Top 50 Agriculture (agtech) Startup Investors in United States in April 2025

Investor	Agriculture (agtech) United States investments
Innova Memphis	38
Innova Memphis	37
SOSV	36
SVG Ventures	29
SVG Ventures	28
SVG Ventures	25
The Yield Lab	24
The Yield Lab	24
AgFunder	21
AgFunder	20
Cavallo Ventures	19
S2G Investments	18
Cavallo Ventures	18
S2G Ventures	17
Ag Startup Engine	15
Ag Startup Engine	15
Cultivian Sandbox Ventures	14
iSelect Fund	14
Invest Nebraska	14
Ag Ventures Alliance	14
Cultivian Sandbox Ventures	14
Leaps by Bayer	14
Leaps by Bayer	13
Ag Ventures Alliance	13
Invest Nebraska	13
iSelect Fund	13
Trailhead Capital	12
Fall Line Capital	12
Grantham Foundation	12
Grantham Foundation	12
Bread and Butter Ventures	11
Bread and Butter Ventures	11
Fall Line Capital	11
Neglected Climate Opportunities	10
Acre Venture Partners	10
Neglected Climate Opportunities	10
Trailhead Capital	10
Congruent Ventures	9
St. Louis Arch Angels	9
Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV)	9
Congruent Ventures	9
Pillar VC	9
Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV)	9
Radicle Growth	9
Grantham Foundation	9
Pillar VC	9
Ponderosa Ventures	9
Radicle Growth	9
Khosla Ventures	9
New Enterprise Associates	9

Founded in 2007 by the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, Innova is a pre-seed, seed and early-stage investor focused on starting and funding high-growth companies in the Biosciences, Technology and AgBio fields across the state of Tennessee. Innova links capital with great ideas to create groundbreaking products and services.At Innova we invest instart-up companies, help them grow, and then assist them in linking with established corporations for licensing, buy-outs or further investments. We provide the synergy of experienced management, market expertise and venture capital to accelerate the development of new products and services into viable business units that can stand on their own and then take their place with a mature market leader, if desired.Whether an innovation is still on the drawing board or stalled in the market place the Innova staff has the expertise, skills, and experience to envision and create a functioning business unit that is prepared to thrive in the market place. Technical know-how, market-proven staffing, and "just-right" funding assure the greatest chance possible for success.

Investment focus

Health Care, Medical, Medical Device
Seed, Pre-Seed, Convertible Note
United States, Argentina, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Rantizo — Fly more acres, deliver better service. The equipment, tools, and expertise you need to be the grower's first call for drone spray services.
HerdDogg — HerdDogg is passionate about livestock. Its innovative data platform sits at the intersection of agtech, the internet of things, and global food security. Our patented DoggTags and DoggBone, together with our Animal Traceability Platform, help producers make more money from every animal they raise. The HerdDogg system enables animal tracking,welfare monitoring and traceability in an easy-to-use application. For more information, visit herddogg.com.
iYOTAH Solutions — Take your dairy operation to the next level. Our state of the art platform helps you save time, increase efficiencies and profits and unlock new opportunities.

Founded in 2007 by the Memphis Bioworks Foundation, Innova is a pre-seed, seed and early-stage investor focused on starting and funding high-growth companies in the Biosciences, Technology and AgBio fields across the state of Tennessee. Innova links capital with great ideas to create groundbreaking products and services.At Innova we invest instart-up companies, help them grow, and then assist them in linking with established corporations for licensing, buy-outs or further investments. We provide the synergy of experienced management, market expertise and venture capital to accelerate the development of new products and services into viable business units that can stand on their own and then take their place with a mature market leader, if desired.Whether an innovation is still on the drawing board or stalled in the market place the Innova staff has the expertise, skills, and experience to envision and create a functioning business unit that is prepared to thrive in the market place. Technical know-how, market-proven staffing, and "just-right" funding assure the greatest chance possible for success.

Investment focus

Health Care, Medical, Medical Device
Seed, Pre-Seed, Convertible Note
United States, Argentina, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Rantizo — Fly more acres, deliver better service. The equipment, tools, and expertise you need to be the grower's first call for drone spray services.
iYOTAH Solutions — Take your dairy operation to the next level. Our state of the art platform helps you save time, increase efficiencies and profits and unlock new opportunities.
Glanris — Glanris developed a completely green, non-toxic, filtration media for water purification from an agriculture by-product. This agricultural product is grown around the world, is plentiful, and can be used locally to ensure clean drinking water in developing countries. It also gives local farmers a significant additional income source for a productthat today they are throwing away.This media has been independently tested over the last two years of development and is ready for production.

SOSV is a global, deep tech venture capital firm that operates the HAX and IndieBio startup development programs focused on human and planetary health. SOSV invests $500,000 in startups at their inception as they onboard either HAX or IndieBio for a 4-6 month period designed to accelerate the raise of their next institutional round. SOSV joins thelater rounds of HAX and IndieBio graduates. HAX, based in a 35,000 sq ft facility in Newark, NJ, is equipped with machine tools, 3D printers, chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering labs, as well as on-staff engineering and design experts. SOSV's IndieBio has locations in NYC and San Francisco, both of which offer extensive services and facilities to founders including on-site BSL-2 labs, well equipped lab benches and hoods, and advanced lab equipment, such as chromatography equipment.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Health Care, Software
Seed, Convertible Note, Pre-Seed
United States, India, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

MixRift — MIXRIFT - game developers specialized in Mixed Reality
unspun — From 3D scan to perfect fitting custom jeans. unspun makes each pair of jeans unique to your actual body and design. On a mission to reduce global carbon emissions by 1%. As seen in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas, Time's Best Inventions, and PopSci's Best of What's New. Welcome to the future of apparel.
Mesa Quantum — Unlock the potential of chip-scale quantum sensing for enhanced Position, Navigation, And Timing capabilities. Explore Mesa Quantum's practical solutions.

We are a Venture & Innovation Platform Advancing the Food & Agriculture Industries We work with leading corporations, startups, universities, and growers to solve the biggest challenges facing the food and agriculture industries.

