Scent startups Osmo, Koniku, Aromyx, Moodify, OVR Technology, and Aromabit

"Smell" is the most digitally underdeveloped of the five human senses. While sight was fully digitized through cameras and displays, and hearing through microphones and speakers, the measurement, reproduction, and transmission of scent had long been considered impossible. Since 2022, however, against the backdrop of rapid advances in AI and synthetic biology, large-scale capital has begun flowing into the field of Digital Olfaction. Osmo — founded by Alex Wiltschko, who led Google's olfaction AI team — is a prime example: the company raised $130 million (approximately ¥19.5 billion) through its Series B, published its "Principal Odor Map" for predicting smells from molecular structures in *Science*, and in 2024 achieved the world's first "smell teleportation." The full scope of "olfactory digitization" being pioneered by these startups — Koniku, which uses biosensors fusing biological neurons with silicon for explosives detection; Aromyx, which integrates 402 types of human olfactory receptors onto a chip; Israel's Moodify, which partners with Procter & Gamble (P&G) to use AI to manipulate the brain's scent perception; OVR Technology, which integrates smell into VR/AR; Aromabit, backed by the Sony Innovation Fund, which develops an ultra-compact 6×3mm smell-imaging sensor; and Kyoto-based Aromajoin, which uses solid aroma cartridge technology to switch between 100 scents in under 0.1 seconds — is comprehensively examined here, from Silicon Valley VC investment theses and the latest sensor hardware to use cases, challenges, and the road ahead.

Why "Smell" Is the Last Frontier

Of the five human senses, sight, hearing, and touch have already been digitized with high precision. Cameras capture the world in 4K/8K, microphones faithfully convert air vibrations into electrical signals, and haptic feedback has spread from smartphone taptic engines to VR gloves. Even taste is seeing rapid progress through electronic tongue (e-tongue) research.

Yet smell alone has been left behind. The reason is straightforward. Light can be described with just two parameters: wavelength (color) and intensity. Sound has frequency (pitch) and amplitude. Smell, however, is a chemical signal composed of hundreds of thousands of volatile molecules in complex mixtures, where even subtle structural differences — such as mirror-image enantiomers — produce entirely distinct odors. More than 300 molecules make up "banana smell," and a slight shift in their ratio transforms it into either "ripe banana" or "rotten banana." The human nose contains approximately 400 types of olfactory receptors, each responding to multiple molecules, with the brain recognizing smells through the combinatorial pattern of their activation. It is this complexity of "combinatorial coding" that has long blocked the digitization of smell.

In the 2020s, however, graph neural networks (GNNs) and large language models (LLMs) have begun breaking through this barrier. By training AI on 3D structural graphs of molecules, it has become possible to predict "what does this molecule smell like?" with accuracy surpassing that of human perfumers. At the same time, advances in synthetic biology have brought biosensors — which replicate human olfactory receptors on a chip — to the stage of practical deployment. At the intersection of AI and biology, a vast market opportunity is now beginning to emerge.

Overview of the Digital Olfaction Market

Research firm forecasts are uniformly bullish. Grand View Research projects the digital olfaction technology market at $2.06 billion (approximately ¥309 billion) by 2030, with a CAGR of 9.9%. Emergen Research estimates an even larger figure of $4.98 billion (approximately ¥747 billion) by 2034, with a CAGR of 16.1%. OMR Global puts the 2024 market size at $1.6 billion (approximately ¥240 billion), rising to $3.7 billion (approximately ¥555 billion) by 2030.

By sector, healthcare diagnostics accounts for the largest share at 34.4% of the market as of 2024. Clinical accuracy of 86% has been reported for early detection of lung cancer, Parkinson's disease, and liver cirrhosis through breath analysis. Meanwhile, the entertainment/VR/AR sector is expected to post the highest growth rate, with a CAGR of 9.1% through 2030. Gartner predicts that "by 2027, 60% of AR/VR experiences will incorporate haptic or olfactory elements."

