GREENSBORO, N.C. — A Greensboro-based company that is taking the allergies out of peanuts has raised $946,000 in a private offering, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Alrgn Bio Inc. said that the money will be used for working capital, including compensation for its executives.
The company has a patented food grade enzymatic process that is combined with food industry processing equipment to inactivate peanut allergens. The reduced-allergen peanuts have the potential to be used in more than 5,000 prepared food products, according to the company.
Alrgn is a spin-off of North Carolina A&T University and Xemerge, the North Carolina- and Toronto-based technology development company that originally licensed the N.C. A&T peanut technology.
According to a New York Times article, the company secured an early strategic investment from the New York real estate developer Kit McQuiston, whose daughter is allergic to peanuts. The Times did an extensive piece on the technology and company in its most recent Sunday magazine.
McQuiston has continued to support Alrgn Bio, helping to fund the company’s move to a larger space a year ago and taking on the role of chief executive in June. The start-up has sent samples to several major food manufacturers, according to the New York Times, and is conducting further research, with the hope of putting the Safer Peanut on the market in the next few years.
SEC filing.
This story is from the North Carolina Business News Wire, a service of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism
