A year after securing $24.5 million in Series A capital, Elo Life Systems, a North Carolina-based ingredient company, has announced an additional $20.5 million in Series A extension funding from existing investors. The company, founded in 2021, specializes in various technologies, including plant-based sweeteners and crop protection.
Elo Life’s flagship product, a natural monk fruit-derived sweetener set to launch in 2026, boasts being 300 times sweeter than sugar without the associated calories. The company has also partnered with Dole to develop a fungal-resistant Cavendish banana. Ongoing projects include the production of proteins, natural preservatives, flavors, and bioactive compounds.
CEO Todd Rands highlighted the transformative impact of technologies such as molecular farming, gene-editing, and precision fermentation on food ingredient categories. Despite challenges faced by ag/food tech companies, including investor hesitancy and inflation-driven pressure on food prices, Rands emphasized the importance of adapting to these realities.
Elo Life aims to reduce monk fruit’s cost and carbon footprint through local production using molecular farming, treating plants as “biofactories” to generate monk fruit sweetener in crops like watermelons and sugar beets. The newly secured funding will be deployed over the next two years to build Elo Life’s supply chain and support technology development.
Rands revealed plans to collaborate with a large non-governmental organization to enhance staple nutrition crops’ productivity and resilience in third-world countries. Having spent the first three years on research and development, Elo Life will now focus on engaging with growers, processors, regulators, and commercial partners.
The funding round was jointly led by DCVC Bio and Novo Holdings, with participation from Hanwha Next Generation Opportunity Fund, AccelR8, and Alexandria Venture Investments. This brings Elo Life’s total venture-backed capital to $45 million. Rands hinted at a potential future funding round in late 2023 or early 2024, expressing optimism about the company’s trajectory and growth.
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