Pukyong National University

Research on sleep-improving functional materials started in a university lab, attracting 500 million won investment

- Nutrait, founded by prof. Cho Seung-Mok at PKNU, has started to enter the global market

△ Professor Cho Seung-Mok (second from left), ceo of Nutrait co., ltd., and Song Jin-Ho (left), vice president of Magna investment, posing for a commemorative photo in front of a laboratory at Pukyong National University.

Pukyong National University announced that Nutrait co., ltd., founded by professor Cho Seung-Mok (major of food science & technology), has attracted 500 million won seed investment in recognition of its competitiveness in research on functional materials that improve sleep.

The Nutrait company is a venture company in the field of health functional food and alternative food, founded in 2021 through a faculty startup company based on research results developed by professor Cho Seung-Mok in a university laboratory.

Magna investment, an investment company specializing in food technology, paid attention to the potential and competitiveness of this company, which focused on research and development of functional materials for improving sleep and alternative foods in the aquatic food sector, started investing.

The Nutrait company attracted investment from the Center for creative economy and innovation in Chungbuk within a year of its establishment, and succeeded in attracting this investment this year following the selection of the private investment-led incubator program for startup Korea (TIPS) by the Ministry of SMEs and startups (MSS).

The company's main research section is about sleep-improving functional materials that improve the quality of sleep by reducing wakefulness and breathing disorders during sleep by using raw materials derived from nature, like ocean. Sales of functional materials successfully developed by this company reached 300 million won in the first half of this year alone.

Nutrait succeeded in evaluating the preclinical efficacy and revealing the mechanism of action of a sleep functional material currently under development with the goal of entering the global market. In the second half of this year, it plans to enter a human application test of this material and obtain individual certification from the Ministry of food and drug safety next year.

The first alternative food in the field of aquatic food is also a goal to expand related research to launch next year.

Professor Cho Seung-Mok, ceo of Nutrait, said, "We expect that this investment will give momentum to the commercialization of sleep functional materials and fish substitutes. Especially, our company plans to focus on global materialization, obtaining approval for a new health functional food ingredient (NDI) from the US FDA for sleep functional materials."

Song Jin-Ho, vice president of Magna Investment, explained, "Our company decided to invest after evaluating the excellent global competitiveness of world-class sleep-improving functional materials and the high growth potential of new alternative foods that did not exist in the food industry." <Pukyong Today>