Participated · Series E · Jun 2023

Ecovative develops materials and food products using a proprietary AirMycelium platform that grows mycelium at industrial scale for applications including MyBacon, Mushroom Packaging and Forager eco-materials. The company produces material at scale—claiming it can grow three million sq ft of material annually on one acre—and has MyBacon in over 600 retailers across the U.S. coasts. Recent capital is being used to expand MyBacon distribution from 600 to thousands of stores through 2025, and to scale production via a tripled packaging facility at its Green Island headquarters and an expanded Canadian plant that can add 1,000,000 lbs of product by 2025. Ecovative plans to commercialize AirLoom alt-leather hides for the 2025 season; those hides are grown in nine days with about half the emissions of conventional leather and are designed to integrate with existing tannery infrastructure. The company is converting Dutch mushroom farms into mycelium production facilities and says several commercial mushroom farms have expressed interest in joining its partner network. Ecovative develops and manufactures mycelium-based materials—grown on leftover plant fibers—for applications across fashion and apparel, food, packaging, automotive and construction. Its core product lines and services include the Forager business (textiles and foams), Mushroom® Packaging, and the Mycelium Foundry for custom material development. The company also operates MyForest Foods, a food subsidiary founded in 2020, and is expanding its retail footprint across the Eastern Seaboard. Over the last year Ecovative commissioned 120,000 sqft of new manufacturing for mycelium bacon, textiles and foams, built and handed off the world’s largest AirMycelium™ farm, acquired a raw materials facility in the Netherlands, and expanded Mushroom® Packaging with 20,000 sqft of production capacity. It partners with more than 15 brands and manufacturers, including ECCO Leather, Vivobarefoot, Wolverine Worldwide, BESTSELLER, Pangaia and PVH Corp. The company emphasizes that its materials are home compostable, plastic free and cruelty-free, and is focused on scaling manufacturing and retail distribution to meet growing brand and consumer demand. Financially, Ecovative announced an initial Series E closing of over $30 million (with $15 million reinvested into MyForest Foods) and has raised $120 million to date. Ecovative develops mycelium-based materials using biofabrication and modern materials science to serve industries including textiles, food and packaging. The company built the Mycelium Foundry and the AirMycelium™ manufacturing platform to produce mycelium at industrial scale. It recently activated 100,000 pounds per year of new manufacturing capacity to meet growing partner demand, including packaging suppliers and tanneries. Led by CEO and co‑founder Eben Bayer and founded in 2007, Ecovative works with partners to grow custom mycelium solutions for everyday needs. The company intends to use new funding to power a next‑generation Mycelium Foundry and further boost production. To date the company has raised $100M in total capital, including the recently announced round. Founded in 2007, Ecovative Design develops patent‑protected mycelium‑based materials that grow home‑compostable composites to replace plastic foams used in protective packaging, automotive components, building materials, shoes and floral foam. The company has also applied its mycelium expertise to create a lighter engineered‑wood replacement that eliminates the need for toxic glues. Ecovative works with licensing partners such as Sealed Air to scale production and commercial deployment. It recently opened a facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to support growth of its Restore™ Mushroom® Packaging business in North America. The company plans additional protective‑packaging facilities in Europe and Asia and is actively seeking strategic partners. Ecovative raised equity financing to fund U.S. scaling and expansion into new markets including building materials, automotive components and structural cores.

Participated · Series A · May 2023

Alloy Enterprises develops a digital aluminum fabrication process that combines laser cutting and diffusion bonding to produce production-volume aluminum parts while preserving advantages of 3D printing, such as reduced lead times, rapid iteration, avoidance of expensive tooling, and digitized inventory. The company says its machines can deliver production volumes and that it has capacity for volume production. This summer Alloy will begin delivering production-volume parts and is actively evaluating and qualifying new customer applications. Led by CEO Ali Forsyth and based in Burlington, MA, Alloy plans to use new funding to expand operations and broaden its business reach. Financially, the company completed a $26M Series A in the current round, bringing total funding to $37M. Alloy Enterprises develops a novel additive manufacturing system that produces high-strength aluminum alloy components (such as 6061) at high throughput. The technology yields fully-dense aluminum parts and is intended to enable manufacturers to scale from prototyping to production. Within a year of the invention the company was already making parts using its system. Alison Forsyth leads the company as CEO. Alloy is based in Somerville, MA. Financially, the company closed a $3M SAFE round that brings total capital raised to over $10M.

