Elo Life Systems, a Durham, NC-based food and ingredient company providing a molecular farming platform, raised $20.5M in Series A2 funding.
The round, which brought the total amount to $45M, was led by DCVC Bio and Novo Holdings with participation from Hanwha Next Generation Opportunity Fund, AccelR8, and Alexandria Venture Investments.
The company intends to use the funds to expand its pipeline of ingredients, and efforts to protect bananas and other staple crops from disease and climate change.
Led by CEO Todd Rands, Elo leverages a molecular farming platform to produce sought-after ingredients that are difficult to harvest from natural sources and cannot be synthesized through artificial or other techniques. The company uses crops as biofactories for these ingredients, enabling local, commercial-scale production while reducing their cost and environmental footprint.
Elo’s first molecular-farming product is the “holy grail” of sweeteners – a natural, monk-fruit derived sweetener that is sweeter than sugar without calories. Launching in 2026, it can be used in thousands of food and beverage products to reduce sugar and artificial sweeteners while enhancing nutrition. The company is also exploring the production of other ingredients, including novel proteins, natural preservatives, and high-value flavors and bio-actives.
FinSMEs
25/01/2024