Investment focus

AgTech, Agriculture, Farming
Pre-Seed, Seed, Funding Round
United States, Canada, Ireland

Portfolio highlights

scoutlabs — We're building the world's densest digital trap network to accurately gauge insect pest pressure. This helps millions of farmers in precisely combating crop-eating insects, accelerating a transition to more sustainable methods. Good for the farmer, the environment and for our food security
Verdi Expeditions — Verdi is building the world's first truly scalable platform for farm automation. We work with the world's largest food brands to grow better and more sustainable crops.
Heritable Agriculture — Making plants programmable

We are a Venture & Innovation Platform Advancing the Food & Agriculture Industries We work with leading corporations, startups, universities, and growers to solve the biggest challenges facing the food and agriculture industries.

Investment focus

AgTech, Agriculture, Farming
Pre-Seed, Seed, Funding Round
United States, Canada, Ireland

Portfolio highlights

scoutlabs — We're building the world's densest digital trap network to accurately gauge insect pest pressure. This helps millions of farmers in precisely combating crop-eating insects, accelerating a transition to more sustainable methods. Good for the farmer, the environment and for our food security
Cynomys — Soluzioni IOT di monitoraggio ambientale per allevamenti e aziende
Verdi Expeditions — Verdi is building the world's first truly scalable platform for farm automation. We work with the world's largest food brands to grow better and more sustainable crops.

We work with leading corporations, startups, universities, and growers to solve the biggest challenges facing the agtech and foodtech industries.

Investment focus

AgTech, Agriculture, Farming
Pre-Seed, Seed, Funding Round
United States, Canada, Ireland

Portfolio highlights

FarmWise — FarmWise provides technology-based services that allow farmers to streamline farm operations and increase food production efficiency.
Napigen — We are the genome editing company specialized for mitochondrial engineering. We address unmet needs of future food supplies by creating hybrid crop plants to boost their yields to an unprecedented level. The company’s technology creates robust male sterile lines that are ideal over conventional lines because of their stability and elitebackgrounds. This allows the production of non-GM hybrid seeds in crop plants that are currently mostly non-hybrid such as wheat. Our technology solution is expected to fulfill the highest level of public acceptance and aspiration.
Iamus Technologies — Iamus Technologies Limited is an Artificial Intelligence & Robotics company based in Ireland that has developed poultry specific robotic technology that empowers poultry farmers to make better and safer production decisions. Over the last 2 years we have been working globally with poultry processors in identifying KPIs that our robots cancontinuously gather on the ground in poultry sheds and feedback instantly to both producer and the relevant personnel back at the processing plant. Results to date are impressive with automatic and accurate data recovery from the birds on every part of the floor and analysis with real-time intervention now possible. These factors are key in addressing the growing demands of modern, intensive broiler production with the Iamus robot & platform meeting these requirements.

The Yield Lab invests in AgriFood Tech companies with technologies focused on crops, animal health, digital agriculture, logistics, and food ingredients. Initial investments range from $100,000 – $1.5M.

Investment focus

Agriculture, AgTech, Biotechnology
Seed, Series A, Convertible Note
United States, Argentina, Brazil

Portfolio highlights

Seedz — Seedz - Home - Empresas
Spotta — Spotta's smart pest systems help pest control monitor and identify pests. Solutions for hospitality, care homes, agriculture, farming and forestry.
NanobOx — We use a low-voltage electric field to generate nanobubbles directly in water; significantly reducing the energy cost compared to conventional methods.

The Yield Lab invests in AgriFood Tech companies with technologies focused on crops, animal health, digital agriculture, logistics, and food ingredients. Initial investments range from $100,000 – $1.5M.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, AgTech
Seed, Series A, Convertible Note
United States, Argentina, Brazil

Portfolio highlights

Proba — Unlock the value of your climate actions with Proba. Transform your efforts into tradable carbon certificates, connect with partners, and create new revenue streams for your business. Schedule a call now.
Sundew — Targeting water-borne pests and diseases
Kaffe Bueno — Kaffe Bueno upcycles coffee waste into active and functional ingredients for cosmetics, nutraceuticals and functional foods.

AgFunder invests in impactful companies that can positively transform the world's food system. Founded in 2013, AgFunder manages a portfolio of over 50 companies across four funds from offices in Silicon Valley and Singapore. Through its media platform AFN, it has built a global ecosystem of over 90,000 subscribers.

Investment focus

Agriculture, AgTech, Biotechnology
Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
United States, United Kingdom, India

Portfolio highlights

Klim — Klim enables farmers to transition to regenerative agriculture at scale by providing them financial support, knowledge, documentation tools, and a community via our digital companion for farmers.Klim-verified carbon removal credits, generated by Klim farmers, help companies to transition to net zero by offsetting their carbon emissions locallyand with maximum impact and transparency.
Lumi AI — Ask questions in simple language and receive instant answers. No coding (SQL/Python) skills needed. Lumi is your personal, available 24/7, data analyst AI. Sign up for early access!
Eion — Eion removes atmospheric CO2, permanently and verifiably, with enhanced rock weathering on soil

AgFunder invests in impactful companies that can positively transform the world's food system. Founded in 2013, AgFunder manages a portfolio of over 50 companies across four funds from offices in Silicon Valley and Singapore. Through its media platform AFN, it has built a global ecosystem of over 90,000 subscribers.

Investment focus

Agriculture, AgTech, Food and Beverage
Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
United States, United Kingdom, India

Portfolio highlights

BioDefense — BioDefense presents Bioshield, which is made from food to protect your food, and it maximizes safety, freshness, and self-life for any fresh produce.
Wittaya Aqua — A better approach to aquaculture management
Cargill Hong Kong — Cargill Hong Kong is an agricultural technology service provider dedicated to optimizing food production and supply chain management with sophisticated agricultural technologies, resulting in increased sustainability and efficiency in agricultural production.

Cavallo Ventures, VC arm of Wilbur Ellis, introducing technologies across all four divisions and markets of Wilbur-Ellis globally

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Series B
United States, Canada, Israel

Portfolio highlights

Agtonomy — Agtonomy is a hybrid autonomy and tele-assist platform for agriculture vehicles.
AgroSpheres — We're transforming agriculture through reliable and affordable bio-based solutions.
Solasta Bio — Solasta Bio develops environment-friendly products that meet a global need for new and effective crop protection.

S2G Ventures is is a multi-stage venture fund investing in food and agriculture. We're harnessing the power of food innovation to create better outcomes for people and the planet.

Investment focus

Food and Beverage, Agriculture, Biotechnology
Series A, Series B, Funding Round
United States, Canada, Israel

Portfolio highlights

XOCEAN — Using unmanned surface vessels (USVs), XOCEAN offers turnkey data collection services to Surveyors, Companies and Agencies.
EarthOptics — EarthOptics is building the cloud-based machine learning platform for soil and ground management.
Sound Agriculture — Sound Agriculture develops nature-based solutions for a more agile and resilient agricultural system.

Cavallo Ventures, VC arm of Wilbur Ellis, introducing technologies across all four divisions and markets of Wilbur-Ellis globally

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Series B
United States, Canada, Israel

Portfolio highlights

AgroSpheres — We're transforming agriculture through reliable and affordable bio-based solutions.
Solasta Bio — Solasta Bio develops environment-friendly products that meet a global need for new and effective crop protection.
Kuehnle Agrosystems — Kuehnle AgroSystems curates a unique set of algae originating from pristine waters and ecosystems of Hawaii, as well as tropical botanical accessions representing plants prized by Polynesian voyagers.

S2G Ventures is is a multi-stage venture fund investing in food and agriculture. We're harnessing the power of food innovation to create better outcomes for people and the planet.

Investment focus

Food and Beverage, Agriculture, Biotechnology
Series A, Series B, Funding Round
United States, Canada, Israel

Portfolio highlights

Catalera — Catalera BioSolutions offers proprietary bio-based pest control products to enhance the well-being of people, plants, and planet.
Exacto — Exacto is an innovative turnkey adjuvant manufacturer for agricultural, T&O and industrial vegetation management markets.
Amperage — Amperage provides a full-service platform that focuses on directly investing and growing broadband infrastructure.

Ag Startup Engine is a systematic program to fund agtech and agriculture entrepreneurs and help them towards success through mentorship and financial support.

Investment focus

Farming, AgTech, Biotechnology
Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
United States

Portfolio highlights

GW Nutrition — GW Nutrition developing a technology to improve food ingredients where the sensory properties limit market opportunity.
Genvax Technologies — Genvax Technologies is a startup animal vaccine company.
Mazen Animal Health — Mazen Animal Health is a new company focused on developing, delivering and commercializing novel biological vaccines and therapeutics that disrupt the status quo and address complex or unsolved challenges in animal health and protein production. Their first disruptive solution is a reinvention of vaccines with a novel technology platform that willshift the paradigm in disease prevention.

Ag Startup Engine is a systematic program to fund agtech and agriculture entrepreneurs and help them towards success through mentorship and financial support.

Investment focus

Farming, AgTech, Biotechnology
Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
United States

Portfolio highlights

GW Nutrition — GW Nutrition developing a technology to improve food ingredients where the sensory properties limit market opportunity.
Genvax Technologies — Genvax Technologies is a startup animal vaccine company.
Mazen Animal Health — Mazen Animal Health is a new company focused on developing, delivering and commercializing novel biological vaccines and therapeutics that disrupt the status quo and address complex or unsolved challenges in animal health and protein production. Their first disruptive solution is a reinvention of vaccines with a novel technology platform that willshift the paradigm in disease prevention.

Cultivian Sandbox is a venture capital firm focused on building next-generation disruptive agriculture and food technology companies capable of generating superior returns. As early investors and active board members, we employ a hands-on approach to building companies and are often directly involved in setting company strategy, recruiting keyexecutives, and raising additional capital. Much more than simply a financial resource, we are capable of delivering tremendous value though active collaboration with our strategic partners and network, which are unparalleled in the agriculture and food industries.As both experienced operating managers and venture investors we add value to portfolio companies both through our highly skilled team and extensive industry network. Our investment team combines the domain expertise and investment experience from Cultivian Ventures and Sandbox Industries. Our expertise in sourcing, evaluating, closing, managing and ultimately exiting successful equity investments positions us not only to build stronger businesses, but reshape industries.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, Farming
Series A, Series B, Seed
United States, Canada, Germany

Portfolio highlights

Full Harvest — Waste less, profit more. Source imperfect and surplus fruits and vegetables up to 10-30% off.
Debut — Debut Biotech is a biotechnology company that focuses on providing specialty enzyme solutions combined with continuous manufacturing. It combines the power of enzymes with continuous manufacturing to create and modify small and large molecules for a wide range of industries and applications.The company was founded in 2019 and is based in SanDiego, California.
Leaf Agriculture — Simplify farm data integration and management with Leaf's unified agriculture API. Connect fields, operations, imagery, weather, and more from multiple providers via a single source.

Venture investing in Food, Health, and AgTech. A generational investment thesis. Food is Health is longevity

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Health Care, Agriculture
Seed, Series A, Series B
United States, Australia

Portfolio highlights

MEND — Mend is the scientifically proven way to heal and enhance your body faster.
Triplebar — Triplebar provides sustainability, biotechnology, and synthetic biology research.
Pluton Biosciences — The miniscule organisms Pluton Biosciences discover possess the power to create global change. Pluton quickly and inexpensively taps into the diverse world of bacteria, fungi and viruses to discover next-generation products for carbon sequestration, agriculture, pharmaceutical, biomaterials and bioremediation.Pluton Bioscience's discoveryprocess generates diverse commercialization options, including: Organisms (biological products), Small Molecule Chemistries (fermentable and non-fermentable) and New Traits (scale dependent).

