OUR PORTFOLIO
The companies in the FTW Ventures portfolio solve big, systematic problems in Food & Agriculture, and span a variety of technologies that can bring about significant change in our Food System.
FTW Ventures II
Boston Bioprocess is a platform for bringing microbes to industrial scale. The company provides strain evaluation, process development, and scale-up solutions to companies seeking to commercialize yeast, bacteria, and/or fungal microbes.
Founded in 2022, Boston Bioprocess has raised an undisclosed sum from leading VC firms in a pre-seed round.
ALTR is a beverage technology platform transforming the binary nature of drinking, where alcohol becomes simply an ingredient; you choose how much you want: a little, a lot, or none. The team developed a revolutionary nanotechnology that removes alcohol from drinks at a molecular level, leaving both the drink and the social ritual intact—allowing every beverage maker to develop low- and no-alcohol drinks without compromise.
Founded in 2020 ALTR has raised $2.75M to date in a pre-seed round.
Sylvan Health is the leading nutrition navigation platform for health plans and providers, connecting patients with nutrition related chronic conditions to Registered Dietitian led personalized food interventions. Sylvan creates tailored nutrition care plans that cater to each individual's unique needs using evidence-based clinical protocols, dietary recall, and psycho-social screening tools which lead to meaningful and sustained improved clinical outcomes over time.
Founded in 2020, Sylvan created a solution that integrates into the care delivery model and has started to expand its partnerships with large health plans and national providers. They raised their Seed Round in 2023, led by Max Ventures.
FreshFry is a Louisville-based innovator at the forefront of eco-friendly solutions for the global foodservice industry.
Renowned for its commitment to environmental sustainability, the company's patented FreshFry Pod, a plant-based filter, has transformed the culinary landscape by extending cooking oil life by up to 50%. This groundbreaking technology reduces waste and operational costs, making FreshFry a pivotal player in reshaping the practices of restaurants and commercial kitchens worldwide.
Izote Biosciences enables oxygen-free industrial fermentation to revolutionize the production of high-value compounds for the pharmaceuticals, materials and food industries.
The team has engineered microbes to "breathe without air" using an alternative electron acceptor that is ~100,000x more soluble than oxygen. Compared to traditional aerobic fermentation processes, Izote’s method has more predictable scale-up, lower contamination, and longer run-times. Moreover, because they do not require tank aeration or heavy agitation, and are free from the limitations of oxygen transfer, they can use low-cost containers as bioreactors.
Spun out of UC Berkeley in 2022, Izote has raised $2.4M in venture capital to date, including an investment from FTW Ventures in October 2023.
It’s estimated that nearly 1 in 10 people will experience an eating disorder in their lifetime, affecting people of every age, race, size, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and background...yet up to 90% will not get the care they deserve.
Arise exists to change that, connecting people to inclusive, personalized support for disordered eating, eating disorders, and long-term healing.
With their trauma-informed, holistic, and culturally sensitive approach to care, they aim to shatter the stereotype of what eating disorders “look like” and break down barriers and stigma to bring people care that works for them. Through virtual care pathways and ongoing support, Arise is bringing people the right care, right where they are.
Founded by and for people who’ve had their own healing journeys from eating disorders, Arise is empowering effective support for people to heal their body and mind.
Quorum Bio designs next-gen biological fertilizers for sustainable and climate-smart farming. Founded in 2022 by two leading scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Quorum found early supporters in their mission to improve crop and soil health through the AgLaunch national farmer network and as the Activate Fellowship.
Quorum has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round from reputable bio, climate, and Ag tech investors, including FTW.
Earthodic creates bio-based coatings that enable sustainable paper-based packaging on a global scale. Earthodic's lignin-based coatings replace the current petrochemical and plastic coatings on packaging materials, offering similar functionality but with the benefit of being recyclable and compostable.
Founded in 2022 in Australia, Earthodic has raised $5.3M In Pre-Seed and Seed funding, with FTW leading its Seed round.
FTW Ventures I
Geltor is a leading biodesign company that has created the world’s largest selection of designer proteins with unprecedented biocompatabilty, functionality and benefits for consumers.
Founded in 2015, Geltor has raised $116.3M to date. FTW Ventures had invested in an early, Seed round.
Spoiler Alert is a Boston-based supply chain software company that partners with food manufacturers and grocery distributors to better manage excess and distressed inventory. They offer a best-in-class suite of B2B sales management tools that allow suppliers to strengthen their relationship with their customers, bring greater accuracy to their inventory management and keep good food from going to waste.
Founded in 2015, Spoiler Alert continues to grow and raised an $11M Series A in 2021 led by Collaborative Fund, as well as from Acre Partners and Maersk Growth, the investment arm of the global shipping company. FTW Ventures had invested in the initial Seed round.
Plantible Foods is a B2B food technology company developing the most functional and sustainable plant-based protein in the world using industry leading techniques for aqua-farming and extraction.
Founded in 2018, Plantible has been scaling up through a raise a $21.5M Series A in 2021, led by Astanor Ventures, with Lerer Hippeau, FTW Ventures and Kellogg’s investment arm, eighteen94, participating. FTW Ventures invested prior in a Pre-Seed round, and continues to support the team through investments in the Seed & Series A.
Galley builds the leading SaaS platform for progressive food organizations, ghost restaurants and institutional kitchens, enabling them to collect, understand and manage their food costs and make more profitable decisions to manage their kitchens.
Found in 2017, Galley has been growing their customer base and raised a $2.5M Seed round in 2019, led by Zetta Partners, with FTW Ventures participating. FTW Ventures had invested prior, as well, in a Pre-Seed round
Phytoform is pioneering next generation plant breeding technologies to accelerate the discovery and implementation of novel traits for more sustainable crops.
Founded in 2017, by two PhDs from Imperial College London, Phytoform has raised an undisclosed sum from leading VC firms to commercialize their technology.
Nfinite Nanotech is an advance materials company building solutions to eliminate plastic waste. Their systems make sustainable, biodegradable packaging at scale.
Founded in 2021, by three leading engineers and scientists at University of Waterloo, Nfinite Nanotech raised an undisclosed sum of capital from FTW and angel investors. They also have $2M in non-dilutive grant funding to bring their technology from the lab to the $350B worldwide packaging industry.
Yali Bio designs high value fats for sectors like the dairy industry that perform as good if not better than their animal-based counterparts.
The team at Yali created a synthetic biology platform to tailor-make food compositions from renewable feedstocks. And the founders have cultivated their exceptional expertise at places like Impossible Foods, Perfect Day and Solazyme in engineering biology for a wide-range of sustainable foods.
Debut creates advanced, continuous biomanufacturing solutions for production of high-value, small molecules in food & pharmaceuticals, harnessing the power of cell-free technology. The use of immobilized enzymes suspended in cartridges in constantly flowing systems can improve the speed, consistency, quality and volume of products on an unprecedented scale.
Founded in 2019, as a spin-out from UC Irvine, Debut Biotechnology raised a $32M Series B in 2021 led by L’Oreal’s corporate venture fund. FTW Ventures previously invested in 2 early rounds of financing at Seed.