BioHarvest Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:BHST, FRA:8MV0) said on Wednesday it has received a 4.33 million NIS (about $1.4 million) grant from the Israel Innovation Authority to fund a new research initiative applying machine learning and computer vision to its plant cell culture programs.

The update sent the company's shares 7% higher in early trade. 

The non-dilutive funding, BioHarvest's second grant from the IIA this year, will support integration of data science, chemo-informatics and high-throughput digital sensing into the company's biological development workflows, aiming to move plant cell culture away from trial-and-error methods toward a data-driven optimization framework.

"We are extremely thankful for the additional support from the IIA," said Dr Zaki Rakib, CEO of BioHarvest. "This grant, the second we have received from IIA, strengthens the company's financial position by providing non-dilutive capital support as we additionally implement a more efficient, smarter means for our biological development workflows."

The program will fund development of a computational discovery engine that combines proprietary predictive machine learning models with real-time digital sensing to identify optimal pathways for maximizing bioactive yields across plant species.

BioHarvest's first IIA grant this year went toward scaling its manufacturing facility through industrial automation and machine learning on the factory floor. The company said the two grants are complementary, with the latest aimed at transforming its early-stage R&D pipeline through predictive AI.

The grant takes the form of a zero-interest loan, with repayment contingent on the company reaching predefined commercial milestones and expected to come solely from future revenues generated by the funded project.