March 17, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

ReGen Ventures, Trailhead Capital, and MassMutual Catalyst Fund have led a $6 million Series A for Clean Crop Technologies, a startup using electricity to boost yields, improve food safety, and reduce food waste in not just crops such as nuts, seeds, vegetables, and fruits, but for also meats and seafood. 

Additional investors participating in the round included DCT Capital, VTC/Middleland, Active Impact, My Climate Journey, Innova Memphis, Alchemy Fund, and Bread & Butter Ventures.

Founded in Western Massachusetts in 2019, Clean Crop Technologies is aiming “to help feed the world without burning it down” – a mission I think we can all get behind. 

The startup’s cutting-edge, high-voltage catalyst technology was born from common interests of its founders. Dan White began his career in U.S. horticulture and then spent a decade in agricultural production in emerging markets. It was during this time, in 2012, that he met Daniel Cavanaugh, who was a commercial manager with Cargill. The two co-founders began researching food safety solutions when they met Dr. Kevin Keener, a leader in plasma technologies for food, starting Clean Crop with him in 2019 to scale up his innovations.

“We are incredibly excited to continue scaling Clean Crop with partners that bring significant experience across the agtech and sustainability landscape,” said Dan White, CEO & co-founder, Clean Crop Tech.

Thirty percent of all food produced is lost to us due to pathogens, toxins, pests, and climate stress. In 1862 Louis Pasteur brought us pasteurization – an effective method of killing pathogens in milk or wine, but not really applicable for crops such as strawberries, which would lose their integrity in the process.

What Clean Crop Tech brings to the table is the novel use of an energetic field to create tailored gas blends that are able to remove contaminants from food surfaces without leaving any residue behind, while enhancing seed performance.

The results are boosted plant vigor, more robust growth (particularly in climate-stressed conditions), the reduction of salmonella, listeria, mycotoxins for better safety, and the reduction of bacteria, yeast, and molds to increase shelf life and reduce food waste. 

“Clean Crop Tech significantly improves on the cost, efficiency, and efficacy of removing food contaminants,” said Pete Oberle, managing partner, Trailhead Capital. “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.”

This technology was brought from academic journals to prototypes impressively fast, with Clean Crop Tech becoming well-positioned to scale in multiple verticals within 10 months. Now, with this new funding in-hand, the startup will be able to continue to commercialize and scale their core platform across the supply chain.

“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.”

Dan Fitzgerald, managing partner with ReGen Ventures, who will join Clean Crop Tech’s board of directors as part of this round, gave voice to the Byron Bay, Australia, New York, and San Francisco-based firm’s mission to invest in regenerative agtech companies, noting, “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.”

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– Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.