Invest Nebraska builds a better future for our state by providing financial and operational assistance to high growth companies, advancing the entrepreneurial economy, and attracting out-of-state capital to Nebraska.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Health Care
Seed, Pre-Seed, Debt Financing
United States

Portfolio highlights

Wunup — Wunup allows you and your friends to stay connected through fitness competitions. Check leaderboards, stay motivated with this social fitness app.
DivorceTech — AI-powered legal document automation software that streamlines client intake and produces state-specific divorce case documents efficiently.
Tour Golf League — Your Night Golf Event starts here! Tour Golf League designs and manufactures Night Golf Products to help golf courses host Night Golf Events.

Ag Ventures Alliance is a company that offers agriculture business support services.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Farming, AgTech
Series A, Pre-Seed, Seed
United States, Canada

Portfolio highlights

Continuum Ag — Join the future of farming with Continuum AG. Expert advice, cutting-edge tech, and sustainable practices to boost your farm's profitability.
Tractor Zoom — Tractor Zoom makes it easy to browse, filter, find, and finance farm equipment from hundreds of auctioneer and dealer locations across the country. Start a Search Today.
Switch Bioworks — Switch Bioworks engineers symbiotic microbes to produce sustainable nitrogen fertilizer under the control of precise genetic circuits.

Cultivian Sandbox is a venture capital firm focused on building next-generation disruptive agriculture and food technology companies capable of generating superior returns. As early investors and active board members, we employ a hands-on approach to building companies and are often directly involved in setting company strategy, recruiting keyexecutives, and raising additional capital. Much more than simply a financial resource, we are capable of delivering tremendous value though active collaboration with our strategic partners and network, which are unparalleled in the agriculture and food industries.As both experienced operating managers and venture investors we add value to portfolio companies both through our highly skilled team and extensive industry network. Our investment team combines the domain expertise and investment experience from Cultivian Ventures and Sandbox Industries. Our expertise in sourcing, evaluating, closing, managing and ultimately exiting successful equity investments positions us not only to build stronger businesses, but reshape industries.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, Farming
Series A, Series B, Seed
United States, Canada, Germany

Portfolio highlights

Full Harvest — Waste less, profit more. Source imperfect and surplus fruits and vegetables up to 10-30% off.
Debut — Debut Biotech is a biotechnology company that focuses on providing specialty enzyme solutions combined with continuous manufacturing. It combines the power of enzymes with continuous manufacturing to create and modify small and large molecules for a wide range of industries and applications.The company was founded in 2019 and is based in SanDiego, California.
Leaf Agriculture — Simplify farm data integration and management with Leaf's unified agriculture API. Connect fields, operations, imagery, weather, and more from multiple providers via a single source.

Leaps by Bayer invests in paradigm-shifting advances in the life sciences and specializes in the fields of biotechnology, agriculture, and scientific breakthrough. The firm's approach is making significant and sustained investments in disruptive biotechnologies that could have the greatest impact on humanity.It was founded in 2015 andheadquartered in Leverkusen, Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Health Care, Agriculture
Series A, Series B, Series C
United States, Canada, China

Portfolio highlights

Huma — Huma is a global health technology company that provides a modular platform to support digital 'hospitals at home' across different disease areas. Its platform combines predictive algorithms, digital biomarkers, and real-world data to advance proactive, predictive care and research.The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered inLondon, England.
Transcarent — The One Place for Health and Care
GRO Biosciences — GRO Biosciences is leveraging breakthrough technologies from computational protein design and synthetic biology to develop best-in-class protein therapeutics with enhanced properties. The company has established multiple genomically recoded strains of bacteria that can incorporate non-standard amino acids into proteins to confer increased potency,stability, and targeted delivery. GRO Biosciences is applying its technology platform to develop improved protein therapeutics for diabetes, growth disorders, and autoimmunity. The company, co-founded by Dr. George Church, is located at the Harvard Life Lab, shared laboratory space for high-potential life sciences and biotechnology startups founded by Harvard faculty, alumni, students, and postdoctoral scholars.

Leaps by Bayer invests in paradigm-shifting advances in the life sciences and specializes in the fields of biotechnology, agriculture, and scientific breakthrough. The firm's approach is making significant and sustained investments in disruptive biotechnologies that could have the greatest impact on humanity.It was founded in 2015 andheadquartered in Leverkusen, Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Health Care, Agriculture
Series A, Series B, Series C
United States, Canada, China

Portfolio highlights

one.bio — BCD Bioscience is an emerging biotechnology spinout from UC Davis that creates ingredients for food and biopharmaceutical applications. The company was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Davis, California, United States.
Nuvig Therapeutics — Nuvig Therapeutics is advancing innovative and transformational therapies that are designed to induce natural mechanisms to restore immune homeostasis, rebalance immune function following inﬂammation, and improve the treatment options for patients. Nuvig is building a pipeline of novel immune therapeutics for chronic inflammatory and autoimmunediseases.
Indapta Therapeutics — Indapta Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company developing an NK (natural killer) cell therapy platform for the treatment of blood and solid tumor cancers.

Ag Ventures Alliance is a company that offers agriculture business support services.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Farming, AgTech
Series A, Pre-Seed, Seed
United States, Canada

Portfolio highlights

Continuum Ag — Boost your farm's profitability and soil health with Continuum Ag's TopSoil. Explore our CI Certification and sustainable ag solutions today.
Tractor Zoom — Tractor Zoom makes it easy to browse, filter, find, and finance farm equipment from hundreds of auctioneer and dealer locations across the country. Start a Search Today.
Mazen Animal Health — Mazen Animal Health is a new company focused on developing, delivering and commercializing novel biological vaccines and therapeutics that disrupt the status quo and address complex or unsolved challenges in animal health and protein production. Their first disruptive solution is a reinvention of vaccines with a novel technology platform that willshift the paradigm in disease prevention.

Invest Nebraska builds a better future for our state by providing financial and operational assistance to high growth companies, advancing the entrepreneurial economy, and attracting out-of-state capital to Nebraska.

