ADM Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Archer Daniels Midland Co., has invested in Seventure’s Health For Life Capital Fund II, a Paris-based investment fund focused on health, nutrition, microbiota and digital health. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The announcement underscores ADM’s commitment to discovering and leveraging nutritional ingredients to prevent and treat health issues. Recently, the company announced a new probiotics production facility in Valencia, Spain, which will begin operating in 2022.

“We view Seventure as the premier investor in microbiome startups focused on human health and nutrition, and since 2018, ADM has worked closely with the Seventure team to identify opportunities with microbiome solutions that can ultimately help with dietary supplements and food and beverage applications to serve as functional or proactive solutions,” says Darren Streiler, managing director of ADM Ventures. “We believe Seventure can help meet the long-term demand we see as the result of the convergence of food and pharmaceuticals and consumers looking more towards bioactives and nutrition for wellness solutions.

“With a better understanding of how the microbiome ecosystem works, we can develop functional ingredients for dietary supplements and food and beverage solutions targeted to help improve overall health. We are focused on looking at new, innovative solutions that can lead to a more balanced bacterial system in your digestive tract, otherwise known as a healthy gut, and can help lead to better health.”

ADM’s portfolio of award-winning products and ingredients targeting microbiome health include Bio-Kult Migréa, Bifodobacterium lactis BPL1 and Bacillus subtilis PXN21, a live microbial strain shown to reduce the aggregation of α-synuclein, which may help treat Parkinson’s disease.