Calysta has also entered a collaboration agreement with Cargill that will involve Cargill assisting it with manufacturing and marketing efforts.
US-based food and energy technology producer Calysta has raised $30m in a series C round featuring conglomerate Cargill and Pangaea Ventures, a venture firm backed by chemicals company Evonik.
Old Westburg Global Real Asset Fund, managed by multi-family office Bessemer Trust; the Municipal Employee Retirement System (Mers) of Michigan; venture capital firm Walden Riverwood Ventures and agriculture investment fund Aqua-Spark also contributed capital.
Calysta operates two distinct business units, Calysta Energy and Calysta Nutrition. The former develops materials for consumer and industrial energy products while the latter focuses on the commercialisation of FeedKind, a sustainable animal and fish feed product.
The series C round will support product development, manufacturing and continued development of the company’s gas fermentation platform. As part of the deal, Cargill will also assist Calysta with manufacturing in North America and global marketing efforts for FeedKind.
Brian Silvey, vice-president for corn milling at Cargill, and Edward Mikolay, senior investment officer and director of private markets at Mers of Michigan, will join Calysta’s board of directors.
Walden and Aqua-Spark previously co-led a $10m series B round in January 2015 that included Pangaea as well as Calysta directors and officers. Pangaea led the company’s $3m series A round in 2013, which was backed by company directors and officers.
Alan Shaw, president and CEO of Calysta, said: “This collaboration with Cargill, a world leader in fermentation and protein production, is expected to dramatically accelerate market introduction of FeedKind protein at commercial scale.”
