HOLYOKE, Mass., March 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Clean Crop Technologies ("Clean Crop") uses electricity to decarbonize the way we grow food and keep it safe and fresh, helping to feed the world without burning it down.
That’s the objective of the Western Massachusetts based startup that raised $6M in series A financing led by ReGen Ventures, Trailhead Capital, and the MassMutual Catalyst Fund. Previous investors Prime Impact Fund, Innova Memphis, Bread & Butter Ventures, and the Alchemy Fund, as well as new investors Active Impact, DC Thomson Capital, and Middleland Capital‘s VTC Ventures.
Founded in 2019, Clean Crop Tech’s cutting-edge high voltage catalyst technology can boost yields, improve food safety, and reduce food waste in a broad range of food categories, including nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables, meats, and seafoods.
"We are incredibly excited to continue scaling Clean Crop with partners that bring significant experience across the agtech and sustainability landscape," said CEO & Co-founder, Dan White.
The startup has brought its technology from academic journals to benchmark prototypes in less than 10 months and is well positioned to scale in myriad verticals. This funding round will enable Clean Crop to continue scaling and commercializating their core technology across the supply chain. The company, which was a MassChallenge finalist in 2019, raised a $3M seed round in 2020, led by Prime Impact Fund.
Clean Crop Tech’s drive to enhance food safety and reduce waste is born out of the common interests of its co-founders. Dan White started his career in horticulture in the US and then spent over a decade working in agricultural production in emerging markets, where he met COO & Co-founder Daniel Cavanaugh in Quelimane, Mozambique in 2012. At the time, Cavanaugh was a commercial manager with Cargill. The two co-founders initially began researching solutions to food safety and waste to commercialize, and eventually met Dr. Kevin Keener, a leader in plasma technologies for food, and Clean Crop co-founder//CSO, and started the company with him in 2019 to take Dr. Keener’s innovations to scale.
Dan Fitzgerald, MP at ReGen Ventures, will be joining Clean Crop’s Board of Directors, and confirmed ReGen’s lead on Clean Crop’s raise. The Byron Bay, Australia/SF-based firm invests in regenerative technology companies. "ReGen is thrilled to partner with the Clean Crop team on its mission to transform agricultural supply chains for the better. Clean Crop has a unique opportunity to catalyze a paradigm shift by deploying its technology that massively reduces waste, dramatically improves food safety while preserving the fundamental goodness of produce."
Additional investors in Clean Crop’s Series A raise round included ReGen Ventures, Trailhead Capital, MassMutual Catalyst Fund, DCT Capital, VTC/Middleland, Active Impact, My Climate Journey, Innova Memphis, Alchemy Fund, and Bread & Butter Ventures.
"Clean Crop Tech significantly improves on the cost, efficiency, and efficacy of removing food contaminants. Trailhead is thrilled to be partnering with the team at Clean Crop as they reduce waste, improve safety, and preserve quality across a wide range of foods to make a material leap forward in improving human and planetary health," said Pete Oberle, Managing Partner at Trailhead Capital, who co-led the series A round.
"Clean Crop Technologies’ game-changing solutions are redefining the future of pasteurization and transforming the food supply chain," said Liz Roberts, Head of Impact Investing at MassMutual. "We are excited to partner with its incredible founders and support the company with catalytic capital and resources as it continues to grow."
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SOURCE Clean Crop Technologies
