• Phospholutions

  Participated · Series A · Jan 2021

  Phospholutions develops RhizoSorb, a product positioned to make phosphorus fertilizer use more effective so growers can apply less product for superior yields. The deck emphasizes sustainability benefits and reduced environmental impacts from inefficient phosphorus use. It acknowledges RhizoSorb is pricier than alternatives but argues efficacy and lower usage offset cost. The public materials show detailed efficacy data and go-to-market content, while several commercial and financial slides are heavily redacted. The company has been operating for about seven years and the pitch indicates ongoing commercialization. According to TechCrunch, the company recently closed a roughly $10M raise, bringing total capital raised to $32M. Phospholutions develops RhizoSorb, an additive that can be applied with phosphate or added during fertilizer manufacturing to improve phosphorus uptake by plants. The company says RhizoSorb can allow farmers to cut phosphorus fertilizer applications by about 50% without compromising yields. RhizoSorb has been tested on corn, soybean, wheat, barley, sunflower, chickpea, rice and turfgrass, with an initial focus on large row crops like corn. Phospholutions expanded field trials with digital ag company IN10T to 14 US states and plans further expansion to as many as 130 additional US corn fields in 2022, plus trials in New Zealand, Canada, Turkey, India, Brazil and parts of Africa. Financially, the company tripled in size last year after a $10.3 million Series A led by Continental Grain Company’s CGC Ventures and has recently completed a convertible-note financing to commercialize RhizoSorb in the US row-crop market. Phospholutions' core product, RhizoSorb, is a soil amendment or fertilizer additive that improves delivery of phosphorus and other nutrients and can be applied with phosphate or added during phosphate fertilizer manufacturing. The company reports "dramatic declines" of up to 75% in fertilizer use rates when RhizoSorb is applied. Phospholutions began by targeting turf and ornamental markets and is shifting toward row crops such as corn and soybeans. It will use the Series A funding to support general growth by building a farmer network, establishing partnerships, and running large-scale field trials to collect grower feedback. Management said the company expects to more than double its team this year. The startup sees two go-to-market paths—selling through retailers and distributors for blending, or targeting phosphate producers to incorporate RhizoSorb during production—and notes typical agricultural adoption and regulatory challenges. Phospholutions develops RhizoSorb, a patented soil‑enhancement product designed to reduce phosphorus runoff and improve plant health. The technology was originally created in Penn State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences. RhizoSorb aims to decrease the amount of water and fertilizer needed for plant growth while mitigating environmental impacts of phosphorus fertilizer. The company is led by CEO and Penn State alumnus Hunter Swisher. Phospholutions intends to use the new funds for the full commercial launch of RhizoSorb. The financing positions the company to move from development toward broader market deployment.

• SafeTraces

  Participated · Series A · Oct 2017

  SafeTraces provides on-food safety solutions that enable producers, processors, and consumers to trace food rather than just packaging. Its SafeTracers™ are invisible, edible, flavorless digital DNA barcodes applied directly on or with food and readable in minutes. The company says its food-grade DNA technology is FDA approved and can be coupled with a blockchain or centralized code registry to create an immutable link to the physical product. SafeTracers™ are designed to protect products against adulteration, fraud, and intentional substitution. SafeTraces was founded in 2015 by Anthony Zografos and is based in Pleasanton, California. The company closed a $10M equity financing and plans to use proceeds to scale deployment of its platform, sales, and marketing. SafeTraces is a San Francisco Bay Area company that provides food source-assurance solutions. Led by founder and CEO Anthony Zografos, the company offers SafeTracers and SaniTracers, both based on seaweed DNA tags. SafeTracers are invisible, edible, tasteless FDA-approved barcodes applied directly to food to deliver complete source information in minutes. SaniTracers are food-safe DNA-based tags that behave like pathogens during produce sanitation and facility sanitization. The technology is patent-protected with four issued U.S. patents, two pending U.S. applications, and two international PCT applications. SafeTraces has signed several large national and global commercial and pilot customers and plans to use new funding to expand sales and accelerate product development. SafeTraces is a Pleasanton, CA-based developer of food safety solutions that applies invisible, edible, tasteless DNA barcodes called SafeTracers directly to food. SafeTracers are applied to produce to enable tracing back to origin, verify the purity of olive oil, ensure raw materials are sustainably sourced, and improve the safety of leafy greens and other fresh produce. The company is engaged with several national and global pilot customers who are actively using SafeTracers in production. The technology is patent-protected with four issued US patents, two pending US patent applications, and two pending international patent applications. SafeTraces raised $1.5M in seed funding and intends to use the proceeds to accelerate product development, sales, and marketing. It plans to go to market with its first food safety solution by the end of 2016 and is led by founder and CEO Anthony Zografos.

