Osmo

Osmo is an AI company developing digital olfaction: technology that gives computers a sense of smell, with the aim of reading, mapping, and reproducing scents for use in fragrance, flavour, and human health. Founded in 2022 and spun out of Google Research, the company builds on five years of foundational work there and on 18 years of research by its founder, Alex Wiltschko, a former Google Brain researcher and olfactory neuroscientist. It raised $60m in Series A funding.

Its technical work spans olfactory neuroscience, machine learning, molecular mapping, generative molecule design, and analytical chemistry. The Olfactory Intelligence platform combines molecular mapping and machine learning with human perfumery in a digital scent engine designed to read, map, and reproduce scents. Forge, aimed at the flavour and fragrance industry, discovers new fragrance ingredients and designs molecules intended to be more biodegradable, sustainable, and safe; the company reports it finds ingredients four times faster than traditional methods. Osmograph is an envisioned technology to capture, preserve, and transmit scent.

Reported research milestones include superhuman scent prediction, the development of new insect repellents, and the first successful digital capture and re-synthesis of a naturally occurring smell - a plum scent - performed without human intervention. The team spans neuroscience, machine learning, perfumery, and analytical chemistry, with stated applications in consumer fragrance, healthcare (including early disease detection), and insect repellents.