Dean Didato
Partner @ Innova Memphis
Memphis, United States
Dean Didato is a seed investor at Innova Memphis in Memphis focused on Agriculture and Farming. Dean has consulted with Innova since 2009 on several due diligence projects focused on qualifying new technologies, patents, competition, and market acceptance. Having spent the last eight years as an international executive in the specialty chemical and bioengineering segment focused on food safety fields, Didato has extensive expertise inpathogen intervention mechanisms as they relate to food processing and consumer health.He has worked with AgBio startups such as BioDimensions, Infinite Enzymes, BioNanovations, and most recently Secure Food Solutions, where he remains a Board Member. This experience gave him a wide span of knowledge ranging from remediation of bacterial spec and spot on crops, to enzyme manufacturing through genetically modified maize, to rapid aflatoxin detection using hyperspectral imaging. Didato has assisted startups orchestrate strategic plans to accelerate revenue growth, dramatically improving value propositions that have resulted in acquisitions, strategic alliances, or licensing opportunities.Immediately prior to joining Innova, Dean was a Strategic Accounts Manager for The Vincit Group, one of the country’s largest vertically integrated food safety and solutions. During his 35+ years of professional experience he has held executive positions at Synergy Technologies, OmniLytics and Buckman Laboratories.He was recognized by the Wall Street Journal and was featured in “Virtual Teams: People Working Across Boundaries with Technology ” by Jessica Lipnack.Dean received a BS in Biology-Management from Marietta College. He also completed several post graduate management programs, including The Leadership Development Program at the Centers for Creative Leadership, and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard University.
- Total investments:
- 32
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 53%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Dean Didato invests in
Stages Dean Didato invests in
Countries Dean Didato invests in
Investment Focus
Industry
- Agriculture 11 (34%)
- Farming 8 (25%)
- AgTech 5 (16%)
- Software 4 (13%)
- Biotechnology 4 (13%)
Stage
- Seed 6 (19%)
- Pre-Seed 6 (19%)
- Series A 4 (13%)
- Series B 2 (6%)
- Funding Round 2 (6%)
Country
- United States 13 (41%)
- United Kingdom 1 (3%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Insignum AgTech
|
Insignum AgTech develops biotech plants that communicate with producers, alerting them to an illness in its early stages. | $2.4M / Seed / Sep 16, 2025 | |
Soiltech Wireless
|
Soiltech Wireless is a developer of ag-tech solutions to design electronic devices for agricultural professionals. Its product provides real-time data to drive efficiency and optimize quality. It also provides actionable data without installation hassles and creates scalable monitoring solutions for farmers.The company was founded in 2019 and isheadquartered in Rupert, Idaho. | Venture - Series Unknown / Mar 06, 2024 | |
American Autonomy, Inc.
|
Rantizo delivers targeted liquid dry applications for agriculture precisely where and when they are needed in the field.The company's system utilizes an electrostatic spraying technology which reduces problems with uneven coverage and covers crops uniformly, enabling farmers to apply pesticides and chemicals in the farms evenly without ahassle and within a short duration of time. | $6M / Series A / Oct 02, 2023 | |
Isomark Health
|
Isomark, LLC develops infectious disease detection technology for healthcare providers. Its technology offers a non-invasive method for the detection of invasive infections, and to monitor personal health and disease states by measuring and analyzing isotopic biomarkers through exhaled CO2 samples. The company’s technology enables to detect andtreat illnesses and diseases before they become serious or chronic. It offers its technology for primary clinical disease detection and outpatient medical services applications, as well as for the post-operative monitoring of patients for the contraction of hospital-related infections, such as sepsis. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Madison, Wisconsin. | $2.7M / Seed / Dec 30, 2022 | |
HerdDogg
|
HerdDogg is a global herd health and data science platform. It is a two-part system that helps ranchers track health and proximity data from their herd. The company's device gathers the data captured by the ear tags and reports it directly to the rancher via an app or web database. | Convertible Note / May 26, 2022 | |
|
American Autonomy, Inc.
|
Rantizo delivers targeted liquid dry applications for agriculture precisely where and when they are needed in the field.The company's system utilizes an electrostatic spraying technology which reduces problems with uneven coverage and covers crops uniformly, enabling farmers to apply pesticides and chemicals in the farms evenly without ahassle and within a short duration of time. | Convertible Note / May 09, 2022 | |
Global Neighbor
|
We seek to accelerate adoption of sustainable ag practices and maximize farm profits through non-chemical, directed energy (DE) solutions. We currently have consumer use DE weed control products selling online and in big-box retailers. Our next product, the WDSD, addresses the challenge of herbicide-resistant weeds in grain crops. The WDSD quicklyattaches to combine harvesters and applies DE to weed seeds making them nonviable without chemicals. | $1.7M / Seed / Dec 09, 2021 | |
|
HerdDogg
|
HerdDogg is a global herd health and data science platform. It is a two-part system that helps ranchers track health and proximity data from their herd. The company's device gathers the data captured by the ear tags and reports it directly to the rancher via an app or web database. | $1.4M / Convertible Note / Nov 03, 2021 | |
EarthSense
|
The lack of skilled labor in agriculture has led to an over-reliance on capital intensive machinery, synthetic chemicals, and simplified agricultural practices. This has led to the variety of bad effects from current agriculture including on the environment, food quality, and farmer profitability. In addition, the increasing unpredictability ofweather and frequent extreme weather events are damaging our ability to provide the growing global population with food security.To address these problems, EarthSense has developed an agricultural robotics and AI platform with three key applications: (1) developing the next generation of more productive and sustainable crops, (2) helping growers obtain actionable intelligence from their fields, and (3) managing problems like herbicide resistant weeds.The EarthSense platform is built to be modular and easily extensible - so that other people can easily participate in innovating in the next generation of robotics and AI technology. As a result, our agricultural AI platform will enable a climate-smart agricultural system, improve plant and soil health, drive a reduction in use of chemicals and other expensive inputs. | Seed / Oct 06, 2021 | |
Beta Hatch
|
Beta Hatch grows insect protein for animal feed. Nutrient balanced fertilizer is a sterile by-product of their process. Beta Hatch knows bugs better than anyone- they use their expertise in entomology to grow the most efficient and nutritious insects. They are currently farming mealworms from their urban farm in Seattle. They believe in changingfood systems. Their goal is to develop the technology and knowledge that will make insects the next commodity crop. | $10M / Aug 18, 2021 | |
| See all 32 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Innova Memphis
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.
Innova Memphis Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dean Didato
Partner
|
|||
Jan Bouten
Partner
|
|||
Ken Woody
Founder, President & Partner
|
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Nate Smith
Associate
|
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1 more contact available
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FAQ
What does Dean Didato invest in?
Dean Didato invests primarily in Agriculture, Farming and AgTech startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 32 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 Dean Didato last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Dean Didato closed in Sep 2025. Shizune tracks 32 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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