Investment focus

Software, Information Technology, Health Care
Seed, Pre-Seed, Debt Financing
United States

Portfolio highlights

DARO — DARO's state-of-the-art disease detection systems are transforming agricultural resilience.
Upwell — Upwell offers cutting-edge accounts receivable automation & broker back office software to streamline freight invoice management and validation. Leverage AI in your supply chain for efficient trucking invoicing and remit payments.
Elevator — Elevator accelerates the growth of e-commerce entrepreneurs with an engaging and collaborative, community-oriented, co-warehousing space. The company was founded in 2021 and is based in Omaha, Nebraska.

Venture investing in Food, Health, and AgTech. A generational investment thesis. Food is Health is longevity

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Health Care, Agriculture
Seed, Series A, Series B
United States, Australia

Portfolio highlights

Holobiome — Holobiome is an owner and operator of a therapeutic company intended to treat diseases of the enteric and central nervous systems. The company's platform delivers microbiome-based therapeutics to patients and the marketplace by treating depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems including our metabolism and the immune response,enabling patients to recover quickly from their diseases easily without any pain and suffering.Holobiome was established in 2015 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Triplebar — Triplebar provides sustainability, biotechnology, and synthetic biology research.
one.bio — BCD Bioscience is an emerging biotechnology spinout from UC Davis that creates ingredients for food and biopharmaceutical applications. The company was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Davis, California, United States.

Trailhead Capital is a mission-driven investment firm creating outstanding financial, societal, and ecological returns by backing entrepreneurs who are building the regenerative future of food and agriculture.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Farming, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Funding Round
United States, Canada

Portfolio highlights

HerdDogg — HerdDogg is passionate about livestock. Its innovative data platform sits at the intersection of agtech, the internet of things, and global food security. Our patented DoggTags and DoggBone, together with our Animal Traceability Platform, help producers make more money from every animal they raise. The HerdDogg system enables animal tracking,welfare monitoring and traceability in an easy-to-use application. For more information, visit herddogg.com.
Eion — Eion removes atmospheric CO2, permanently and verifiably, with enhanced rock weathering on soil
Clean Crop Technologies — Clean Crop Technologies is translating groundbreaking research on ways to reduce molds, toxins, and pests into commercial scale services for the global grain and nut sectors.

Fall Line Capital primarily seeks investment in broadacre farmland and agricultural technologies. The firm engages in purchasing and actively managing farmland throughout the United States, and by investing in technology companies that are strategic to our landholdings. Fall Line Capital's primary goal is to realize untapped productivity infarmland.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Agriculture, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Series B
United States, Canada, France

Portfolio highlights

Arzeda — Arzeda develops enzyme design technology that presents a new way of thinking about biocatalysis. The company was founded by David Baker and three senior members of his lab to commercialize and further develop its computational enzyme design technology.
Vaulted Deep — Vaulted Deep provides proven technology solutions for permanent carbon removal to promote local environmental and community health. It is a spin-off of Advantek Waste Management Services.
Bonsai Robotics — Bonsai Robotics provides vision-based automation solutions for off-road vehicles, such as agricultural machines. The company also offers analytics and telematics to help growers improve their performance, efficiency, and safety. The company is based in San Jose, California.

Grantham Foundation seeks to protect and improve the health of global environmental issues and supports individuals and organizations. It also supports communication and collaboration in environmental protection, with an emphasis on climate change.The foundation focuses on communications to enable the general public to understand that climatechange represents the world’s primary environmental threat today and that mitigating and adapting to a changing climate will lead to a more sustainable and prosperous future.Grantham Foundation was founded in 1997 by Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham and is based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Environmental Consulting, Agriculture
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
United States, United Kingdom, Canada

Portfolio highlights

Paebbl — Captured carbon re-stored into raw materials. We put CO2 to good, permanent use in carbon-negative minerals through the process of CO2 mineralisation.
Carbon Ridge — Modular onboard carbon capture for maritime shipping.
Hephae Energy Technology — Launching a new generation of drilling technology, allowing geothermal energy to be developed cost-effectively, safely, and efficiently around the world.

Grantham Foundation seeks to protect and improve the health of global environmental issues and supports individuals and organizations. It also supports communication and collaboration in environmental protection, with an emphasis on climate change.The foundation focuses on communications to enable the general public to understand that climatechange represents the world’s primary environmental threat today and that mitigating and adapting to a changing climate will lead to a more sustainable and prosperous future.Grantham Foundation was founded in 1997 by Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham and is based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Energy, Environmental Consulting
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
United States, United Kingdom, Canada

Portfolio highlights

Paebbl — Captured carbon re-stored into raw materials. We put CO2 to good, permanent use in carbon-negative minerals through the process of CO2 mineralisation.
Carbon Ridge — Modular onboard carbon capture for maritime shipping.
Vema Hydrogen — Vema Hydrogen is a pioneering clean hydrogen production company. It helps to fight the enormous decarbonization issue.

Bread and Butter Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Minnesota, the Bread and Butter State, investing globally while leveraging our state and region’s unparalleled access to strong corporate connections, commercial opportunities, and industry expertise for the benefit of our teams. Led by Brett Brohl and Mary Grove, we investin founders at the seed stage across foodtech, digital health and enterprise saas.

Investment focus

Software, Food and Beverage, SaaS
Seed, Pre-Seed, Funding Round
United States, Canada, India

Portfolio highlights

Delfina — Intelligent pregnancy care for healthier moms and babies.
VoiceCare AI — Supercharging healthcare with GenAI. Automated calls, admin co-pilots and Healthcare Administration General Intelligence (HAGI) to help you save time.
Nimblemind.ai — Nimblemind.ai enables healthcare providers to organize and enrich multimodal clinical data through labeling and curation.

Bread and Butter Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Minnesota, the Bread and Butter State, investing globally while leveraging our state and region’s unparalleled access to strong corporate connections, commercial opportunities, and industry expertise for the benefit of our teams. Led by Brett Brohl and Mary Grove, we investin founders at the seed stage across foodtech, digital health and enterprise saas.