In the 2025 global VC market, AI companies captured $258.7 billion (approximately ¥38.8 trillion), representing 61% of the total (per OECD). Olfactory AI is a niche but rapidly growing sub-segment within this space, and top-tier VC participation is accelerating, as exemplified by Osmo's $70 million (approximately ¥10.5 billion) Series B in February 2026.

Osmo――AI Draws a "Map of Scent"

Founding and Technical Breakthrough

Osmo was founded in 2022 by Alex Wiltschko, who holds a PhD in olfactory neuroscience from Harvard University (2016) and subsequently led a digital olfaction team at Google Research and Google Brain for five years. In August 2023, his team published the "Principal Odor Map (POM)" in *Science* (Vol. 381, pp. 999–1006) — the first general-purpose olfactory map capable of predicting odor perception from molecular structure, demonstrating accuracy that surpasses human panelists in classifying smells.

"Looking back at the history of vision, it took 100 years to digitize sight — from the invention of photography to film, television, and smartphone cameras. Just as photography captured light, the 'osmograph' we envision will capture the smells and tastes of the world."

— Alex Wiltschko, CEO of Osmo

Osmo's core technology, Olfactory Intelligence (OI), uses graph neural networks (GNNs) to take a molecule's 3D structural graph as input and output perceived odor characteristics. By representing smells as coordinates on the POM, it enables bidirectional translation between natural-language descriptions — such as "halfway between floral and musky, with a hint of woody" — and molecular structures.

Scent Teleportation

In 2024, Osmo announced the achievement of "Scent Teleportation": the complete automation of a pipeline that analyzes the smell of a location via GCMS (gas chromatography–mass spectrometry), uploads the data to the cloud, maps it to coordinates on the POM, and reproduces it at a remote location — all without human intervention. This marks the technical realization of a "video call for the sense of smell."

Fundraising and Investors

Osmo has raised more than $130 million (approximately ¥19.5 billion) to date.

The January 2023 Series A ($60 million / approx. ¥9 billion) was co-led by Lux Capital and Google Ventures (GV), with participation from Arena Holdings, Moore Strategic Ventures, the Amazon Alexa Fund, Exor Ventures, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (a $5 million equity investment).

The February 2026 Series B ($70 million / approx. ¥10.5 billion) was led by Two Sigma Ventures, with participation from Valor, Atreides, Amplo, Alumni Ventures, Collab Fund, Lumina Partners, and Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison as an individual investor. All existing investors also followed on.

Colin Beirne, Partner at Two Sigma Ventures, commented:

"Osmo is opening up an entirely new sensory dimension for AI. Fragrance is just the beginning. We are investing in the infrastructure layer of digital olfaction — one whose applications will span from healthcare diagnostics to environmental monitoring."

The Generation Brand and Gates Foundation Mosquito Repellent Research

In March 2025, Osmo launched "Generation," an AI-driven fragrance house. It unveiled three materials as the world's first AI-designed fragrance ingredients: Glossine (a jasmine-forward floral), Fractaline (a long-lasting dual-character accord), and Quasarine (a fresh jasmine). Whereas custom fragrance development traditionally required multi-million-dollar budgets and years of work, AI is set to democratize the process dramatically.

Osmo has also received a total of $8.5 million (approximately ¥1.28 billion) in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance AI-driven mosquito repellent research. Eight novel molecules discovered by Osmo have been demonstrated to repel mosquitoes more effectively than conventional repellents such as DEET and picaridin, with promising applications in malaria prevention.

Koniku――The Fusion of Biological Neurons and Silicon

The Impact of Wetware Chips

Koniku (meaning "immortality" in Yoruba) was founded in 2015 in San Rafael, California, by Osh Agabi, a neuroscientist of Nigerian origin. After earning a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Lagos, Agabi pursued a path in synthetic neurobiology.

Koniku's approach is fundamentally different from any other startup. The company manufactures "wetware chips" by isolating mouse brain cells, genetically modifying them to express olfactory receptor proteins, and fusing them onto silicon chips. Literally, "living neurons" on a chip "smell" molecules in the air.

