Participated · Series A · Jan 2024

Mediterranean Food Lab operates a foodservice focused on Mediterranean cuisine. The company is in a growth phase and is commercializing its foodservice offering. Factacy Insights reported the raise on LinkedIn and noted the company is scaling up and building a sales team. To support those plans, MFL completed a significant financing event. The articles do not disclose revenue or user metrics. The coverage emphasizes the fundraising and commercialization push rather than operational details.

Led · Series D · Dec 2023

NewLeaf Symbiotics develops products based on pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophs (PPFMs) that are naturally symbiotic with plants. Led by CEO Brent Smith, the company focuses on discovery, development, production and commercialization of microbe-based biostimulants and related technologies. It has filed more than 200 patents and patent applications and has introduced its first biostimulant products in the U.S. for corn and soy. NewLeaf plans a 2024 rollout that includes an EPA‑registered biopesticide technology shown to repel corn rootworm, new biostimulant technologies for peanut and cotton, and continued R&D around rice yield, nitrogen efficiency and methane reduction impact. The company intends to use new funding to accelerate work on PPFM technology and adjacent areas including microbial inoculants, biocontrol, nitrogen use efficiency and methane mitigation. NewLeaf is based in St. Louis, MO. NewLeaf Symbiotics is a venture-funded agricultural biologicals company engaged in discovery, development, production, and commercialization of products containing beneficial plant bacteria, with a focus on methylotrophic bacteria. The company leverages a proprietary biologicals platform and is expanding its Prescriptive Biologics Knowledgebase™ bioinformatics platform. NewLeaf is developing seed treatment and in-furrow products for soybeans, corn, wheat, peanuts, and other crops. It recently completed the second close to complete a $30MM Series C financing, which the company says was oversubscribed. Proceeds will be used to commercialize products and to triple the square footage of its R&D and pilot production facility in St. Louis. The company has a 30+ member team based in BRDG Park at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, MO. NewLeaf Symbiotics is a St. Louis, Missouri–based agricultural bio company focused on commercialization of beneficial plant bacteria. Led by CEO Tom Laurita, the company develops biological products derived from plant-associated bacteria. It acquired Intuitive Genomics, a bioinformatics solutions provider, in 2013. NewLeaf intends to use new funding to accelerate R&D, ramp production from pilot to commercial scale, and bring its first biological products to market. The company expects initial product sales in 2015. Financially, it previously closed a $7m Series A in January 2013. NewLeaf Symbiotics is a development-stage agricultural biotechnology company commercializing a family of beneficial bacteria known as PPFMs (Pink Pigmented Facultative Methylotrophs). PPFMs are described as ubiquitous in nature and, when applied to plants, supply essential nutrients, improve plant health, promote early growth and increase crop yield. The company positions use of these symbiotic microorganisms as a way to reduce reliance on synthetic chemicals and support more profitable, sustainable farming. NewLeaf operates out of the Bio-Research & Development Growth (BRDG) Park at the Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis and was formerly known as TrophoMax LLC. Following its financing, NewLeaf plans to expand field trials across multiple market segments, advance product formulation efforts and expand its portfolio of intellectual property. Investors in the round cited the company’s strong IP and experienced management team in supporting its commercialization strategy.

Led · Series A · Oct 2023

Pow.bio combines continuous-fermentation hardware with AI-controlled software called SOFe to accelerate process optimization and autonomous operation for synthetic-biology manufacturers. The company says its system enables a steady pace of inputs and outputs that is roughly 5x faster while requiring a fraction of traditional capital expenses. Pow.bio positions itself as a rapid-prototyping partner that can shorten development cycles to two or three months versus multi-month, costly iterations. It is already working with multiple clients, bringing in revenue and reporting at least 50% year-over-year growth in demand. The startup will deploy most of its new funding to build a demonstration facility in Alameda, California to move from gram-scale experimentation to production of hundreds of kilograms of finished products. The Alameda demo, slated to open summer 2024, is intended to serve 20–50 partners and be a blueprint for scaling to multiple locations. Pow.bio was founded in 2019 by Ouwei Wang and Shannon Hall. Pow.bio develops a process-based continuous fermentation platform that separates growth and production phases to keep microbes in an ultra-productive, non-growing state for extended runs. The company operates a 30-liter facility and is scaling to 300 liters while projecting roughly eightfold higher productivity at commercial scale using 50 cubic meter reactors for certain ingredients. Pow.bio positions itself as a ‘fermentation as a service’ provider, helping customers validate strains, optimize processes, and produce materials for regulatory and go-to-market testing. It reports it is already generating revenue and is working with about 30 clients but currently lacks capacity to meet inbound demand. The team holds contamination-control IP licensed from UC Berkeley and a growing patent family covering its process innovations and optimization technologies. Future plans include expanding capabilities, moving to a larger facility, pursuing joint ventures and licensing deals, and building larger manufacturing capacity with partners.

