Participated · Equity · Nov 2024

TRACT provides a software platform that visualises end-to-end supply chains, connects supplier data, and delivers clear sustainability metrics across multiple commodity categories such as cocoa, coffee, corn and cotton. Originally created in collaboration with Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company and Olam Food Ingredients, the company now serves many of the world’s largest CPG brands and commodity traders, enabling them to map sourcing portfolios, monitor deforestation risk and track emissions. By turning complex agrifood data into actionable insights, TRACT supports sourcing leaders who face increasing regulatory and stakeholder pressure. The platform’s core value lies in integrating disparate data systems to reveal sourcing risks and resilience gaps. With its newly secured capital, TRACT plans to accelerate global expansion, deepen data-system integrations and onboard additional enterprise clients. Although specific revenue or user figures were not disclosed, the business is positioned for rapid growth as sustainability reporting requirements tighten worldwide.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2023

EarthOptics leverages advances in soil-sensing technologies, genomics, and data science to deliver predictive insights into chemical, physical, and biological soil properties. It combines lab-based analysis with field-based sensors to give farmers and ranchers actionable recommendations to optimize spending and unlock sustainable farming opportunities. The company completed a strategic merger with Pattern Ag, combining EarthOptics’ proprietary field-based sensing technologies with Pattern Ag’s lab-based analysis to offer comprehensive soil data. Led by CEO Lars Dyrud, EarthOptics operates offices in Raleigh, North Carolina; Emeryville, California; Arlington and Blacksburg, Virginia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Fayetteville, Arkansas, and maintains two laboratories in Emeryville and Memphis, Tennessee. The company intends to use new funding to accelerate technological innovation, broaden its geographic reach, and consolidate its position as an authoritative source for soil insights. EarthOptics develops next-generation soil-sensing technologies that combine ground-based sensors, satellites, physical soil samples, machine learning models, and agronomic expertise to deliver detailed soil measurements. The company's platform provides insights to help farmers optimize fertilizer applications, inform tillage decisions, and quantify carbon sequestration. EarthOptics plans to use its latest funding to expand access to its tools and deliver hyper-accurate soil insights. Founded in 2018 and based in Arlington, VA, the company serves growers and ranchers seeking data-driven land-management decisions. The company is led by CEO Lars Dyrud. The article reports a recent financing that will support its growth and product expansion efforts. EarthOptics has developed an imaging suite that uses ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic induction to produce deep maps of soil physical and chemical composition. Its commercial products, GroundOwl and C-Mapper (C for carbon), reconcile no-contact sensor data with traditional lab samples via machine learning trained on tens of thousands of ground-truth measurements. The hardware can be mounted on ordinary tractors or trucks and pulls readings every few feet, reducing physical sampling from hundreds of samples to dozens. The company’s outputs can be used to create meter-scale treatment maps or to feed variable-depth robotic field machinery such as smart tillers. Management positions the product as a cheaper, faster, and more precise alternative to traditional soil sampling and as foundational data for automated and robotic farming. Financially, EarthOptics raised a $10.3M A round to scale its two existing products and to develop a moisture-mapping product.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2022

Aquaconnect operates a full-stack aquaculture platform combining farm advisory, access to feed and other inputs, marketplace commerce, streamlined logistics, and formal credit to retail partners and seafood buyers. The company has pioneered use of AI and satellite remote sensing to bring transparency and efficiency to the aquaculture value chain and enables market linkage to domestic and international buyers. Aquaconnect reported 4x revenue growth in the last fiscal year. It has recently expanded its footprint into West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam. Using the new funding, the company plans to double its Aqua Partner network, strengthen post-harvest linkage solutions, and expand its product portfolio with farmer-focused innovations and formal credit services. These moves are intended to deepen impact within farming communities and scale its phygital approach across major aquaculture production states. Aquaconnect is a full-stack aquaculture input and outputs platform that serves fish and shrimp smallholder farmers across India. Its mobile app provides advisory services, water-quality and aquatic-health management, embedded fintech to connect farmers with formal banks, a marketplace for inputs, and an “Aquabazaar” that matches farmers with buyers. The company uses AI and satellite remote sensing and operates a phygital distribution network to increase productivity and improve market linkages, predictability, and transparency in the aquaculture value chain. Aquaconnect works with over 60,000 farmers and has scaled across six major aquaculture-producing states, including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu. Founded in 2017, the company will use its new capital to expand its product portfolio for both pre-harvest and post-harvest services. Its current financing position includes a $15.0M Series A led by Lok Capital, alongside strategic and debt investors. Aquaconnect is a Chennai-based aquaculture startup that digitalizes the seafood production value chain for smallholder fish and shrimp farmers. Its mobile app provides tech-based tools, expert advisory, predictive pond-management software, and access to financial products. Through its Aquastore marketplace farmers can buy inputs, arrange delivery, work with financial services and certification bodies, and sell traceable produce to global buyers. The company also operates physical touchpoints called AquaHUBs for face-to-face support. Aquaconnect says it works with more than 30,000 producers across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu. Founded in 2017, the startup aims to scale its fintech offering and increase the volume of seafood exports it handles following a recent fundraise. Aquaconnect operates an AI-enabled platform (including the FarmMOJO mobile app) that combines predictive SaaS tools with a network and omnichannel marketplace for shrimp and fish farmers. The platform links farmers to certification bodies, banks, insurers and other parts of the export ecosystem such as feed producers, labs, equipment manufacturers, hatcheries, processors and exporters. FarmMOJO uses AI and predictive analytics to help farmers increase revenues, reduce costs and manage disease risk. The company currently serves roughly 3,000 farmers across India and Indonesia and targets rapid expansion in South and Southeast Asia. With the new funding Aquaconnect plans team expansion, deep tech improvements to its app, launch of new SaaS tools and increased marketplace fulfillment and monetization. Founded in 2017 and based in Chennai, the startup focuses on India’s $7.1 billion aquaculture sector and aims to reach 15,000 farmers by December 2020.

