Pre-seed funding to support Bengaluru lab, AI platform and pilots as Lemnisca develops an “AI companion for fermentation”

Theia Ventures has led a pre-seed round in Lemnisca, a Bengaluru-based Bio AI startup building intelligent systems to scale industrial biomanufacturing. The round also saw participation from PointOne Capital and Satakarni Makkapati.

The capital will be used to expand Lemnisca’s Bengaluru laboratory, build its AI platform and support early pilots to scale sustainable bioproduction. The investment sits within Theia Ventures’ mandate of backing early-stage companies in artificial intelligence, deep technology, energy transition and decarbonisation.

Company is developing an AI “companion for fermentation” to help manufacturers scale bioprocesses faster, more predictably and with higher efficiency. As industries move to renewable feedstocks and biological alternatives to petrochemicals, scaling biomanufacturing from lab to industrial level has become a central challenge.

The startup is targeting the scale-up bottleneck with a “science-aware” AI system that works alongside scientists and plant operators, linking wet-lab experimentation with dry-lab modelling to interpret process biology and adjust production in real time. Company says this creates a continuously learning system that improves the efficiency, predictability and reliability of biomanufacturing.

The company plans to work initially with fermentation-led manufacturers already scaling bioprocesses, while in parallel building an internal product pipeline. It is aiming to cut development timelines by up to 50 per cent, improve operating efficiency by around 25 per cent and accelerate the use of renewable and waste-carbon feedstocks. The company is inviting pilot collaborations and strategic partnerships with contract development and manufacturing organisations, original equipment manufacturers and system integrators, and global ingredient brands.

“We are delighted to be early partners in Lemnisca’s journey, where we firmly believe that biomanufacturing in today’s era needs advanced digital simulators that predict how microbial processes will perform before reaching large industrial scale,” said Priya Shah, Partner, Theia Ventures. She said the founding team brings strong practical experience to shape the product for nutraceutical markets.

“From day one, our question was simple: how do we make biomanufacturing the default manufacturing mode globally?” said Pushkar Pendse, Co-founder and Chief Executive, Lemnisca. “Our focus is to build the digital operating system that brings biology from lab to factory, making scale-up faster, smarter and globally accessible.”

Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Shilpa Nargund said Lemnisca is rethinking both laboratory workflows and model architectures. “The goal is fewer surprises at scale and faster, repeatable success,” she said.

This is Theia Ventures’ third investment from its new fund, which announced its first close last month, anchored by British International Investment. Earlier investments from the fund include Sarla Aviation, an electric aircraft company, and Climitra Carbon, a biochar company serving the steel industry.