products, providing online subscription access to more than 150,000 natural molecules. Users can search by name, SMILES, InChIKey, or molecular descriptors to identify which extracts contain target molecules and which strains produce them, then order strains, extracts, fractionated extracts, and/or pure compounds. Built upon Naicons' proprietary strain library and integrated MS-MS/UV-Vis molecular networking database for pharmaceutical, agricultural, cosmetic, and academic customers.
• Actinomycete Strain Library Proprietary collection of approximately 45,000 actinomycetes isolated from diverse sources using Naicons' proprietary methods, spanning over 60 different genera including unusual and hard-to-isolate taxa. Many strains have associated genomic information. Backed by a historical collection of over 10,000 soil samples for continued strain sourcing. Available to enterprise customers for screening and research access through the micro4all platform.
• Microbial Extracts Library Library of dried microbial extracts delivered in ready-to-screen 96-well microplates generated using Naicons' proprietary cultivation methods optimized for bioactive metabolite production. Multiple extraction procedures are applied to ensure compatibility with most screening assays, and pre-fractionated extracts are also produced. Sold directly to pharmaceutical and biotech customers.
• Purified Microbial Products Collection of purified microbial products including undescribed compounds, molecules first reported by Naicons' team, and other rare metabolites. All molecules can be custom-purified to meet specific customer specifications. Sold directly to pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic customers.
• Molecular Fingerprinting Service Generation of MS-MS and UV-Vis fingerprints from customer extracts, combined through molecular networking to identify structurally-related metabolites within and among extracts. Rapidly identifies common known compounds, unusual known compounds, and novel molecules by comparison against Naicons' proprietary database of known microbial products. Offered to pharmaceutical, agritech, flavor & fragrance, cosmetics, and animal health customers.
• jp²rt Retention Time Prediction Package Open-source Java and Python package for predicting the retention time of small molecules in chromatographic analyses using machine learning regression models trained on molecular descriptors. Modern reimplementation of the Retip application, available on GitHub for researchers and developers working in metabolomics and natural product discovery.

Named customers2 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Moa TechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 March 2025Oxford-based agricultural biotech firm partnering to discover next generation of naturally-occurring herbicides. Naicons provides access to its strain library and micro4all platform for identifying novel natural herbicide candidates.
• CLEAR Consortium (Horizon Europe)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 November 2023Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network on Cell Envelope Antibacterials. Trains researchers in Europe to address antibiotic resistance through novel antimicrobial approaches.
• MAGic-MOLFUN Consortium (Horizon Europe)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 December 2022Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network combining wet-lab and computational skills to integrate genome mining and metabolomics with pathway discovery approaches.
• BREAKthrough Consortium (Horizon Europe)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 December 2022European Training Network developing inhibitors to make Gram-negative bacteria permeable to existing antibiotics. Multi-disciplinary approach combining chemistry, screening, and molecular biology.
• MARBLES Consortium (Horizon 2020)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 October 20217.5M€ project coordinated by Leiden University to access and exploit marine microbial biodiversity for sustainable bioprospecting in aquaculture, agriculture and clinic. Naicons is the only Italian partner.
• Cassiopea SpAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 July 2021Licensed GE2270A derivative (from Planobispora rosea actinomycete) to Cassiopea SpA. Currently under Phase 2 clinical studies. Represents successful translation of natural product discovery to clinical development.
• INNOTARGETS Consortium (Horizon 2020)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 November 2020ITN project focusing on identification of novel metabolic drug targets in pathogenic bacteria and compounds that re-sensitize drug-resistant bacteria to existing antimicrobials.
• PEST-BIN Consortium (Horizon 2020)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 November 2020ITN project combining nano-engineering, antibiotic discovery, proteomics-based diagnostics and big data analysis using AI to fight bacterial infections and biofilms.
• IMAX Discovery GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 July 2020Strategic collaboration to provide integrated services for identification and development of bioactive compounds from microbial origin. Creates one of the largest worldwide collections of natural products from microbial origin. IMAX provides functional assays and compound profiling; Naicons provides compound isolation and purification. Targets flavor & fragrance, cosmetics, agrichem, animal health and pharma sectors.
• AdipoGen Life SciencesminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 29 August 2018Partnership on commercializing NAICONS' rare antibiotics and natural products on the research market. AdipoGen distributes Naicons products to research customers.
• DEINOVEminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 March 2018Collaboration for antibiotic discovery in the frame of the AGIR project (Antibiotics Against Resistant Infectious Germs). Joint research on discovering new antibiotics.
• Rutgers University-New BrunswickcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Research collaboration for New Antibiotics: Efficient Microbial Extract Screening and Mutational De-Replication (TechAdvance). Successfully discovered new antibiotic effective against drug-resistant bacteria (published in Cell).
• CARTNET Consortium (Horizon 2020)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2017Combating Antimicrobial Resistance - Training Network under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant.
• TOPCAPI Consortium (Horizon 2020)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 January 2017Thoroughly Optimised Production Chassis for Advanced Pharmaceutical Ingredients - funded by H2020-NMBP-BIO-2016.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Lodo Therapeutics: Drug discovery platform leveraging microbial metabolites (natural products from uncultured bacteria) for therapeutic development. Highly comparable business model to Naicons' proprietary microbial library + discovery platform.
• Hexagon Bio: Microbial genome-mining platform that identifies novel drug candidates from fungal and bacterial genomes. Closely comparable to Naicons in mining microbial diversity for therapeutics, with overlapping target customers in pharma.
• Novobiotic Pharmaceuticals: Natural product antibiotic discovery company focused on culturing previously uncultivable bacteria to find new antibiotics. Directly comparable to Naicons' mission and customer base in antimicrobial discovery.
• Biosortia Pharmaceuticals: Microbial natural product discovery company extracting bioactive compounds from aquatic and environmental microbes. Comparable platform approach (microbial library + chemistry) targeting pharma and agritech customers.
• Enveda Biosciences: AI-native drug discovery company mining natural products (plant and microbial chemistry) to identify novel therapeutics. Direct overlap with Naicons in natural product-based drug discovery, with Enveda being substantially better capitalized and more commercially advanced.
• Adenium Biotech: European (Denmark-based) antibiotic discovery company developing new antimicrobials from bacterial sources. Comparable scope in antibacterial natural product development, with regional overlap in European research consortia.

Broad incumbents

• Schrödinger, Inc. Established computational chemistry and drug discovery platform with broad pharma partnerships. Indirectly comparable as a broader, better-capitalized player that incorporates ML into molecular discovery and could compete for the same customers.
• Warp Drive Bio (Revolution Medicines subsidiary): Historically a direct natural product drug discovery competitor using microbial genomics, now integrated into Revolution Medicines. Relevant comparable for the strategic path of microbial natural product platforms.

Regional players

• Selvita: Poland-based CRO and drug discovery company offering bioactive compound services to pharma. Comparable in European drug discovery services space with similar customer segments though broader in scope than microbial natural products.

Emerging players

• Iterative Scopes: Applies AI/ML to biological data interpretation for drug discovery and precision medicine. Comparable in deploying computational tools (molecular networking, ML) to accelerate discovery workflows but focuses on different biological modalities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/mapio/jp2rt
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/naicons
• Instagraminstagram.com/naicons

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Naicons