Key Takeaways:Fragrance tech startup Patina has raised $2 million from investors, including Betaworks and True Ventures.The company focuses on creating new odor molecules using advanced molecular design, machine learning, and aroma research.The funding will accelerate its effort to reinvent how fragrances are developed by creating the “Pantone for scent.”Fragrance tech company Patina says it has raised $2 million to create a “Pantone for scent.”WHO: Patina was founded by artist-perfumer Sean Raspet and food and software engineer Laura Sisson. The company is building a machine-learning–driven platform called Sense1 that models how molecules interact with human olfactory receptors. Its goal is to replace today’s language-based system of describing smells (like “floral” or “woody”) with a biological “code of smell” that can precisely represent and predict scent at the molecular level. The company believes AI-enabled molecular design could also make fragrance creation faster, cheaper, and more customizable, while improving intellectual property protection in an industry where formulas are hard to defend.WHY: The funding will fuel turning the science into a repeatable business—lab space, chemists, partner programs, and more receptor data.IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “We started collaborating on research, and it became clear that the timing was right to finally build the tools to understand scent at the biological level,” Raspet told TechCrunch. “That felt like a company.” DETAILS:Patina raised $2 million in funding from investors that include Betaworks and True Ventures.