Koniku Kore Specifications

The flagship product, "Koniku Kore," is a portable device weighing under 600 grams and roughly the size of an iPad, capable of simultaneously detecting and identifying more than 4,096 types of compounds. Detection targets include explosives, fentanyl, methamphetamine, pathogens, and even cancer cells. Unlike sniffer dogs, it can operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, unaffected by human fatigue or mood.

Partnership with Airbus

Koniku has been partnering with Airbus since 2017, and in July 2022 signed a 24-month joint research agreement with Airbus subsidiary MTM Robotics. Field trials have been conducted at Singapore Changi Airport and San Francisco International Airport — an initiative aimed at replacing sniffer dogs in aviation security. The company has also partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific for drug (fentanyl, methamphetamine) detection.

Disclosed funding stands at a modest approximately $1.65 million (around ¥250 million), with investors including Presight Capital, IDO Investments, SoftBank, IndieBio, and Plug and Play Tech Center. The majority of business revenue is believed to come from corporate contracts with companies such as Airbus.

Aromyx — Placing Human Olfactory Receptors on a Chip

Aromyx was founded in 2013 by Chris Hanson in Mountain View, California. A team centered on Stanford University graduates developed a biosensor that clones the DNA of 402 types of human olfactory receptors and mounts them on a disposable chip. When exposed to smell or taste samples, the receptors activate, and the resulting patterns are digitized and transmitted to the cloud for analysis.

Total funding raised amounts to approximately $20.9 million (roughly ¥3.14 billion). The 2019 seed round ($3 million / approx. ¥450 million) was led by Ulu Ventures, while the 2021 Series A ($10 million / approx. ¥1.5 billion) was co-led by Rabo Food & Ag Innovation Fund and SOZO Ventures.

In September 2023, Aromyx was acquired by Olfactive Biosolutions, a new company co-founded by Chris Hanson himself. The receptor technology and the world's largest ligand-receptor database form the foundation of Olfactive Biosolutions' "Olfactory Language Model (OLM)" — a large language model trained on olfactory and gustatory receptor data. Think of it as the olfactory equivalent of an LLM.

Moodify――Rewriting the Brain's Smell Perception with AI

Exclusive Technology with the Weizmann Institute

Moodify, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, was founded in 2017 by Yigal Sharon (CEO) and Dr. Yaniv Mama. The company holds an exclusive intellectual property relationship with the Olfaction Lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science and is developing an AI-based molecular-level scent design platform.

Total funding raised is approximately $10.3 million (around ¥1.55 billion). The seed round ($1.6 million / approx. ¥240 million) was led by Next Gear Ventures with participation from Toyota AI Ventures. The Series A ($8 million / approx. ¥1.2 billion) included Procter & Gamble (P&G), Toyota Ventures, OurCrowd, and Taisho Pharmaceutical.

Manipulating Odor Perception

Moodify's most innovative product is "Moodify White." Rather than chemically masking specific odors, it uses AI algorithms to temporarily alter the brain's scent perception, effectively erasing the recognition of unpleasant smells altogether. This is a neuroscience-based approach that leverages the interaction between the trigeminal nerve and the olfactory system.

Another product, "Moodify Red," is an alertness-enhancing formulation that can wake a drowsy driver within seconds. It works by stimulating the trigeminal nerve to promote adrenaline release.

In September 2023, P&G announced the adoption of Moodify White within its fragrance development group. In the automotive sector, the company has partnered with Valeo and the Renault-Nissan Innovation Lab to develop in-cabin odor control solutions.

OVR Technology — Adding a "Third Sense" to VR/AR

Treating PTSD with Scent

OVR Technology, based in Burlington, Vermont, was founded in 2017 by Aaron Wisniewski, known as the "Indiana Jones of fragrance." Wisniewski has an eclectic background as a professional chef, mixologist, sommelier, and sensory artist.

OVR's "Architecture of Scent" platform consists of the "ION Scent Device" worn with VR/AR headsets, software plugins for content developers, and a proprietary "ION Scentware" cartridge system. The company also offers a consumer gaming product called the "Omara Scent Display."

The most notable application is the treatment of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). A program at the University of Central Florida reports that two-thirds of PTSD patients experienced a complete resolution of symptoms through therapy combining VR and scent. For combat veterans, battlefield smells — gunpowder, desert soil, diesel fuel — are recreated in VR environments, dramatically enhancing the effectiveness of exposure therapy.

Japanese olfactory startup

Aroma Bit Inc.

Aroma Bit was founded in February 2014 by Shunichiro Kuroki in Ginza, Tokyo. Its defining feature is a silicon CMOS odor imaging sensor measuring just 6×3mm. The development kit "5C-SSM-H1" consists of 5 types of odor-sensitive membranes × 16 elements, totaling 80 sensing elements. The critical difference from conventional gas sensors lies in its approach: rather than detecting specific gases, it mimics biological olfaction to visualize odor patterns.

The company's fundraising track record is impressive. In March 2019, it raised ¥250 million from Sony Innovation Fund and others; by October 2019, with JT (Japan Tobacco International) and East Ventures joining, cumulative funding reached ¥350 million; in February 2021, it secured ¥300 million from Epson Cross Investment, Kyocera, and Tech Accel Ventures; and in 2022, Toyota Boshoku and Meiji Holdings also made investments. Total funding is estimated at over ¥1 billion.

The lineup of investors — Sony, Kyocera, Toyota Boshoku, Meiji HD, and JT, all flagship Japanese corporations — is testament to this technology's cross-industry potential.

Aromajoin Corporation

Headquartered in Kyoto, Aromajoin was founded in 2012 by Dr. Dong Wook Kim. The "solid aroma cartridge technology" developed through more than a decade of R&D in scent control abandons conventional liquid and gas methods, enabling the switching of up to 100 scents from a solid state in under 0.1 seconds.

The flagship product "Aroma Shooter" retails at $998 (approximately ¥150,000) and includes 6 cartridges, with refills priced at $54 (approximately ¥8,100). The company has raised approximately $1.34 million (roughly ¥200 million) from Japanese and Korean investors including Samsung Venture Investment and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance.

At CES 2024, the company unveiled an olfactory device for XR, and currently serves over 100 corporate clients across retail, cosmetics, entertainment, VR, and neuroscience sectors.

Sony's Olfactory Technology

Sony has developed the NOS-DX1000 olfactory measurement device through its dedicated Olfactive Technologies division. It features 40 scent cartridges and employs proprietary Tensor Valve Technology to suppress scent leakage. In December 2025, Sony held an experiential olfactory technology exhibition at Tokyo Skytree, which also drew attention for a collaboration with the game *Infinity Nikki*. In the medical field, research is underway into applications for early detection of dementia and Parkinson's disease.

Current State of Olfactory Sensor Hardware

The sensor hardware that serves as the "eyes" of digital olfaction comes in a wide variety of products depending on their operating principles and intended applications.

Electronic Nose (e-Nose) Chips

Germany's SmartNanotubes has developed the "Smell iX16," a 16-channel carbon nanotube-based sensor chip that achieves ppb (parts per billion) sensitivity and ultra-low power consumption of just 1μW (microwatt). Built on this platform, the company also offers the handheld "Smell Inspector" and the "Smell Board iX16x4," a 64-channel plug-in module compatible with Raspberry Pi and Arduino. The series was led by Cottonwood Technology Fund, raising €2.4 million (approximately ¥380 million).

MEMS-Type Sensors

DFRobot's "Fermion MEMS Odor Sensor" measures just 13×13×2.5mm, consumes less than 20mA, is Arduino-compatible, and is priced at $30–$50 (approximately ¥4,500–¥7,500), putting it within reach of hobbyists and researchers alike.

Industrial and Medical Use

Japan's Kanomax's OMX series is a lineup of handheld odor meters covering industrial use (OMX-SRM), healthcare use (OMX-ADM), and TVOC measurement (OMX-TDM).