Investment focus

Software, SaaS, Food and Beverage
Seed, Pre-Seed, Funding Round
United States, Canada, India

Portfolio highlights

Chiyo — Fertility, pregnancy & postpartum meal delivery for new mothers. Eastern food therapy meets nutritional science, we use whole, nutrient-dense ingredients to help alleviate or avoid pregnancy symptoms like morning sickness, heartburn, gestational diabetes and more. OBGYN recommended, nutritionist curated, ready-to-eat.
ChampionHQ — ChampionHQ operates as a customer marketing platform to activate your customers and fans to create post-sale marketing programs.
Ducky — Ducky improves your team's efficiency with automation that helps customer support agents respond to tickets faster and more accurately.

Fall Line Capital primarily seeks investment in broadacre farmland and agricultural technologies. The firm engages in purchasing and actively managing farmland throughout the United States, and by investing in technology companies that are strategic to our landholdings. Fall Line Capital's primary goal is to realize untapped productivity infarmland.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Series B
United States, Canada, France

Portfolio highlights

Bonsai Robotics — Bonsai Robotics provides vision-based automation solutions for off-road vehicles, such as agricultural machines. The company also offers analytics and telematics to help growers improve their performance, efficiency, and safety. The company is based in San Jose, California.
Micropep Technologies — Micropep Technologies developes a non-GMO new generation of bioherbicides and biostimulants. Micropep, founded in 2016 in Toulouse, focuses on bioherbicides and biostimulants. The company uses plants’ natural molecules, called “micro-peptides”, to temporarily control expression of their genes and regulate plant growth but leaving their DNA intact.The company currently works on four development programs: germination, flowering, growth, and weed control.
UNCAGED Innovations — What if we could make leather without the animal? We are a biomaterials company combining the power of nature and technology to reimagine leather.

Neglected Climate Opportunities a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Foundation.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Farming, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Funding Round
United States, Australia

Portfolio highlights

Kula Bio — Kula Bio specializes in sustainable, biological solutions for modern agriculture. It energizes nitrogen-fixing microbes to produce organic fertilizer. By rewiring the energy flow from the sun to soil, they are disrupting synthetic fertilizer to eliminate the division between affordable practices and stewardship of our land, sea, and air.Thecompany was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts.
ContextLabs — Providing solutions that utilize machine learning, artificial intelligence, cryptographic proofing and blockchain to build ground truth and trust with partners and customers.
Propagate — Agroforestry project development and investments platform.

Driven by a mission to redefine food, Acre invests in companies creating systemic change in the food system to address the growing problems of human and environmental health. Acre makes venture-stage investments in highly disruptive platform businesses across the food value chain, with a particular focus on the agriculture, food tech, and consumerverticals. Taken together, these investments have the ability to form the foundation of an integrated new approach to food system evolution.

Investment focus

Food and Beverage, Biotechnology, AgTech
Series A, Series B, Seed
United States, Brazil, Argentina

Portfolio highlights

Terradot — The Earth Regeneration Company
one.bio — BCD Bioscience is an emerging biotechnology spinout from UC Davis that creates ingredients for food and biopharmaceutical applications. The company was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Davis, California, United States.
Bonsai Robotics — Bonsai Robotics provides vision-based automation solutions for off-road vehicles, such as agricultural machines. The company also offers analytics and telematics to help growers improve their performance, efficiency, and safety. The company is based in San Jose, California.

Neglected Climate Opportunities a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Foundation.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Farming, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Funding Round
United States, Australia

Portfolio highlights

Kula Bio — Kula Bio specializes in sustainable, biological solutions for modern agriculture. It energizes nitrogen-fixing microbes to produce organic fertilizer. By rewiring the energy flow from the sun to soil, they are disrupting synthetic fertilizer to eliminate the division between affordable practices and stewardship of our land, sea, and air.Thecompany was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts.
ContextLabs — Providing solutions that utilize machine learning, artificial intelligence, cryptographic proofing and blockchain to build ground truth and trust with partners and customers.
Propagate — Agroforestry project development and investments platform.

Trailhead Capital is a mission-driven investment firm creating outstanding financial, societal, and ecological returns by backing entrepreneurs who are building the regenerative future of food and agriculture.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Farming, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Funding Round
United States, Canada

Portfolio highlights

Funga — Funga uses the forest fungal microbiome to improve forestry outcomes and address the climate crisis. The company was founded in 2021 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States.
HerdDogg — HerdDogg is passionate about livestock. Its innovative data platform sits at the intersection of agtech, the internet of things, and global food security. Our patented DoggTags and DoggBone, together with our Animal Traceability Platform, help producers make more money from every animal they raise. The HerdDogg system enables animal tracking,welfare monitoring and traceability in an easy-to-use application. For more information, visit herddogg.com.
Clean Crop Technologies — Clean Crop Technologies is translating groundbreaking research on ways to reduce molds, toxins, and pests into commercial scale services for the global grain and nut sectors.

Congruent Ventures is a venture capital firm that seeks to invest in Mobility and Urbanization, Energy Transition, Food and Agriculture, and Sustainable Production & Consumption sectors. We look for technology companies that will positively impact our energy and resource consumption. If we see an opportunity to partner with a like-minded teamfocused on scale across hardware, software, or services, we’re interested.

Investment focus

Software, Energy, Renewable Energy
Seed, Series A, Series B
United States, Canada, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Presto — Presto is a software platform to power magical charging experiences for fleets, mobility providers, and businesses.We believe that access to reliable and affordable charging is the key to unlocking mass electrification and fighting climate change.
Bonsai Robotics — Bonsai Robotics provides vision-based automation solutions for off-road vehicles, such as agricultural machines. The company also offers analytics and telematics to help growers improve their performance, efficiency, and safety. The company is based in San Jose, California.
Adaptive insurance — Adaptive insurance, which begins with parametric insurance, seeks to transform how companies develop financial resilience in the face of weather-related and climate-related events. By combining our cutting-edge coverages, real-time climate data, and AI-driven technology, we think we can support them and show business consumers the benefits ofparametric insurance.