Participated · Series C · Jul 2021

Comet Bio is a food-technology company based in London, Ontario and Schaumburg, Illinois that uses patented upcycling technology to make sustainable ingredients. Its flagship Arrabina Arabinoxylan Plant Fiber Extract is a premium prebiotic dietary fiber clinically proven to promote growth of beneficial gut bacteria, help maintain healthy blood glucose levels, and support immunity. The company also offers Sweeterra syrups, positioned as sustainable, lower-sugar alternatives to traditional sweeteners with no trade-offs in taste and performance. Led by CEO Rich Troyer, Comet Bio raised $22M in a Series C funding round. The company said it will use the proceeds to meet market demand for its ingredients. The financing is intended to help scale production and commercial availability of its ingredient portfolio. Comet Bio is a manufacturer of sustainable ingredients for use in supplements, foods, and beverages. Its two flagship products are Sweeterra™ syrup blends and Arabinoxylan dietary fiber, both made from crop leaves and stalks leftover after harvest. Arabinoxylan Plant Fiber Extract is a prebiotic dietary fiber that supports gut health and a healthy metabolism. Sweeterra syrups are functionally equivalent to traditional sweeteners while being more sustainable, lower in calories and sugar, and higher in fiber. The company intends to deepen partnerships with food and beverage customers, launch supplement and health food products, complete additional clinical trials, and expand its supply chain to meet increasing customer demand. Comet Bio is led by CEO Rich Troyer and is based in London, Ontario and Schaumburg, Illinois. Comet Biorefining has developed a proprietary process to convert wood, wheat straw, bagasse, corn stover and similar agricultural wastes into high‑purity glucose syrup. The company has proven the technology at a 5 dry tons per day demonstration scale and is positioned to scale commercially. It plans its first commercial demonstration facility at 100 dry tons of glucose syrup per day capacity. Led by Dr. Andrew Richard, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Comet is actively developing upstream and downstream commercial partnerships. The company intends to use new funding to complete the commercial facility design, expand the team and continue developing commercial partnerships. Comet is based in London, Ontario, Canada.

Participated · Series B · Jun 2021

Motif FoodWorks is a Boston-based food technology company led by CEO Jonathan McIntyre that aims to make plant-based foods taste better and be more nutritious. Originally spun out of Ginkgo Bioworks in 2019, the company develops ingredients and technologies for plant-based cheese and meat applications. It has secured licensing partnerships with the University of Guelph and Coasun Inc. for technologies that create melting and stretching characteristics in plant-based cheeses, and for fat alternatives that marbleize plant-based meats. The company recently opened a 10,600 sq. ft. office and lab in Boston's Seaport neighborhood. Motif raised $226M in a Series B to expand research and development, scale and commercialize its technologies, and grow its people and facilities footprint. The funding is intended to accelerate commercialization of its product portfolio and support expansion efforts. Motif Ingredients, now operating as Motif FoodWorks, is an ingredients innovation company focused on discovering ingredients that improve human health and animal welfare while reducing the environmental impact of animal agriculture. The company is based in Boston, MA. It announced $27.5M in funding and a rebrand to Motif FoodWorks. With the new funding, Motif plans to add to and accelerate its product pipeline, expand academic collaborations across molecular food science disciplines, scale its science and regulatory staff, and deepen its research and development efforts. The company recently added three senior management hires: Janet Collins as Head of Regulatory, Government and Industry Affairs; Julie Post-Smith as Director of Business Development; and Morgan Keim as Business Development Manager. Jon McIntyre serves as CEO. Motif Ingredients is a Ginkgo Bioworks spinoff focused on developing proteins via biotechnology and fermentation to serve as meat and dairy replacements. The company aims to produce affordable, sustainable ingredients for food and beverage brands, chefs, and consumers. Ginkgo will retain a minority stake and provide engineering, design, and initial R&D support on roughly six to nine product lines. Motif will pay Ginkgo cost plus a slight overhead for ingredients and manufacturing services. Jonathan McIntyre, a longtime food-and-beverage R&D veteran, is leading the company. Motif began forming around February–March 2018 and plans to bring its first products to market within the next two years. The company has raised financing to accelerate development and commercialization.