Participated · Seed · Apr 2023

Chunk Foods develops plant-based whole cuts using fermentation and food-grade microorganisms to turn soy and wheat into steak-like filets. Over the past year the company doubled in size, opened a whole-cut manufacturing facility and launched two new SKUs: a six-ounce Steakhouse Cut and a shredded Chunk steak. Its products have entered traditional restaurants on the U.S. East Coast, including Charley’s Steak House, and will reach Latin America through a strategic partnership with Sigma Alimentos, which will carry Chunk products in its Better Balance line in Mexico this year. Chunk closed a $7.5M seed extension and has $24M in total funding to date. CEO Amos Golan said the company will use the new capital to expand commercial and operations teams, pursue nationwide U.S. distribution, grow local distribution partnerships and increase manufacturing capacity. Golan declined to share revenue figures but said the current valuation is higher than the previous round. Chunk Foods develops whole-cut alternative proteins using proprietary fermentation technology and food-grade microorganisms to turn soy and wheat into steak-like proteins, with plans to extend into pork, lamb and poultry. Its steak product purports to mimic meat texture, fiber direction and juiciness while using a shorter ingredient list (no preservatives, additives, cholesterol or GMOs) and contains about 25 grams of protein. The company reports production costs around $5 per steak and has pilot production underway; it began a pilot phase in Q4 2022 and is still pre-revenue. The steak is already being served at New York City restaurants including Coletta, Anixi and The Butcher’s Daughter, and Chunk says it has enough pre-sales to occupy its new facility initially for a couple of months. Chunk employs roughly 25 people, with R&D based in Israel and a commercial team in the U.S., and it is developing versions without soy and wheat for consumers with allergies. The company is building a large manufacturing facility in Israel expected to be completed in June that management says will be able to produce "millions of steaks" per year, and it is planning an even larger facility as it eyes retail. Chunk Foods develops whole-muscle alt-meat products using a novel solid-state fermentation process to create beef alternatives with a short, natural ingredient list. The company is focused on making whole cuts — sirloin, chuck and ribs — rather than processed formats like burgers or nuggets. Chunk says its technology overcomes limitations of other approaches and aims to deliver realistic taste and texture. Competitors pursuing whole-cut alternatives include Umiami and Meati Foods, and researchers at the University of Massachusetts have received grants to work on whole-cut approaches, but Chunk’s method uses fermentation. The startup plans to use its new funding to improve products and expand its team. Founder and CEO Amos Golan highlighted that whole-muscle cuts account for about 60% of the U.S. beef market.

Participated · Series D · Dec 2022

Asilomar Bio is an agricultural technology company focused on creating a new class of crop-protection products that mitigate environmental stresses rather than pests, weeds, or fungi. Its flagship product, now in its third season of field trials across the U.S. corn belt and several other states, is designed to improve drought tolerance and significantly boost yields; it can be applied either as a seed treatment or a foliar spray. Field data show reduced drought-stress symptoms and strong farmer interest, with the company offering on-farm test plots to build trust. Asilomar is engaging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for classification of the product as a natural, bio-based solution, which would ease its regulatory path. Additional formulations targeting cold, wet soils and soil mineral stresses are approximately a year behind the lead product. The firm plans to distribute through traditional agrochemical channels while also exploring niche routes for high-demand markets like drought-stricken California. Proceeds from its recent financing will fund manufacturing scale-up and the deployment of agronomists to drive sales enablement in the field.

Participated · Series A · Aug 2022

Populus offers a software-as-a-service platform that collects data from shared fleets (scooters, e-bikes, car-sharing) and other mobility providers and shares that information with cities, mapping platforms and third parties via an API. The product is used by more than 100 cities across the U.S. and Israel and has expanded into commercial fleets, ride-hail and autonomous-vehicle use cases. Its curb management feature gives cities visibility into curb usage so they can set dynamic pricing, manage congestion and craft parking policies that can be enforced through the platform. Populus says curb data can steer fleet operators to lower-conflict parking areas and incentivize smaller, more carbon-efficient delivery modes, aiding emissions and air-quality goals. The company is pursuing pilots in major European cities while remaining mostly based in North America and headquartered in San Francisco. Populus has about 25 employees and plans to double headcount over the next year; it will use new capital to scale its core product, expand curb management software and make strategic hires. Populus provides a software-as-a-service platform that pulls telemetry from fleets of shared e-bikes, scooters, mopeds and car-sharing vehicles and delivers that data to cities and regulators. Cities use the Populus API to share rules of the road, preferred parking areas, bike-lane information and other policy data with mapping platforms and third parties. Last year the company added a street manager feature for communicating temporary policies (slow/shared streets, outdoor dining, construction) and a curb management feature that enables cities to set dynamic pricing and manage commercial delivery demand. Populus has contracts with more than 80 cities — including Oakland, San Diego and Tel Aviv — and works with over 25 micromobility operators. The company plans to use new capital to expand to more cities and aims to triple its city footprint over the next 18 months. Populus was founded in 2017 and is based in San Francisco; it has raised nearly $9 million to date. Populus provides a platform that securely ingests and hosts vehicle and trip data from shared-mobility operators and offers tools for cities and operators to analyze usage patterns. The product enables city planners to view where people park and ride scooters and bikes to inform placement of parking areas, bike lanes and curbside management. Populus also offers real-time rideshare data to support curb pricing and management, and it sells the platform on a subscription basis to cities and operators. The company works with jurisdictions including Arlington County, Washington, D.C., and cities in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles regions, and it partnered with Lime to facilitate data sharing from LimePod. Populus launched its core product in September 2018; CEO and co-founder Regina Clewlow and co-founder Fletcher Foti previously worked together on transportation forecasting starting in 2012. Financially, the company has raised a total of $3.85 million to date.