Phagos, a French startup and StartLife alumnus, has raised €25 million in Series A funding to accelerate field deployment of bacteriophage treatments for animal health and advance its AI-driven discovery platform.

The round was co-led by CapAgro, Hoxton Ventures, CapHorn, and Demeter, with Acurio Ventures, Citizen Capital, Entrepreneur First, Founders Capital, and Station F participating. The capital will accelerate field deployment of veterinary phage therapies, advance the next generation of Phagos’ patented AI discovery platform, and fuel global expansion.

World’s First Personalized Phage-Based Veterinary Drugs

Phagos combines microbiology and AI to design precise, personalized phage therapies that target harmful bacteria without antibiotics. The company holds the world’s first authorization to market personalized phage-based veterinary drugs, a key step toward mainstream adoption. 

This new funding marks a major turning point, enabling Phagos to scale the deployment of its veterinary phage therapy solutions with leading industry partners and strengthen R&D to develop the next generation of its patented AI technology. The company will expand across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, grow its largely scientific and technical team, and accelerate market launches. Field deployment is already underway, signaling increasing adoption of phage therapy.

“This funding gives us the means to accelerate our mission and make this alternative accessible, fast, and effective against the rise of bacterial resistance. Thanks to our regulatory breakthroughs and our patented platform combining microbiology and artificial intelligence, we now have the opportunity to establish phage therapy as a global reference solution: for animal health today, and for human health tomorrow,” said Alexandros Pantalis and Adèle James, co-founders of Phagos.

“Phage therapy can transform the history of medicine just as antibiotics did in the last century.” ~ Alexandros Pantalis and Adèle James

A Sustainable Solution to a Global Challenge

Bacterial diseases rank as the world’s second leading cause of human mortality, are a major cause of animal deaths, and drive significant food waste. Antimicrobial resistance causes millions of deaths each year and could cost the global economy up to 100 trillion dollars by 2050. In livestock, one in three antibiotics is no longer effective, three times more than in 2000.

Phagos’s platform makes phage therapy scalable, targeted, and fast by pairing genome-level analysis with AI-guided selection. Its first application focuses on animal health, where infections such as (Salmonella and E. coli…) with the growing limitations of antibiotics. The long-term ambition is to extend phage therapy to human health.

StartLife’s Early Support

Phagos joined the StartLife A La Carte program last year, and we couldn’t be prouder to see how far they’ve come. Watching them scale their technology and impact globally is what StartLife is all about, turning bold ideas into real-world breakthroughs.

As a StartLife alumnus, Phagos has engaged with our founder network, mentors, and leading partners focused on science-backed, market-ready innovation in AgriFoodTech. Through StartLife A La Carte, startups get tailored sprints with leading venture builders, access to Wageningen expertise and facilities, and targeted introductions to investors and partners, so they can validate faster, raise smarter, and scale with confidence.