The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Feb 2025

Edacious operates a next‑generation food lab and a science‑based software platform that measure and map nutrient density across whole foods and ingredients. The company assays more than 200 compounds essential to human health to reveal how genetics, soil health, and management practices drive nutritional differences. Edacious reports that nutrient levels can vary up to 10x within groups of similar foods (for example, apples) and says its tools measure and map nutrient density 10 times faster and cheaper than incumbent approaches. Its lab replaces incomplete and costly testing with a streamlined, affordable analysis of vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, while the platform enables users to compare, benchmark, and share nutrition data. The company positions its insights for producers, CPG brands, genetics companies, ingredient manufacturers, retailers, and policymakers to enable product differentiation and more informed choices across the food system.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2024

Natcap offers a nature-tech platform that brings together science, data and technology to quantify and embed nature-related risks and opportunities into business decision-making. The company is focused on scaling delivery of high-quality nature data to organisations in scope for the EU's CSRD, Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, and those reporting under TNFD recommendations. Natcap has worked with 20+ organisations, including collaboration with Tesco’s Nature Programme and a partnership with MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings. The company was founded in 2018 by Professor Baroness Kathy Willis at the University of Oxford and is on a mission to embed nature intelligence into business strategy. Natcap was recently selected as one of four UK tech companies to receive UK-APAC Tech Growth Programme support for expansion into the Japanese market. It has secured $10 million in an oversubscribed Series A to accelerate growth and scale its product.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2022

Mad Capital is a specialty finance company based in Boulder, CO, led by Phil Taylor and Brandon Welch, that provides customized, one-stop credit to regenerative organic and transitioning farmers. The company offers operating, equipment, and infrastructure loans, as well as mortgages, working capital, and transitional loans. Mad Capital manages pools of capital that offer farmers flexible and customized financing to help them grow during the organic transition period. Its inaugural Perennial Fund combines debt funds with traditional financing to create capital stacks for farmers accelerating their transition. The company intends to use new funds to ramp up operations, expand its farmer ecosystem, and transition more acres into regenerative organic farmland. The recent $4M seed raise will support those plans and expand lending capacity.