SAN DIEGO – ZeaKal, a plant science company incubated from the pipeline of Kapyon Ventures, LLC, is pleased to announce it has completed a $3.8M Series A raise to develop its HME technology platform across major crops. The investment, led by Finistere Ventures, Two Oceans and the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council (MSMC), and supported by ZeaKal’s Executive Chairman, Dr. Jerry Caulder, provides ZeaKal the means to focus on specific crop targets including soybeans and rice. ZeaKal’s HME technology has shown crop yield and oil content increases of up to 50% and 34%, respectively.
“ZeaKal is very fortunate to have the backing of such a solid investment consortium,” says Han Chen, CEO of ZeaKal. “We now have both a strong financial syndicate led by Finistere Ventures and through the MSMC, a powerful development partner with an established distribution and customer base to accelerate our program faster than we had hoped with just the capital alone.”
“The ZeaKal technology has proven to be extremely effective in increasing yields in other crops,” says Dale Ludwig, CEO, MSMC, “Their technology can revolutionize the future of soybean yields and deserves the support of the investment community and industry.”
ZeaKal will be conducting the development in partnership with the University of Missouri at the laboratories of Dr. Henry Nguyen and Dr. Zhanyuan Zhang.
About ZeaKal
At ZeaKal, we are building a value driven “NewType” of agriculture to harmonize the needs of farmers, consumers, and our planet. Our flagship plant trait technology, PhotoSeed™, helps crops capture more carbon and sunlight, leading to healthier, nutrient-rich food and feed grown on a smaller environmental footprint. We go beyond science to make affordable nutrition more sustainable, with marketable differentiation for growers. Discover how we are transforming carbon to nutrition: zeakal.com or @zeakal on Twitter.
