Alba Health: A Microbiome Map for Your Baby’s Well-Being
Joyance Partners invests in companies that cultivate joy through science and tech to improve the way we live, for good. So naturally, we’re thrilled to announce our participation in Alba Health’s recent raise. Alba focuses on the microbiome of babies.
The vital role the gut microbiome plays in the health of infants can be overlooked. But, even more than in adults, the microbiome offers babies protection against intestinal pathogens, supports their immune systems, and performs other essential functions during the beginning stages of life. Research shows that disruption during this developmental period could increase susceptibility to future diseases and chronic conditions, including colic, sleep disruption, asthma, diabetes, and obesity — especially for children who have been exposed to antibiotics or were delivered through C-section. This early window of infant microbiome development presents an untapped opportunity to intervene and safeguard against potential health issues.
Alba’s process is simple: first, they develop a robust profile for the infant through gut microbiome tests, lifestyle questionnaires, and risk analysis. Samples from the microbiome tests are then analyzed with an extensive gut health index developed with world-leading expertise — Alba has a research collaboration with the HELMi cohort study*, one of the leading early life microbiota and child health studies in the world, co-led by Co-Founder Prof. Willem de Vos. Using the results, Alba targets the root causes of the infant’s symptoms to provide recommendations that guide parents in choosing the right lifestyle, diet, and supplements to restore gut health and mitigate future complications for their child.
Co-founders Eleonora Cavani and Professor Willem M. de Vos make an exceptional team, uniting scientific and commercial expertise to bring this product to fruition. Eleonora has an academic background in Pharmaceutical Design and Engineering and substantial experience in healthcare consulting and pharmaceutical R&D. Willem has over 20 years of experience researching the infant gut microbiome with more than 800 publications with an H-index of over 190. He continues to co-lead the aforementioned study exploring the connection between the gut microbiome, lifestyle, and health in children; has founded multiple companies in the microbiome space; and invented over 50 patents.
We believe Alba’s innovative approach of bringing insights from the HELMi cohort into the commercial market will have deep, lasting impact on the lives of innumerable infants.
Healthier, happier babies. What could be more attuned to our core thesis?
By Venture Partner Yang Chen
*The Research Collaboration between Alba Health and the University of Helsinki does not involve the processing of personal data from the HELMI cohort by Alba Health.
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The Motivation Behind Our Microbiome Focus
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