The St. Louis Arch Angels is a network of accredited investors who fund early-stage businesses across the St. Louis region.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Health Care, Medical Device
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
United States, Argentina

Portfolio highlights

Peptyde Bio — Peptyde Bio is an Agtech startup positioned to become the go-to supplier of new AMPs.
SentiAR — SentiAR is digital health, software device company adding a new dimension to clinical practice in interventional procedures. Spun out of Washington University, we are developing the first 3D visualization platform using real-time holography of the patient's anatomy and catheter location, "floating" over the patients, with a goal toprovide the clinician and patient a faster, safer delivery of care.SentiAR’s mission is to transform the experience for both patient and clinician in interventional procedures with a 3D augmented reality platform featuring real-time holographic visualization of the patient’s actual anatomy, “floating” over the patient.The visualization is fully controllable “hands-free” by the clinician, providing an ergonomic breakthrough for the treatment and analysis of cardiac arrhythmias within an interventional catheter lab environment. SentiAR is developing the platform for eventual FDA submission.
Maximum Fidelity Surgical Simulations — The most realistic surgical and trauma simulations for surgeons, forward field operators, medics and medical device development.

Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV) is the venture capital group at Monsanto Company. Monsanto has a large footprint as a provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. In this capacity, MGV aims to help nascent companies grow through capital and leveraging Monsanto’s agriculturee know-how and resources.MGV also fosters the growth of an innovation supply chain that includes researchers, entrepreneurs, other venture capitalists and emerging technology companies. Often, early stage product innovation is best handled by talented small independent teams and companies that can maintain a single focus, work in a capital efficient process and rapidly prototype innovations to find solutions. MGV has led investments in, and partnered with, small companies worldwide and They pride ourselves in assisting small companies to bring their innovations to the agricultural market place.Monsanto understands agriculture and the challenges in bringing products to market. They are patient investors and they can use their network of field testing and market intelligence to position products for success.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Series B
United States, Brazil, Canada

Portfolio highlights

AgBiome — At AgBiome, we use our proprietary scouting and scientific platform technology process to partner with the microbial world for human benefit.
Grão Direto — The agriculture that has so much technology inside the gate and gives lessons of modernity to Brazil and to the world can also be so technological and modern in the commercialization of its products!The Grão Direto forms a web between buyers and producers of grains connected in a much more intelligent way.Through technology, they can interactdigitally and much faster and more efficiently. This is either for spot, future or barter trading. Grão Direto was created with the necessary flexibility to support all the chain's profiles: cooperatives, tradings, traditional brokers, feed factories, warehouses, traders and much more.The platform generates market intelligence gains for producers and buyers to make better decisions, as well as more agility in processes associated with marketing (logistics, contract management, financial products and more).
Layr — We use AI and machine learning to match companies with the right commercial insurance, at the right price, through top-rated carriers. The application is 100% online with our team of expert brokers available to help with any questions along the way. We focus on cash-flow-friendly payment options (pay monthly instead of annually and use your creditcard) and easy in-app policy updates. With Layr, check “Buy Business Insurance” off your list and get back to what you do best.

Congruent Ventures is a venture capital firm that seeks to invest in Mobility and Urbanization, Energy Transition, Food and Agriculture, and Sustainable Production & Consumption sectors. We look for technology companies that will positively impact our energy and resource consumption. If we see an opportunity to partner with a like-minded teamfocused on scale across hardware, software, or services, we’re interested.

Investment focus

Software, Energy, Robotics
Series A, Seed, Series B
United States, Canada, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Fleet — Fleet is a mobility-as-a-Service software for enterprise transportation needs.
Muon Space — Earth intelligence for a Safe and Resilient World.
Demex — Extreme weather is escalating but protection has not kept pace. Climate change is disrupting insurance and Demex is reshaping the market.

Pillar VC is a Boston venture capital firm that supports founders with early-stage and seed VC funding, investing in their professional & personal growth.

Investment focus

Health Care, Software, Blockchain
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
United States, Spain, Israel

Portfolio highlights

GALY — Saving Our Planet by Transitioning the World to Cellular Agriculture
All Hands AI — All Hands AI operates as an open source agent for developers.
Pyte — CipherMode Labs revolutionary secure multiparty computation technology enables analysis of encrypted data - without decryption - to preserve privacy and facilitate data sharing.

Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV) is the venture capital group at Monsanto Company. Monsanto has a large footprint as a provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. In this capacity, MGV aims to help nascent companies grow through capital and leveraging Monsanto’s agriculturee know-how and resources.MGV also fosters the growth of an innovation supply chain that includes researchers, entrepreneurs, other venture capitalists and emerging technology companies. Often, early stage product innovation is best handled by talented small independent teams and companies that can maintain a single focus, work in a capital efficient process and rapidly prototype innovations to find solutions. MGV has led investments in, and partnered with, small companies worldwide and They pride ourselves in assisting small companies to bring their innovations to the agricultural market place.Monsanto understands agriculture and the challenges in bringing products to market. They are patient investors and they can use their network of field testing and market intelligence to position products for success.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, AgTech
Series A, Seed, Series B
United States, Brazil, Canada

Portfolio highlights

AgBiome — At AgBiome, we use our proprietary scouting and scientific platform technology process to partner with the microbial world for human benefit.
Grão Direto — The agriculture that has so much technology inside the gate and gives lessons of modernity to Brazil and to the world can also be so technological and modern in the commercialization of its products!The Grão Direto forms a web between buyers and producers of grains connected in a much more intelligent way.Through technology, they can interactdigitally and much faster and more efficiently. This is either for spot, future or barter trading. Grão Direto was created with the necessary flexibility to support all the chain's profiles: cooperatives, tradings, traditional brokers, feed factories, warehouses, traders and much more.The platform generates market intelligence gains for producers and buyers to make better decisions, as well as more agility in processes associated with marketing (logistics, contract management, financial products and more).
Layr — We use AI and machine learning to match companies with the right commercial insurance, at the right price, through top-rated carriers. The application is 100% online with our team of expert brokers available to help with any questions along the way. We focus on cash-flow-friendly payment options (pay monthly instead of annually and use your creditcard) and easy in-app policy updates. With Layr, check “Buy Business Insurance” off your list and get back to what you do best.