Bio-Inspired Sensors

Koniku's Koniku Kore (under 600g, iPad-sized, capable of simultaneously detecting 4,096 compounds) and Aromabit's 5C-SSM-H1 (6×3mm, 80 elements) both take a biomimetic approach, though they differ in method: the former uses actual biological neurons, while the latter uses an odor-sensitive membrane on silicon.

Smartphone-integrated odor sensors are predicted to reach consumers at under $100 (approximately ¥15,000).

Expanding Application Scenarios

Healthcare & Medicine

Disease screening through breath analysis is one of the most promising applications of olfactory technology. Clinical trials have reported the ability to detect lung cancer, Parkinson's disease, and liver cirrhosis with 86% accuracy. Sony's NOS-DX1000 is being used for early detection of dementia, while Koniku's biosensor is applied to pathogen detection. Stanford University's Smell and Taste Cure Initiative has reported long-term outcomes of PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection therapy for post-traumatic olfactory disorders (announced December 2024).

Food & Beverage Quality Control

Receptor chips from Aromyx (now Olfactive Biosolutions) are being utilized for food quality control, flavor design, and traceability. As evidenced by investment from Meiji HD and JT, Aromabit's sensors show strong promise for applications in the food industry.

Automotive

Moodify's in-cabin solutions are advancing toward practical deployment in both driver alertness maintenance and cabin comfort, through partnerships with Valeo, Renault-Nissan, and Toyota.

Security & Defense

Koniku's partnership with Airbus targets the full replacement of detection dogs in airport security. Their drug detection collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific is drawing attention as a response to border control needs and the fentanyl crisis.

VR/AR & Entertainment

From OVR Technology's PTSD treatment applications to Aromajoin's XR olfactory devices serving over 100 corporate clients, and Sony's gaming collaborations, the integration of scent in the entertainment sector is accelerating.

Marketing & Retail

Untapped markets exist in in-store scent marketing, brand "signature scent" design, and even "smell previews" for e-commerce. Osmo's Generation brand partnered with the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) to introduce the world's first AI-designed signature scent in a museum.

Environmental Monitoring

Electronic nose technology is being applied to real-time monitoring of air and water pollution, as well as VOC (volatile organic compound) detection at waste processing facilities.

Pest Control

Research into mosquito repellents by Osmo and the Gates Foundation has identified eight novel repellent molecules that outperform DEET and picaridin. The potential public health impact in sub-Saharan Africa—where malaria kills more than 600,000 people annually—is immeasurable.

Open Source and Academic Research

Open-source projects in the field of digital olfaction are also growing in number. MIT's "SmellNet" is the first large-scale odor database, containing 180,000 timesteps, 50 substances, and 50 hours of data. Microsoft Research's "Olfaction" project applies deep learning to map olfactory receptors and perception. Ahuja Lab's "OdoriFy" provides olfactory receptor prediction using explainable AI, while Politecnico di Milano's "Olfactory Display for Metaverse" has released open-source hardware (CAD + software) for a VR olfactory display.

On the academic side, MIT Media Lab's "Essence" project has developed the first olfactory computational necklace remotely controllable via smartphone. The e.J. Hong Lab at Caltech is working to decode olfactory coding using honeybees and Drosophila, supported by a three-year grant of $3.6 million (approximately 540 million yen).

How VCs Perceive It

Silicon Valley VCs have shown strong interest in olfactory technology, calling it "the last sense for AI to conquer."

Lux Capital's Josh Wolfe co-founded Osmo. Lux Capital is known for deep tech investing, having made early bets on quantum computing (Rigetti), nuclear fusion (Commonwealth Fusion Systems), and synthetic biology (Zymergen). The firm positions olfactory AI as a "fundamental technology platform" on par with these fields.

Google Ventures (GV) co-led Osmo's Series A alongside Lux Capital, building on the olfactory AI research that Wiltschko led within Google. Amazon Alexa Fund's participation hints at a future vision of integrating scent into voice assistants.

Two Sigma Ventures leading the Series B reflects how quantitative, data-driven firms place high value on olfactory data as infrastructure. The personal participation of Patrick Collison (Stripe co-founder) further underscores the level of attention from the top tier of the tech industry.

