Led · Series A · Jul 2024

Savor uses a thermochemical process to convert point-captured carbon, green hydrogen, and methane into alkanes and then transforms those into fatty acids, which are purified and assembled into short-, medium-, and long-chain triglycerides (SMLCT) for food and cosmetic applications. Its products are chemically identical to conventional fats and include EcoButter, which was named one of TIME’s best inventions and is self-affirmed as GRAS. Savor has commercialized its CO2-derived butter in San Francisco, where it is used at the One65 patisserie and in baked goods at Jane the Bakery. The company is scaling production from only a few tonnes a year toward a target of a couple hundred tonnes with this new funding, and plans a future Series B to finance a 10,000-tonne facility. The firm emphasizes supplying domestically produced, climate-friendly specialty fats to food manufacturers in the US and Europe.

Led · Equity · Oct 2023

Triplebar’s core product is its Hyper‑Throughput™ screening platform, described as a “microprocessor for biology” that integrates hardware, software, biology and biochemistry to miniaturize and accelerate evolution. The platform is used to develop biological systems for low-cost, low-footprint animal proteins, improve performance of animal cell lines for cellular meat, and discover novel therapeutic biologic candidates. Triplebar positions itself as a multi-product, multi-vertical product design engine serving food, nutrition and healthcare verticals, including bioactives, functional food proteins, cultured meat, and novel biologics. The company works with commercial partners and corporate collaborators to scale manufacturing via fermentation and cell-line optimization without genetic modification. Recent partnerships include collaboration with Umami Bioworks on cultivated seafood cell lines and with FrieslandCampina to co-develop scalable nutritional ingredients. Triplebar announced $20M in new funding to expand its product portfolio across food and biopharmaceuticals.

Led · Equity · Dec 2022

Equinom uses its Manna™ technology platform and a large seed vault to breed higher-quality, non-GMO source crops (including pea and soy) optimized for food applications that require minimal processing. Its optimized crops aim to improve taste, nutrition, and reduce cost and complexity for plant-based foods, enabling food companies to deliver tastier and more affordable alternatives to meat and dairy. Equinom plans to commercialize these plant-protein ingredients through established multinational ingredient suppliers and expand seed development and grain production for ultra-high protein soy and pea varieties. The company also intends to invest in R&D and breeding programs for additional crops including chickpea, fava, mung bean, and cowpea, and to add key personnel. Financially, Equinom announced a $35 million tranche of funding and has raised over $71 million in total to date. The company presented this news from Indianapolis. Equinom develops seeds for plant-based proteins using AI-driven technology, a distinct methodology, and a proprietary genomic database to breed improved traits such as protein amount and functionality, flavor, yield, and field performance. The company begins with exotic and ancient crop types and applies non-GMO breeding methods to reverse years of yield-focused breeding that it says reduced ingredient quality. Its sesame seeds are grown on over 100,000 acres across five continents, and Equinom says it has secured 'millions of dollars in contracts' with market-leading food brands for custom-designed ingredients. Improved seeds for pea, soy, and other legumes are slated to debut in October this year. Equinom has collaborated with Sabra, PepsiCo, and Roquette and positions itself as a 'sophisticated ingredient company' targeting food manufacturers seeking lower-cost, cleaner-label plant-based inputs. The company will use new funding to boost sales and marketing and to expand R&D. Equinom is a Kibbutz Givat Brenner, Israel-based seed-breeding company led by CEO Gil Shalev that builds an ecosystem connecting food companies to the supply chain to improve transparency and responsible sourcing of plant protein. The company develops mechanically harvestable seed varieties and has become a preferred supplier for sesame seeds. Equinom plans to launch a high-protein pea variety in 2021. The firm closed a $10M Series B to support its growth. It intends to use the funds to accelerate global expansion and to build talent and infrastructure. The description and plans are focused on supplying high-value plant-protein ingredients to food companies. Equinom develops proprietary software, algorithms and data‑science methods to identify genomic regions controlling complex, multi‑gene crop traits and to select optimal combinations for cross‑breeding. The company deliberately avoids genetic modification and gene editing, positioning its products for a global clean‑label market. Equinom both builds the technology stack and runs breeding programs, selling seed and collecting royalties as a primary revenue stream. Its first commercialized crop is sesame, bred for mechanical harvestability and higher yield; the company targets capturing 5–10% of the $8 billion sesame market. Equinom is now focusing on legumes, starting with peas, aiming to commercialize varieties with 35%–55% higher protein content and improved protein quality by 2021. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Israel; it is building a gene bank/database to improve discovery across species via machine learning. EQUInom is an Israeli seed‑breeding startup that uses computational breeding technology to create seeds for the global food industry. The company applies genomics, bioinformatics, and phenomics in its proprietary breeding platform. It plans to use the new capital to boost its plant‑protein seed breeding program. The $1.25M round was led by Hazera, a field crops and seed production specialist group. EQUInom has signed with Obela, the joint venture of PepsiCo and Strauss Group, to participate in a breeding program using its proprietary technology. Recent market research cited in the article notes the plant‑protein market totaled $7.7 billion last year and could reach $10 billion by 2020, indicating growing demand for protein‑rich crops. The funding round brings the company’s total financing to $2.25M.

