Many of us go by our gut feeling and why should we not? A plethora of research suggests there is an eminent link between our brain and gut. The microbes present in our gastrointestinal speaks volumes about the way we feel and more about our health. It is to uncover more about this gut that three people together started Leucine Rich Bio in 2014.

Debojyoti Dhar had completed his post-doctoral programme from UMass Medical School and came to India to further his career. Here while working in Connexios Life Science he met his fellow co-founders, Kumar Sankaran and Prabhath Manjappa. They decided to combine their backgrounds in bioinformatics, genomics and system biology to create a new venture.

The initial plan decided by Dhar, Sankaran and Manjappa was to create a platform that helped oncologists study the mutations present in genomic data. Later the trio decided to shift their focus on giving applications of genomics reports. They wanted to uncover the potential for microbiome power in preventive healthcare. For this, they require stool samples to extract the patients’ DNA.

The collected samples would then undergo screening using algorithms and a decision matrix. Their report would then give results based on the ‘disease susceptibility index’ along with a tailor-made nutrition plan and information on necessary probiotics and prebiotics. They became South Asia’s first Microbiome Company. They created a patent-waiting gut microbiome test named BugSpeaks. They also created Rychbiome, a gut microbiome nutraceutical product. 

In 2019, Leucine Rich Bio won the award for Microbiome Diagnostic from Frost & Sullivan. The same year they also received the Super Startup Asia Award. They raised ₹2 crores in the seed round from Omphalos Ventres. Later in 2019, they raised another ₹50 lakhs from an unknown angel investor. This year they raised an unknown amount from MassChallenge Switzerland as Non-Equity Assistance. With the new funds, the venture plans to expand on its global presence and invest in a wet laboratory. 

This venture can be used in multiple healthcare domains like oncology, mental health and even reproductive health. Will Leucine Rich Bio fulfil its plan to share preventive healthcare and precision medicine worldwide?