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Neurotechnology company digitizing the sense of smell using animal olfaction and AI for border security, medical diagnostics, and pest inspections.
Based in Gainesville, Florida, Canaery is a neurotechnology company that develops neural interfaces implanted in animals' olfactory bulbs to digitize the sense of smell and transmit scent data wirelessly to the cloud. The company combines natural animal olfaction with artificial intelligence to create a real-time networked database of odors for commercial applications in border security, medical diagnostics, invasive pest inspections, and environmental hazard detection. Operating as a SaaS data provider, the startup maintains a workforce of fewer than 25 employees and generates under $5 million in estimated annual revenue. Canaery has raised a total of $4.65 million in venture funding, including a seed round backed by prominent institutional investors such as Breakout Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, KdT Ventures, and SOSV. The company was founded in 2020 by Gabriel Lavella, Peter Ledochowitsch, and Dmitry Rinberg.
Canaery has raised $4.7M across 2 funding rounds.
Canaery has raised $4.7M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Canaery has raised $4.7M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Canaery's investors include National Science Foundation, Lindy Fishburne, Arkitekt Ventures, Initialized Capital, SOSV, The Hit Forge, Andy Coravos, Balaji Srinivasan, Dolby Family Ventures, KdT Ventures.
Canaery is a neurotech startup developing the world's first nose-computer interface (NCI) that digitizes the sense of smell by implanting neural interfaces in animals to detect and transmit scents wirelessly to the cloud.[1][4] It serves security, medical diagnostics, pest control, and supply chain industries by enabling animals to identify threats like explosives, diseases (e.g., cancer, COVID-19, Parkinson's), and pests without special training, outperforming traditional methods like X-rays or cameras.[1][2][4] The company raised over $4 million in seed funding in 2022 to advance its platform toward commercialization, building on proprietary tech from nearly a decade of olfactory research.[1]
Canaery was founded in 2020 by Gabriel Lavella (CEO, ex-DARPA engineering advisor), Peter Ledochowitsch (former Allen Institute senior scientist), and Dmitry Rinberg (NYU Langone Health professor of neuroscience, from the world's leading lab on olfactory brain representation).[1][2] The idea emerged from Rinberg's lab, harnessing nature's evolved olfactory system via neural implants rather than reinventing it, to create "scent-fingerprints" from volatile compounds for detection applications.[1][2] Early traction included the 2022 seed round exceeding $4 million, supporting R&D and engineering hires, with pivotal partnerships like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for advanced nanofabrication of high-density neural arrays.[1][5]
Canaery rides the neurotech wave, merging brain-computer interfaces (like Neuralink) with biotech to unlock olfaction—a "holy grail" long unsolved—amid rising demand for non-invasive, AI-enhanced detection in security and health post-COVID.[1][2][4] Timing aligns with advances in nanofabrication (e.g., LLNL collaboration) and machine learning for neural data, fueled by market forces like global supply chain vulnerabilities, biosecurity threats, and precision medicine needs.[5] It influences the ecosystem by pioneering animal-augmented AI, potentially revolutionizing detection markets (e.g., replacing dogs/X-rays at borders) and inspiring scent-based applications in agriculture, shipping, and diagnostics.[2][3]
Canaery is poised for commercialization, scaling from seed-funded prototypes to full deployments in security and health, bolstered by LLNL's manufacturing and ongoing R&D hires.[1][5] Trends like AI-driven neurointerfaces, ethical bio-augmentation, and edge computing for real-time scent analysis will accelerate growth, expanding beyond security to disease screening and environmental monitoring. Its influence may evolve into a platform leader, enabling "super-smelling" networks that redefine perception limits—unlocking scent's hidden world as machine vision transformed sight.[2][6]
Canaery has raised $4.7M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $650K Other Equity in February 2024.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 13, 2024 | $650K Other Equity | National Science Foundation | |
| Jun 1, 2022 | $4.0M Seed | Lindy Fishburne | Arkitekt Ventures, Initialized Capital, SOSV, The Hit Forge, Andy Coravos, Balaji Srinivasan, Dolby Family Ventures, KdT Ventures |