Oman’s IDO invests in US biotech startup Tidal Vision

https://www.omanobserver.om/article/1166249/business/economy/omans-ido-invests-in-us-biotech-startup-tidal-vision

OMAN DAILY OBSERVER / 14 FEB 2025

CONRAD PRABHU

MUSCAT: IDO Investments, the tech investment arm of Oman Investment Authority (OIA), is among a number of leading international venture capital funds that have participated in the Series B financing of Tidal Vision, a US-based biotechnology company seeking to unlock the immense commercial potential of chitosan – a natural compound billed as a ‘wonder biomaterial’.

Washington-headquartered Tidal Vision announced recently that it has successfully closed its $140 million Series B financing round following strong demand from strategically-aligned investors, including IDO Investments of the Sultanate of Oman.

Other firms pitching in with funding support were: Cambridge Companies SPG, Eni Next (the corporate venture arm of Eni SpA), Milliken & Company, KIRKBI Climate, Convent Capital, SWEN Capital Partners' Blue Ocean Fund, and MBX Capital, among others.

Tidal Vision adds to IDO Investments’ diverse portfolio that includes: Allurion Technologies (Non-invasive weight loss solution), Carzaty (Online car sales), Congenica (Clinical genomic analytics platform), Crusoe (Digital Flare Mitigation technology), Dragos (ICS cybersecurity technology), eMushrif (IoT enabled busses, health trackers and more), Fractyl Health, Inc (Innovative approach to treat insulin resistance), Golden Gate Ventures (Early-stage venture capital fimm in Singapore), iNNOVATEQ (Digital oilfield monitoring platform), Juvenescence (Developer of therapeutics for Human Longevity), Locums Nest (Web platform to fill vacant doctor positions), Polares Medical (Partial replacement for mitral valve regurgitation), Sense Labs (Energy monitoring device), Teal Drones (Real time high-performance drones with AI), Tribe Capital (VC firm specializing and applying data science), and Voltea (Water purification products and services), among others.

"We are thrilled to have these strategically aligned capital partners onboard and supportive of accelerating our mission," said?Craig Kasberg, CEO of Tidal Vision in a statement. "We've already demonstrated it's possible to make our biomolecular solutions outcompete. Now, we're building infrastructure that'll allow us to better serve customers who operate in critical industries providing the clean water, agriculture production, and materials necessary for everyday life."

Those solutions – centring around chitosan – can be a potential game-changer for countries like Oman, particularly in the water, wastewater and agricultural fields. Chitosan is a biomaterial derived from chitin, a biopolymer found in abundance in nature. Chitin is formed in the structural cells across numerous crustacean, insect and fungal species.

As a biopolymer, chitosan can serve to replace synthetic and potentially environmentally harmful chemical polymers currently used in a variety of industrial applications. Its biocompatibility, biodegradability, antimicrobial properties and high absorption capacity also makes it an important component in water treatment, agriculture, food and beverage, cosmetics and textiles.

Tidal Vision says it is leveraging its proprietary technologies?to provide the market with chitosan-based environmental-safe alternatives to synthetic polymers currently used in a variety of industrial applications.

According to the company, the latest financing round will be utilized to “increase the performance, economics, and ease of adoption of chitosan-based solutions with greater production capacities and expanded research and development resources”. The company also plans to build new infrastructure in the US and Europe to make chitosan-based solutions more accessible to customers globally.