Agriculture

Two Blades Foundation

Brief Description

2Blades was established as a 501(c)3 charitable organization to implement practical uses of important innovations in plant science that address the rising incidence of crop disease. Working together with world leading scientists in plant-pathogen interactions, 2Blades has scouted and supported the most significant advances in the understanding of plant disease and immunity, as well as enabling technologies to develop disease resistant crops.

Remarkable advances have been realized in plant science over the past twenty years, including genome sequencing,...

ZestBio

Brief Description A biotechnology company harnessing synthetic biology to convert the low value, abundant fruit and vegetable byproducts like citrus peels and sugar beet pulp into useful products such as household cleaning ingredients, bio-based plastics, vitamins, and other specialty chemicals, thereby enabling customers to receive renewable, eco-friendly products at a reasonable cost. Inventors

John Dueber, Ryan Joseph Protzko

Company Founders

John Dueber, Luke Latimer (UC Berkeley, Ph.D., Doctor of Philosophy, 2017, Chemistry), Ryan Protzko (UC Berkeley, Ph.D.,...

Varada Agriculture

Brief Description

Varada Agriculture is transforming pest management to reduce crop loss with proprietary RNA interference (RNAi) technology. The company's biodegradable products are safer for workers and consumers, while also minimizing residue impact on the environment. The company's RNAi technology uses inhibitory RNA molecules uniquely designed to work on a target organism without impacting beneficial organisms in nature. This method follows the Integrated Pest Management Plan principles, which recommend highly targeted pest control.

Founder and CEO Jyoti Taneja was a postdoc...

Totality Biosciences

Brief Description

Totality Biosciences is producing plant-based human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), a high-value bioactive found in human breast milk. The breast milk substitute promises to improve nutrition in infant formula. The company also intends to supply complex HMOs for research and development of therapeutics.

Inventors

Patrick Shih, Collin Robert E. Barnum

Company Founders

Patrick Shih

Timeline

2025. Company founded

Tilden Bio

Brief Description

Development of photosynthetic bioproducts including natural plant essential oils, cannabinoids, and biopharmaceutical proteins. The technology has been applied to enhance yields of high-value photosynthetic bioproducts in the UC Berkeley Melis Laboratory.

Formerly known as Tabletop Energy.

Inventors

Nico Betterle, Fiona Davies, Cinzia Formighieri, Diego Hidalgo Martinez, Henning Kirst, Andrew Saphire, Hsu Ching Wintz, Andreas Zurbriggen, Anastasios Melis

Company Founders

Jerry Riessen

Timeline 2019. Company incorporated

Prolific Machines

Brief Description

Prolific Machines specializes in cell production with a unique manufacturing approach that combats climate change, enables space-food, and makes cell therapy accessible to everyone. The company's photomolecular biology platform leverages safe and effective tools — light, bioengineering, hardware, and AI — for dynamic control over virtually any cell function in any cell type. With the technology, partners can more efficiently biomanufacture nutritional proteins, antibodies to treat diseases, cultivated meat, and more.

Inventors

Ruoxing Lei, Thomas Patrick McClave,...

Peregrine Biotechnology

Brief Description

Production of foie gras without force feeding.

Inventors

Jacob Corn, Benjamin Gowen

Company Founders

Benjamin Gowen

Timeline 2017. Company founded

Namuh

Brief Description Namuh is on a mission to close the nutritional gap between infant formula and human milk. The company provides parents with infant nutrition closest to breast milk at the molecular level, using only clean and thoughtfully-sourced human milk ingredients so parents can nourish their babies with confidence. This is made possible by NAMUH’s proprietary yeast-based technology to create human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), the critical missing ingredient, structurally identical to those found in breast milk. Powered by the clean HMOs and partnerships with premium protein/lipid...

Mendel Biological Solutions

Brief Description

Mendel Biological Solutions creates new technologies to satisfy the evolving needs of the agricultural industry. The biological research and development team is focused on biological crop solutions that increase crop yield through naturally-derived products. Mendel Biological Solutions is committed to providing the innovations that will help sustain crops around the world.

Mendel Biological Solutions was acquired by Koch Agronomic Services in 2014.

Inventors

Karen Century, Douglas Dahlbeck, Peter Repetti, Allan Shapiro, Brian Staskawicz

Timeline ...

Fixation Bio

Brief Description

Fixation Bio is on a mission to shape the future of agriculture by optimizing photosynthesis to improve plants’ ability to assimilate CO2 and adapt to future atmospheric conditions.

Inventors

David Frank Savage, Noam Prywes, Abraham Isser Flamholz

Company Founders

Noam Prywes (UC Berkeley postdoc), Jake Wintermute

Timeline 2025. Company founded