Elo Life Systems – a next-generation ingredient company reimagining the future of food – announced its oversubscribed Series A2 financing round, raising $20.5 million. DCVC Bio and Novo Holdings jointly led the funding round. And they are joined by Hanwha Next Generation Opportunity Fund, AccelR8, and Alexandria Venture Investments. Elo has raised a total of $45 million to date.
This latest funding round will help the company further scale and commercialize its sweetener product, increase its molecular-farming pipeline of healthy and sustainable ingredients, and expand its crop protection and productivity efforts, including work to save the banana from extinction.
Through a molecular farming platform, Elo produces sought-after ingredients that are difficult to harvest from natural sources and cannot be synthesized through artificial or other techniques. And the company uses easy-to-grow crops as biofactories for these ingredients, enabling local, commercial-scale production while reducing their cost and environmental footprint.
Elo’s first molecular-farming product is a sophisticated sweetener – which is a natural, monk-fruit-derived sweetener that is 300 times sweeter than sugar without calories. Launching in 2026, it could be used in thousands of food and beverage products to reduce sugar and artificial sweeteners while enhancing nutrition. Plus, the company is also exploring the production of other ingredients, including novel proteins, natural preservatives, and high-value flavors and bio-actives.
Along with molecular farming, Elo is working with major companies and NGOs to protect staple crops around the globe from the effects of disease and climate change. And this includes a partnership with Dole in the creation of a fungal-resistant Cavendish banana to save the popular fruit from extinction. Elo’s banana proved successful in greenhouse testing and is currently undergoing field trials in Latin America.
KEY QUOTES:
“At Elo, we’re on a mission to unlock nature’s abilities to make consumers’ favorite foods more delicious, healthy and planet friendly. With strong support from our investors, we’re well positioned to scale up our production and stay on track to launch our first product in 2026.”
— Elo CEO Todd Rands
“Molecular farming will allow our food system to meet the needs of the world’s growing population while reducing the resources needed to produce nutritious food. Elo’s approach – together with cutting edge science and an experienced management team – is aligned with Novo Holdings’ purpose to deliver scaled solutions for better societal and planetary outcomes.”
— Stephen Van Helden, principal in the Bioindustrial Investments group at Novo Holdings US
“Elo’s sweetener will be a major catalyst in the effort to lower sugar in our diets, improving human health and reducing the societal burden associated with chronic diseases. Meanwhile, their efforts to protect and improve the productivity of staple crops like the banana will have a meaningful impact on the food billions of people rely upon every day.”
— Kiersten Stead, managing partner, DCVC Bio
