# Cultivate Next

> Cultivate Next is a VC fund in Los Angeles backing Agriculture, AgTech and Farming. See 13 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Los Angeles, United States
- Total investments: 13
- Last investment: Jul 2026
- Lead investor: 54%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cultivate-next/

Cultivate Next is a venture fund that aims to make early-stage investments in strategically aligned startups that will aid Chipotle's aggressive expansion goals and enhance its purpose to cultivate a better society.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Agriculture | 6 | 46% |
| AgTech | 3 | 23% |
| Farming | 3 | 23% |
| Food and Beverage | 3 | 23% |
| Software | 2 | 15% |

36 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 8 | 62% |
| Series B | 2 | 15% |
| Seed | 1 | 8% |
| Series A | 1 | 8% |
| Series C | 1 | 8% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 12 | 92% |
| Canada | 1 | 8% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Benchmark Labs | Benchmark Labs provides asset-specific weather forecasting for the agricultural sector, and beyond. Benchmark Labs is headquartered in San Francisco, California. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Jul 09, 2026 |  |
| SIMPLi | SIMPLi focuses on providing regenerative organic food products. The company offers a variety of nutrient-dense, superfood ingredients such as white and tri-color quinoa. SIMPLi aims to connect people through the joy of food while promoting sustainable and ethical sourcing practices. Their products are available in retail stores like Whole FoodsMarket and Sprouts Farmers Market. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Jul 08, 2026 |  |
| 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. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Jul 08, 2026 |  |
| IMIO | IMIO creates organic fertilizers with microbes that outperform chemical options. The company's products improve plant growth, yield, and nutrient value while regenerating soil health. IMIO uses microbes like bacteria and fungi to harness the power of nature for sustainable agriculture. | $6M | Seed | Jul 07, 2026 |  |
| Athian | Athian enables animal agriculture producers to monetize their sustainability efforts — whether it's past work or progress towards a future sustainability goal. | $4M | Series A | Nov 19, 2025 |  |
| Nitricity | We make plant-based, climate-smart fertilizer. For the good of our farmers and the planet. | $64M | Series B | Sep 10, 2025 |  |
| PopID | PopID offers a facial recognition platform that enables users to authenticate identity and process payments through biometric verification. Its core service, PopPay, allows customers to link their facial image to a payment method, facilitating transactions at participating businesses without the need for physical cards or mobile devices. The systemsupports various retail formats, including kiosks, drive-thrus, and counter services, and integrates with loyalty programs to personalize the customer experience. PopID's technology has been adopted by merchants such as Whataburger and Steak 'n Shake, aiming to streamline ordering and checkout processes. The company emphasizes user consent and data security, storing encrypted biometric data and allowing users to opt-in or out at their discretion. PopID has also expanded internationally, partnering with entities like SoftBank's Japan Computer Vision to introduce its services in markets such as Japan. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Jun 04, 2025 |  |
| Plantible Foods | Plantible Foods is a B2B food technology company producing sustainable plant-based protein to optimize the food industry. The company develops a proprietary and vertically integrated agricultural manufacturing platform to allow food companies to innovate while optimizing costs and delivering products with improved taste, texture, health, andenvironmental footprint. | $30M | Series B | Nov 15, 2024 |  |
| Greenfield Robotics | Greenfield Robotics provides autonomous AI-powered robots for chemical-free weed control in large-scale agriculture. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Dec 13, 2023 |  |
| Vebu Labs | Vebu Labs is a full-stack automation and robotics company specializing in product development to automate the food supply chain. It offers automation opportunity discovery, food product development, prototype development, roadmap, feasibility report, and timeline projections to market effectively and improve online presence. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Jul 12, 2023 |  |

10 of 13 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [ICL Group](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/icl-group-bb4f) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Ajinomoto Group Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ajinomoto-group-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Astanor Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/astanor-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Australian Agricultural Company](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/australian-agricultural-company) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Betagro](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/betagro) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Bossa Invest](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bossanova-investimentos) — VC Fund
- [Almi Invest](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/almi-invest) — VC Fund
- [Korea Credit Guarantee Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/korea-credit-guarantee-fund) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Cultivate Next invest in?

Cultivate Next invests primarily in Agriculture, AgTech and Farming startups, most often at Venture - Series Unknown and Series B stage. Most of the 13 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Cultivate Next last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Cultivate Next closed in Jul 2026. Shizune tracks 13 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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