Toyota Ventures has invested in both Moodify and Aromajoin, making a strategic bet on the convergence of mobility and olfactory technology. Sony Innovation Fund's investment in Aromabit signals that the consumer electronics and entertainment giant views olfactory sensing as a platform technology.

Remaining Challenges and Constraints

Behind the optimistic outlook lie several structural challenges.

The first is the lack of standardization. Digital olfaction has no "smell encoding standard" equivalent to H.264 for video or MP3 for audio. Each company uses its own proprietary formats and protocols, with no interoperability.

The second is the limitation of cartridges. Current devices rely on 6 to 40 cartridges, which falls far short of reproducing the hundreds of thousands of odor molecules found in nature. The cost of cartridge replacement is also a challenge, with Aromajoin refills priced at $54 (approximately ¥8,100) per unit.

The third is the barrier of miniaturization. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 2025 report notes that further technological innovation is needed before consumer-grade smartphone-integrated odor sensors become practical. Aromabit's 6×3mm chip represents a significant advance, but challenges around reliability and mass producibility remain.

The fourth is the absence of regulation. No FDA, REACH, or EPA guidelines exist for digital olfaction consumer devices, and a regulatory framework addressing the long-term exposure risks of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has yet to be established.

The fifth is the subjectivity of smell. Odor perception is highly personal and varies greatly depending on genetic and cultural background. A scent that one person finds pleasant may be unpleasant to another. This subjectivity makes the standardization of digital olfaction all the more difficult.

Future Prospects

Despite these challenges, the future of digital olfaction is bright.

The evolution of AI is dramatically accelerating the precision of scent recognition and synthesis. The POM introduced in Osmo's *Science* paper is being positioned as the "AlexNet moment" of olfactory research — just as AlexNet irreversibly transformed image recognition in 2012, POM has irreversibly accelerated the digitization of smell.

"Computers learned to read and write with NLP, and learned to see with computer vision. We have finally taught computers to smell with Olfactory Intelligence."

— Alex Wiltschko

Through the convergence of sensor miniaturization and IoT, there is a possibility that smartphone-integrated odor sensors could reach consumers for under $100 by 2027. Sony's olfactory measurement device and Aromabits' chip module are steadily building the technological foundation for this.

In healthcare, non-invasive disease screening through breath analysis is expected to improve from clinical accuracy of 86% to over 95%. Applications are being researched for early detection of lung cancer, Parkinson's disease, and cirrhosis, as well as diabetes, infectious diseases, and mental illness.

A wave of personalization is also approaching. Osmo's AI fragrance design enables mass production of custom fragrances based on an individual's genetic olfactory profile. The "scent made just for you" that was once exclusive to a privileged few is being democratized by AI.

If Gartner's prediction that "60% of AR/VR experiences will include tactile or olfactory elements by 2027" comes to fruition, the paradigm of content creation in the entertainment industry will fundamentally change. A future where "scent tracks" for films and games become standardized in the same way as soundtracks is coming into view.

Digital olfaction stands at the same point where photographic technology began the digitization of vision 100 years ago. Just as photography evolved to color photography, and black-and-white television evolved to HDR displays, today's crude odor sensors and cartridges will eventually evolve into technology that can freely generate, transmit, and store any scent at the molecular level. The day when the "osmograph" envisioned by Osmo's Wiltschko — a device that captures scent the way a camera captures light — becomes reality is no longer a matter of science fiction.

References

Wiltschko, A. et al. (2023). "A Principal Odor Map Unifies Diverse Tasks in Human Olfaction." *Science*, Vol 381, pp 999-1006.
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P&G/Moodify (2023/9/28). "Procter & Gamble Fragrance Development Group Taps AI-Based Solution Moodify White."
Grand View Research. "Digital Scent Technology Market Size Report, 2024-2030."
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MIT Media Lab. "Essence: Olfactory Computational Necklace." https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/essence/overview/
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Aromajoin. "Aroma Shooter Specifications." https://docs.aromajoin.com/
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