Led · 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.

Led · Seed · Mar 2023

Rubi Labs leverages CO2 as a natural resource to produce carbon-negative materials through a cell-free enzyme flow biocatalysis platform. The company turns carbon emissions into natural carbon-negative textiles, with its first application aimed at the fashion industry. Co-founded by Neeka and Leila Mashouf, Rubi Labs is producing carbon-negative textiles as a commercial use case. The startup intends to use new funding to expand operations and accelerate development efforts. Financially, Rubi Labs raised an $8.7M seed round and has now raised a total of $13.5M.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2023

Rubi uses a patent-pending, cell-free biocatalysis process powered by enzymes to capture and convert CO2 from manufacturing waste streams into cellulose, which is processed into lyocell yarn for clothing. The company has launched strategic pilot partnerships with global brands including Reformation, GANNI, H&M, Nuuly, and Patagonia to commercialize its process in the fashion supply chain. Rubi says 100% of CO2 inputted to the end product is done with zero waste and intends to scale production to deliver limited planet-positive apparel collections. The team has grown rapidly (200% in the last six months) and recently hired a cellulose engineer from Aalto University’s lab; Rubi also cites scientific talent and ongoing innovation efforts. Financially, Rubi has $13.5 million in total funding to date, including an $8.7 million Series Seed and prior Pre-Seed and grant support. The company has received a $250,000 National Science Foundation grant, won the H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award, and was included in Fashion For Good’s Global Innovation Programme and Forbes 30 Under 30 for manufacturing and industry.

Led · Series A · Jan 2020

Tyton BioSciences develops proprietary technology to recycle fashion manufacturing waste and end-of-life textiles back into the economy. Its solution recovers raw materials, including cotton pulp and polyester, from discarded clothing and textile waste to create new fabrics that otherwise come from oil, trees, and cotton. The company is focused on scaling the solution and accelerating entry into the market. Tyton expanded its leadership team as part of its growth strategy, adding Dr. Julie Willoughby (PhD Chemical Engineering) as Chief Scientific Officer. Peter Majeranowski serves as CEO. The business is based in Danville, Virginia.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2018

NuMat Technologies is an advanced-technology company that designs and integrates metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) into next-generation storage, separation and purification systems. The firm uses high-performance computing alongside chemistry and hardware development to program MOFs to interact with target molecules and create custom solutions. NuMat serves markets including semiconductor gas storage, resource recovery, pharmaceuticals, medical and energy sectors, and open-loop recycling. The company pairs material-discovery software with application development and manufacturing expertise as a total solutions platform. Recent operational milestones include an ISO9001 production line in Skokie, Illinois and an ION-X gas fill plant in Sihwa, South Korea built with partner Versum. NuMat will use new capital to expand high-throughput computational and experimentation capabilities and to increase manufacturing footprint to meet customer demand in the United States, Europe and East Asia. NuMat Technologies commercializes nanoporous materials—Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs)—to improve gas storage and separations. Its MOFs have extremely high surface area and can store gases at much lower pressures, for example storing methane at approximately one-fifth the pressure of existing compressed natural gas solutions. The company uses a proprietary computational approach and patent-protected chemical processes to rapidly design and synthesize novel structures. NuMat aims to address the compression obstacle for gas storage and transportation applications and move toward commercialization of its materials. The company recently moved into a new research facility at the Illinois Science and Technology Park in Skokie, Illinois, and named a Board of Directors that includes founders Ben Hernandez and Dr. Omar Farha. NuMat closed a $2.0 million seed round and has raised $2.4 million to date to fund development and commercialization efforts.