Participated · Series C · Jul 2023

Everytable prepares and sells affordable healthy meals such as wraps and salads, with menu prices that vary by each store’s location. It distributes through company stores, branded vending machines and delivery channels. The company tripled its number of stores in 2022 and says it strives for each store to be individually profitable. Management notes that keeping prices affordable can complicate scaling and that stores are only one part of the business’s cost base. Everytable plans to expand its retail footprint and hopes to open 25 stores in the latter half of 2023. Founder and CEO Sam Polk has said he’s seen growing investor interest in mission-driven startups in recent years. Everytable operates a multi-channel fresh-prepared, ready-to-eat food business blending storefronts, subscriptions, and SmartFridges supplied by a central kitchen, with meals priced according to neighborhood. Led by founder and CEO Sam Polk, the company focuses on making nutritious food accessible and affordable. It has expanded beyond greater Los Angeles into Orange County and San Diego County and this spring launched an e-commerce delivery service in the Bay Area with plans to open storefronts there in 2023. Everytable also opened its first three New York locations this spring and has three more stores slated to open by the end of the year. The company recently closed a $55m Series C to fund its growth and channel expansion. Everytable operates a multi-channel fresh-prepared food business combining grab-and-go storefronts, a subscription delivery service and SmartFridges supplied by a central kitchen. The company prices meals according to neighborhood to improve affordability and reach. Everytable partners with institutions and public agencies to serve vulnerable populations and has provided more than 4 million meals to Los Angeles’ most vulnerable, including housebound seniors, homeless individuals and food-insecure college students. It works with partners such as The City of Los Angeles, The Department of Aging, Santa Monica College and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Founded in 2016 and led by CEO Sam Polk, Everytable plans to use new funding to accelerate growth throughout Southern California via new grab-and-go stores, expanded institutional food service partnerships and a larger subscription delivery footprint. The company is mission-driven and focused on scaling access to affordable, fresh-prepared meals through multiple channels.

Participated · Series B · Mar 2023

Agreena provides a digital soil-carbon platform that helps farmers plan, track and validate regenerative agriculture practices and convert on-farm carbon removals into revenue streams. Its platform combines satellite imagery, ground-truth data and machine learning to deliver an AI-based monitoring and verification solution. The company’s certification programme is accredited to ISO 14064-2 and it is undergoing Verra certification. Since a €20M Series A a year ago, Agreena has scaled activities 10X, expanded to farmland across 16 European countries and partnered to transition more than 600,000 hectares to regenerative farming. Agreena is building technological and financial services infrastructure across the agriculture value chain, including a vertically integrated marketplace plus tools such as e-money, smart contracts and sustainable blockchain for traceability and payments. The recent acquisition of remote sensing company Hummingbird Technologies broadened Agreena’s agri-data services for supply chains, governments and other institutions. Agreena operates a vertically integrated platform that issues “CO2e-certificates” to farmers who adopt regenerative agricultural practices, then verifies changes via satellite imagery and soil checks and sells the credits through its marketplace. Farmers register fields, receive transition advice, and can sell certificates independently or via Agreena’s marketplace while buyers track sponsored CO2 reductions at a field level on the platform. The company launched only this summer and was founded by Simon Haldrup, Julie Koch Fahler and Ida Boesen; the team comprises about 30 professionals including carbon scientists and software developers. Agreena says it has contracted more than 50,000 hectares in its first year and pre-sold over 20% of its minted carbon offset certificates. The startup positions itself as vertically integrated versus competitors like Indigo, Nori and Soil Capital and intends to scale across Europe and expand globally. Financially, Agreena recently closed a $4.7 million seed round to support growth and marketplace expansion.