Interview with Amine Raji, Co-Founder and CEO of Spore Biotechnologies
In this series of founder spotlights, we are pleased to introduce Amine Raji, Spore Biotechnologies’s esteemed Chief Executive Officer. Spore Biotechnologies is a pioneering manufacturing company focused on developing innovative technological tools that enhance the safety of product manufacturing processes. We invite you to discover the inspiring story of Spore Biotechnologies and its comprehensive range of advanced manufacturing solutions.
Welcome, Amine Raji! Can you provide a brief overview of Spore.Bio and its mission in revolutionizing microbiological technologies?
Hello! Thank you for having me. Spore.Bio is an initiative to make quality control painless to manufacturers. Today’s quality control testing tools take 5 days on average to have a result, require specific labs and are extremely complex to use. Spore.Bio develops a solution that is instant, directly usable on the shopfloor and as easy as an espresso machine to use!
What inspired the founding of Spore.Bio, and how did the idea to build a new generation of microbiological technologies come about?
I worked several years for Nestlé, handling their factories in several countries. I noticed how complex microbiological testing was, relying on century old techniques such as Petri dishes. I decided to leave Nestlé, joined Entrepreneur First and met Maxime Mistretta, who had the perfect solution for the problem we were tackling.
How does Spore.Bio aim to unleash factories from their constraints and make a significant impact on industrial processes?
Today, microbiology testing is a bottleneck both for quality management but also supply chain and productivity for the Food & Beverage, Cosmetics and Pharma manufacturing fields. By building an instant solution and a data management tool, we unleash manufacturers from these constraints and allow them to meet their new demands, both sanitary and economics.
As a Founder in Residence at Entrepreneur First, how did this experience contribute to the development and shaping of Spore.Bio during its early stages?
Entrepreneur First was pivotal for us. I didn’t have any background on entrepreneurship, venture or any hunch on how to build a massive company. Entrepreneur First gave us the tools, but also the ambition to tackle our huge mission.
During your time at Nestlé, particularly as a Shadow Comex Member challenging social and environmental strategies, how did this influence your perspective and approach as an entrepreneur at Spore.Bio?
Coming from this background, I obviously made sure that our project followed the best practices in terms of social and environmental impact. Our technology, on top of solving the massive challenges mentioned before, is way less carbon emitting than conventional techniques. We also include environmental criteria in the build-in of our venture, which isn’t always easy, but that’s our mission!
With a background in Capital Investment Project Management, Process Engineering, and Sustainability, how do these experiences play a role in Spore.Bio’s strategy and development?
I managed major Capex projects for Nestlé, which really made me understand how to handle a budget, a timing, resources to carry out an industrial project and helps me everyday building Spore.Bio. It also made me more technical-minded, which as you can imagine, is essential while being a DeepTech CEO.
Congratulations on securing $8,628,239 in funding! Firstly, a notable achievement. Can you share your plans on how you, as a Co-founder, intend to strategically utilize this funding to further the goals and vision of Spore.Bio?
Thanks!
We want to maintain our velocity and speed of execution: In less than 18 months after our creation, we will be deploying the first systems in several factories over the world, which will be our main challenge for 2024. We will also hire additional researchers, scientists and engineers to bring the world best knowledge to solve the massive problem we’re tackling.
Could you discuss the importance of managing relationships, particularly through the lens of the cap table management system, among founders, investors, shareholders, and other stakeholders as Spore.Bio progresses?
That’s my main job! Building relationships with every of my stakeholders, translating the potential of the project to them, and making sure to understand their needs. So far it’s been quite natural and I have to admit that we are lucky to have extremely supportive stakeholders along our side.
What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs in the microbiology and technology space, especially those at Spore.Bio, as they navigate the industry, build relationships, and seek funding to advance their mission?
Two words: ambition and resilience. You can’t dream too big, and to make it happen, you need to be driven and do not let any external factor weaken your motivation.
