Dan Phillips
Managing Director @ Cultivian Sandbox Ventures
Chicago, United States
Dan Phillips is a Managing Director at Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, a Chicago-based venture capital firm that invests in food & agriculture technology companies. The firm invests in innovative companies developing solutions across the full value chain of food & agriculture, including crop production, animal health, food safety, and novelfood ingredients and products. Prior to Cultivian Sandbox, Dan spent several years investing in HIT startups as part of the healthcare team at Sandbox Industries.Dan Phillips is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he majored in Biology.
- Total investments:
- 13
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 31%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Dan Phillips invests in
Stages Dan Phillips invests in
Countries Dan Phillips invests in
Investment Focus
Industry
- Biotechnology 3 (23%)
- Food and Beverage 2 (15%)
- B2B 1 (8%)
- Beauty 1 (8%)
- Retail 1 (8%)
Stage
- Series A 6 (46%)
- Series B 4 (31%)
- Series C 1 (8%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Debut
|
Debut Biotech develops biotechnology-based beauty ingredients and formulations in a vertically integrated manner, beginning with AI-powered discovery and continuing through biosynthesis, biomanufacturing, downstream processing, and finished formulations. The company utilizes its BeautyORB platform to computationally screen vast chemical librariesand predict novel bioactives, which then proceed through validation, safety testing, and formulation for skincare and haircare applications. Debut employs both engineered microbial fermentation and cell-free enzymatic systems to produce these novel ingredients sustainably and then transitions them into proprietary formulations or custom white-label products. | $40M / Series B / Jun 01, 2023 | |
Full Harvest
|
Full Harvest helps growers get the most out of a harvest and food companies save money by bringing farm excess to market.We are a B2B platform connecting large farms to food businesses to sell significantly discounted, yet perfectly good surplus and imperfectly shaped produce that would have otherwise gone to waste.Approx. 20 billion pounds ofproduce go to waste in the U.S. annually simply because they are not perfectly shaped for strict retailer standards. We aim to solve this problem by creating a marketplace for this unutilized edible and delicious produce.Our vision is three-fold: bring an additional revenue stream to farmers, lower the cost of healthy food production, while significantly reducing wasted food and resources. A win-win for everyone. | $23M / Series B / Dec 17, 2021 | |
|
Full Harvest
|
Full Harvest helps growers get the most out of a harvest and food companies save money by bringing farm excess to market.We are a B2B platform connecting large farms to food businesses to sell significantly discounted, yet perfectly good surplus and imperfectly shaped produce that would have otherwise gone to waste.Approx. 20 billion pounds ofproduce go to waste in the U.S. annually simply because they are not perfectly shaped for strict retailer standards. We aim to solve this problem by creating a marketplace for this unutilized edible and delicious produce.Our vision is three-fold: bring an additional revenue stream to farmers, lower the cost of healthy food production, while significantly reducing wasted food and resources. A win-win for everyone. | $23M / Series B / Dec 17, 2021 | |
Culture Biosciences
|
Culture Biosciences provides a platform of cloud-connected bioreactors, software tools, and process development services that support upstream bioprocess development for biotech and biopharma applications. The company’s offerings include remote experiment design, monitoring, and data analysis through an integrated cloud software interface pairedwith single-use bioreactors for microbial fermentation and cell culture experimentation. Its services encompass clone and strain screening, process optimization, characterization, and bioprocess modeling to help scientific teams refine and scale their workflows. Clients access real-time data and analytics to inform decisions and collaborate across teams using the platform’s tools. Culture Biosciences’s technology is used to advance development of therapeutics, synthetic biology products, and related bioprocesses. Culture Biosciences was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. | $80M / Series B / Oct 14, 2021 | |
|
Debut
|
Debut Biotech develops biotechnology-based beauty ingredients and formulations in a vertically integrated manner, beginning with AI-powered discovery and continuing through biosynthesis, biomanufacturing, downstream processing, and finished formulations. The company utilizes its BeautyORB platform to computationally screen vast chemical librariesand predict novel bioactives, which then proceed through validation, safety testing, and formulation for skincare and haircare applications. Debut employs both engineered microbial fermentation and cell-free enzymatic systems to produce these novel ingredients sustainably and then transitions them into proprietary formulations or custom white-label products. | $22.6M / Series A / Aug 12, 2021 | |
|
Debut
|
Debut Biotech develops biotechnology-based beauty ingredients and formulations in a vertically integrated manner, beginning with AI-powered discovery and continuing through biosynthesis, biomanufacturing, downstream processing, and finished formulations. The company utilizes its BeautyORB platform to computationally screen vast chemical librariesand predict novel bioactives, which then proceed through validation, safety testing, and formulation for skincare and haircare applications. Debut employs both engineered microbial fermentation and cell-free enzymatic systems to produce these novel ingredients sustainably and then transitions them into proprietary formulations or custom white-label products. | $22.6M / Series A / Aug 12, 2021 | |
Cooks Venture
|
Cooks Venture operates as a regenerative pasture-raised chicken and meat company. It ships selected cuts of pasture-raised heirloom chicken and pasture-raised meats, which are individually sealed and ready to cook.The company is supportive of and committed to adopting the Better Chicken Commitment. It is exclusively using its own approved breedand is certified by Global Animal Partnership Step Level 4 where birds have access to diversified pastures. | $10M / Series A / Jul 22, 2020 | |
|
Culture Biosciences
|
Culture Biosciences provides a platform of cloud-connected bioreactors, software tools, and process development services that support upstream bioprocess development for biotech and biopharma applications. The company’s offerings include remote experiment design, monitoring, and data analysis through an integrated cloud software interface pairedwith single-use bioreactors for microbial fermentation and cell culture experimentation. Its services encompass clone and strain screening, process optimization, characterization, and bioprocess modeling to help scientific teams refine and scale their workflows. Clients access real-time data and analytics to inform decisions and collaborate across teams using the platform’s tools. Culture Biosciences’s technology is used to advance development of therapeutics, synthetic biology products, and related bioprocesses. Culture Biosciences was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. | $15M / Series A / Mar 04, 2020 | |
Phylagen
|
Phylagen, Inc. is a data analytics company leveraging artificial intelligence to harness the vast, unseen world of microbes. Phylagen uses DNA sequencing and machine learning to turn the largest untapped dataset on the planet, the environmental microbiome, into insights for customers across numerous industries. | $14M / Series A / Feb 14, 2019 | |
|
Full Harvest
|
Full Harvest helps growers get the most out of a harvest and food companies save money by bringing farm excess to market.We are a B2B platform connecting large farms to food businesses to sell significantly discounted, yet perfectly good surplus and imperfectly shaped produce that would have otherwise gone to waste.Approx. 20 billion pounds ofproduce go to waste in the U.S. annually simply because they are not perfectly shaped for strict retailer standards. We aim to solve this problem by creating a marketplace for this unutilized edible and delicious produce.Our vision is three-fold: bring an additional revenue stream to farmers, lower the cost of healthy food production, while significantly reducing wasted food and resources. A win-win for everyone. | $8.5M / Series A / Aug 15, 2018 | |
| See all 13 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Cultivian Sandbox Ventures
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.
Cultivian Sandbox Ventures Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Amanda Donohue-Hansen
Managing Director
|
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Ariel Choi
General Counsel
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Dan Phillips
Managing Director
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Robert Shapiro
Managing Director
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Ronald Meeusen
Managing Director
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FAQ
What does Dan Phillips invest in?
Dan Phillips invests primarily in Biotechnology, Food and Beverage and B2B startups, most often at Series A 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 Dan Phillips last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Dan Phillips closed in Jun 2023. 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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