Radicle Growth is a San Diego, California based venture capital firm focused sustainable, early-stage ag and food tech startups.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, AgTech
Seed, Series A, Grant
United States, Canada, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

FarmSense — FarmSense provides commercial farmers and agricultural operators the ability to monitor, count, and identify insect pests in real time.
Solasta Bio — Solasta Bio develops environment-friendly products that meet a global need for new and effective crop protection.
Impetus Agriculture — Impetus Agriculture focuses on developing multiple topical or transgenic insect control products. Products that are safe, effective, and sustainable. Products that are not subject to the same insect resistance that has developed in current commercial products.

Grantham Foundation seeks to protect and improve the health of global environmental issues and supports individuals and organizations. It also supports communication and collaboration in environmental protection, with an emphasis on climate change.The foundation focuses on communications to enable the general public to understand that climatechange represents the world’s primary environmental threat today and that mitigating and adapting to a changing climate will lead to a more sustainable and prosperous future.Grantham Foundation was founded in 1997 by Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham and is based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, Energy
Seed, Series A, Series B
United States, Canada, Philippines

Portfolio highlights

InventWood — InventWood aims to be the leader in cellulose-based technologies. The company specializes in the production of cellulosic materials. InventWood was established in 2016 by Amy Gong in College Park, Maryland.
Allegro Energy — Our mission is to radically accelerate the transition to a world powered by plentiful, cheap, clean energy. Talk to us today about your project to find out how our technology can help you reach your energy goals.
Applied Carbon — Applied Carbon is scaling ground-breaking technology to regenerate soils and trap atmospheric carbon for the benefit of people and the world.

Pillar VC is a pre-seed and seed venture capital firm that invests in breakthrough science, supporting Founders and scientists from the lab to industry.

Investment focus

Software, Biotechnology, Health Care
Seed, Series A, Funding Round
United States, Spain, Israel

Portfolio highlights

Latent Labs — Latent Labs is making biology programmable to transform health and sustainability for the benefit of all.We are a frontier AI lab building foundational models that capture the fundamentals of biology. We empower partners with breakthrough generative AI to gain unprecedented control over molecular biology, creating new antibodies, optimizingexisting enzymes, and advancing genetic engineering.Contact us to work with us today.
VideaHealth — Transforming Dentistry Through AI. By applying AI to X-ray analysis, we unlock insights, experiences, and efficiencies that drive breakthroughs in clinical outcomes and economics for dentists and insurers.
Addis Energy — Addis Energy is on a mission to alter the way we feed and fuel our society, harnessing the Earth's potential for clean ammonia production.

We believe that a radical change to our food, agriculture, and ocean sectors is necessary to meet our climate, biodiversity, water, and human health goals.

Investment focus

Biotechnology, Agriculture, AgTech
Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
United States, United Kingdom, Germany

Portfolio highlights

Cerve — The Cerve platform establishes a personalised, 2-way and automated communication between wholesalers and B2B buyers online — delivering bespoke and dynamic product catalogues, pricing, delivery terms and deals to each and every buyer on any platform and device.As an end-to-end platform, Cerve provides wholesalers with a full set of productsincluding an AI infrastructure, an ordering platform, a sales app and a wholesaler platform.
Terradot — The Earth Regeneration Company
Everest Carbon — Everest Carbon Inc. develops breakthrough measurement technology for robust quantification of carbon dioxide removal through Enhanced Weathering.

Radicle Growth is a San Diego, California based venture capital firm focused sustainable, early-stage ag and food tech startups.

Investment focus

Agriculture, Biotechnology, AgTech
Seed, Series A, Grant
United States, Canada, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

FarmSense — FarmSense provides commercial farmers and agricultural operators the ability to monitor, count, and identify insect pests in real time.
Solasta Bio — Solasta Bio develops environment-friendly products that meet a global need for new and effective crop protection.
Impetus Agriculture — Impetus Agriculture focuses on developing multiple topical or transgenic insect control products. Products that are safe, effective, and sustainable. Products that are not subject to the same insect resistance that has developed in current commercial products.

Khosla Ventures invests in companies that are bold, early and impactful. The firm was started in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, to provide venture assistance to entrepreneurs. Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., Khosla Ventures invests in a range of areas including AI, climate, sustainability, enterprise, consumer, fintech,digital health, medtech and diagnostics, therapeutics and frontier technology.

Investment focus

Software, Health Care, Artificial Intelligence
Series A, Series B, Seed
United States, India, United Kingdom

Portfolio highlights

Vahan — Vahan's AI-Driven virtual assistant helps field sales teams and frontliners do better work at scale. A web-based dashboard allows employers to track usage data that can be used for business intelligence. Their virtual assistant is completely customizable to align with employers' support, training, communication, and reporting needs.
Synex Medical — Synex Medical develops non-invasive blood testing technology. This portable device will allow users to monitor metabolite concentrations without having to penetrate skin. They use a miniaturized magnetic resonance system to detect blood metabolites. The system only consists of magnets and radio waves, meaning there are no negative health effects.
Vahan.ai — Vahan uses Artificial Intelligence to match job seekers with employers inside messaging apps

Foundational partners to ambitious founders at every stage of company-building.

Investment focus

Software, Health Care, Biotechnology
Series B, Series A, Series C
United States, India, China

Portfolio highlights

Agree.com — Agree.com is the best solution for creating and managing contracts, streamlining negotiations, enhancing compliance, optimizing workflows, and converting more customers — all within one intuitive platform. View edits, track signatures, and get alerted on all upcoming key milestones. Include free, one-click e-signatures with identity verification onevery agreement. Increase deal velocity and drive revenue impact with integrated payments.
Sakana AI — We are creating a new kind of foundation model based on nature-inspired intelligence.
World Labs — World Labs is an AI startup that can analyze visual data with comprehension akin to a person's, a substantial advancement above existing capacities.