Participated · Series C · Apr 2022

Upside Foods, led by CEO Dr. Uma Valeti, is developing a way to grow real meat, poultry and seafood directly from animal cells without raising or slaughtering animals. The company raised $400M in a Series C to support commercialization and scale-up. Upside plans to use the funds to build a commercial production facility with a planned annual capacity of tens of millions of pounds of cultivated meat products and an initial focus on chicken. The facility is being designed to produce any species in both ground and whole-cut formats. Proceeds will also be used to build a supply chain for critical cell feed components to reduce costs and enable greater scale, and to invest in R&D for next-generation cultivated products. Other priorities include enhancing consumer education and continuing to grow its more than 170-person team; pending regulatory review, Upside expects to be available to U.S. consumers later this year. Memphis Meats develops methods to produce meat, poultry and seafood directly from animal cells without breeding or slaughtering animals. Led by co-founder and CEO Uma Valeti, M.D., the company demonstrated a cell-based meatball in February 2016 and a cell-based poultry product in March 2017. It plans to build a pilot production facility, continue growing its team, and launch products into the market. The company completed a $161m Series B and has raised more than $180m in total funding to date. The round also extends Memphis Meats’ coalition into Asia, which the company sees as a strategically valuable market. Memphis Meats develops cell-cultured “clean meat,” having already synthesized beef, chicken and duck in small-scale production. The company is focused on scaling production and lowering cost so meat can be grown at commercial scale. It envisions production facilities that resemble craft breweries where meat is grown, harvested and cooked rather than slaughterhouses. Current operations are small-scale and used for testing and development; the team tests many cell varieties and can produce enough meat to feed a family of four-to-eight for a big meal. Future product work includes targeting flavor profiles and consistencies to make the tastiest meat possible. The company presents the offering as actual meat produced directly from cells rather than plant-based substitutes. Memphis Meats positions the technology as a potential large-scale alternative to conventional animal agriculture. Memphis Meats develops biologically identical meat grown from animal cells in a lab, aiming to produce real meat without industrial animal slaughter. The company cultivates cells in dishes to create ground and, eventually, formed meats such as chicken breast, steak and potentially whole turkey. It positions its products as cruelty-free and more planet-friendly than conventional animal agriculture, citing water use and foodborne-illness concerns with traditional meat. Memphis Meats operates from a Bay Area lab and has produced prototype products (including video of a beef-like product). The company aims to get its “clean meat” products on shelves within the next five years and is working to prepare consumer acceptance. Financially, it has raised a $3 million seed round and is running an Indiegogo campaign that has brought in more than $52,000 from nearly 700 backers.

Led · Equity · Mar 2022

Arkeon develops a one-step fermentation bioprocess that captures carbon dioxide and converts it into the 20 proteinogenic amino acids required for human nutrition. The company uses resilient archaea—without genetic engineering—to transform CO2 into customizable protein ingredients, including amino acids and functional peptides for food and lifestyle products. Its proprietary, patented process is positioned as a sustainable and regenerative approach to producing nutritious protein. Arkeon intends to scale and support this innovative bioprocess with newly raised capital. The company was co-founded by Dr. Simon Rittmann, Dr. Guenther Bochmann, and Dr. Gregor Tegl and is based in Vienna, Austria. Arkeon Biotechnologies is a Vienna-based foodtech startup that uses gas fermentation with archaea to convert CO2 directly into food ingredients. Its proprietary technology produces all 20 amino acids for the human diet in a single production step. The process is independent of agricultural land and can be applied without geographical constraints, offering a pathway to food production without traditional crop dependencies. Arkeon says its products are carbon-negative because more CO2 is consumed than produced, and the ingredients are 100% vegan and GMO-free. Target applications include clean-label ingredients for plant-based foods, nutrition products, beverages, and cultivated meat cell-culture media. The company was founded with support from the Berlin-based company builder EVIG and is led by Co-Founder and Managing Director Dr. Gregor Tegl.