• Agrible

  Led · Series B · Sep 2017

  Agrible offers a suite of decision‑support tools for farmers anchored by its Morning Farm Report dashboard, which delivers field‑level data such as localized weather forecasts, energy use, soil loss, water quality and nitrogen use. The company also provides add‑on services like SpraySmart for spray timing and drift risk, tractor time monitoring, and planting/harvest recommendations. Agrible integrates third‑party data sources including MyJohnDeere, DriftWatch, AnswerTech, AstroDigital, and CropCopter and plans to expand those integrations. It sells both to growers (tools and data) and to food brands for sustainability tracking and reporting, working with customers such as General Mills and partnering with Field‑to‑Market for benchmarking. The company emphasizes data transparency and was an early recipient of the Ag Data Transparency seal. Agrible will use the new funding to increase integrations and scale its sustainability offering as part of its mission to prove and improve a sustainable supply chain. Agrible develops predictive-analytics tools and delivers them via its Morning Farm Report platform, which launched in February 2015. The company offers four products—Rainfall, Field Intel, Tractor Time, and Yield Engine—through annual subscriptions. Its tools provide forecasts and data on fieldwork logistics, yield estimates, rainfall, growing degree days, and actionable recommendations. Agrible’s offerings report historical field events and give growers forward-looking forecasts to help increase yields. Led by CEO Chris Harbourt and based in Champaign, IL, the company plans to use new funding to expand its team and improve Morning Farm Report. The article does not disclose revenue or user metrics.

• 3Bar Biologics

  Participated · Seed · Aug 2017

  3Bar Biologics is a Columbus, OH–based company that provides a delivery system for beneficial, naturally occurring microbes to improve crop quantity and quality. Its first commercially available product, Bio-YIELD®, is a patented delivery system that leverages living microorganisms to stimulate a plant’s defense. The company says Bio-YIELD® optimizes the chances for greater yield across a broad range of growing conditions. Led by CEO Bruce Caldwell, 3Bar targets farmers seeking to boost crop performance through biological solutions. The company intends to use the newly raised funds to broaden availability of its offering.

• Terramera

  Participated · Equity · May 2016

  Terramera provides agricultural solutions aimed at reducing synthetic pesticides, increasing crop resiliency, predictability and quality, and supporting regenerative agronomy while measuring soil carbon. The company is advancing enrichSoil, a real-time soil analysis solution the article says delivers results with 99% accuracy and helps optimize fertilizer use. Once commercialized, enrichSoil is described as enabling farmers and agronomists to self-test nutrient levels including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and carbon (C); its software optimizes sampling and supports variable-rate fertilizer application, with digital maps showing results across fields and over time. The company has launched an alpha product for EnrichAg through a strategic partnership with a large regenerative-agriculture network and is calibrating and iterating a beta product. An initial limited commercial launch is set for 2023 with further rollout and development planned throughout the year. The article identifies Karn Manhas as Founder & CEO and lists the company location as Vancouver, Canada. Terramera develops crop-protection products and a proprietary delivery mechanism called Actigate to boost the performance of biological and “natural” crop inputs. The company says Actigate can increase the efficacy of active ingredients such as bio-pesticides by up to 10x, making non-synthetic inputs more viable compared with synthetic chemicals. Terramera is positioning its technology to improve farm productivity, soil health and potential carbon sequestration. The latest capital raise will be used to advance and scale Actigate. The company frames its mission around transforming commercial agriculture and reducing reliance on chemical inputs. The articles describe the business and product focus but do not provide revenue or user metrics. Terramera's core product is Actigate™, a Targeted Performance technology that improves the performance of active ingredients used in crop protection, reducing the amount required. Actigate enhances both natural and conventional active ingredients, making organic biopesticides more effective and enabling reinvention of conventional inputs. The company says the technology lowers costs, improves farm productivity and profitability, reduces waste and minimizes environmental impact. Terramera aims to reduce global synthetic chemical loads in agriculture by 80% and increase global farm productivity by 20% by 2030. The privately held company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with integrated operations including a research lab, greenhouse and farm and an IP portfolio of more than 185 patents. It recently closed a Series B to scale the technology and accelerate its stated 2030 goals. Terramera develops technology-driven natural alternatives to conventional synthetic pesticides and fertilizers for farmers and consumers. The company uses science and R&D to commercialize plant-based products intended to increase agricultural yields while cutting synthetic chemical use. Terramera aims to increase global agriculture yields by 20% and reduce synthetic chemical load by 80% by 2028. The firm was named to the Global Cleantech 100 list for a second year and addresses an approximately USD $78-billion market for alternatives to conventional pesticides and fertilizers. Terramera plans to deploy financing to expand facilities, equipment, staffing and accelerate commercialization of its technologies. Karn Manhas is the company's Founder and CEO. Terramera applies a molecular delivery platform called Inspirium to existing bioactive materials to improve their performance. The Inspirium technology coats bioactives and ‘‘shuttles’’ them into pest cells, which the company says can increase efficacy three- to five-fold while improving stability and shelf-life. Terramera does not manufacture proprietary biopesticides; instead it combines its delivery technology with existing bioactives and will sell the combined products. Agricultural products are expected to be at least a year away from commercial shelves, but the company already sells a consumer bed‑bug product through Home Depot, which provides early revenue. The company holds EPA registrations and its team draws from agriculture and pharmaceutical backgrounds, with the technology influenced by drug-delivery techniques. Recent financing will support commercialization and go-to-market efforts, including partnerships with S2G portfolio companies.

No current team members are available.