Orbem raises €55.5 million for AI-powered MRI technology
Munich-based DeepTech company Orbem has secured €55.5 million in a Series B funding round. The round is led by Dutch DeepTech investor Innovation Industries, with French VC fund Supernova Invest also participating. Existing investors including General Catalyst, 83North, and The Venture Collective are also investing. Orbem makes AI-based MRI technology production-ready and enables non-invasive insights into biological materials at industrial scale.
The company was founded in 2019 as a spin-off from the Technical University of Munich and has established itself as one of Europe’s market leaders in in-ovo sexing. The technology enables sex determination in eggs and offers an alternative to culling male chicks, a practice now banned in many countries. In total, Orbem has scanned 170 million eggs. In addition to its headquarters in Munich, the company has operated an office in Houston, Texas since 2025.
MRI technology against chick culling and food waste
The flagship product Genus Focus combines MRI sensors with vertical AI and determines the sex of an embryo in an egg in under one second. “We are the first and currently only company in the world that enables the use of MRI in less than one second and without human intervention,” explains Dr. Pedro Gómez, co-founder and CEO of Orbem. Demand for ethically produced eggs is growing steadily, also driven by initiatives such as the US Hatch Check certification.
With Genus Scale, Orbem recently launched a second product for the poultry industry. Hatcheries can use it to determine the fertilization status of eggs before incubation. Unfertilized eggs are identified early and can be repurposed elsewhere, an important step against food waste. Hatcheries save valuable incubator space and open up new revenue streams.
Expansion into the US and new markets
The fresh capital flows into US expansion and new applications for the fruit and vegetable sector. Orbem’s non-destructive technology can see deep beneath the skin of products like watermelons, avocados, and mangoes to detect internal damage. Producers can precisely sort their goods and drastically reduce food waste. “Orbem combats animal suffering, food waste, and builds a more sustainable, global food system,” comments Michaël Thomas, Investment Director at Supernova Invest.
Long-term, Orbem also wants to develop applications for the healthcare sector. Through information gathered from millions of eggs and plant agricultural products, the company is building the world’s largest biological dataset. “This new funding round enables us to accelerate our US expansion and help more food producers and soon also healthcare providers make better, data-driven decisions,” says Gómez.
