Stronger Plants, Better Protein And Longer Lashes

This can be a month-to-month column that runs down 5 attention-grabbing startup funding offers each month that will have flown below the radar. Try final month’s entry here.

The vacation season is upon us and everybody’s busy.

Which means it’s fairly simple to overlook a number of the extra intriguing rounds that get introduced. Regardless of. We have now you lined as we check out lately funded startups doing every little thing from preventing local weather change to using on the moon to longer lashes by way of AI.

Profitable lashes

There are plenty of issues we don’t know rather a lot about. (OK, perhaps I’m talking largely concerning the author of this text.)

The eyelash market is definitely a kind of issues.

Nonetheless, lash extension providers are huge enterprise apparently — particularly when paired with AI and robotics. That’s precisely what Luum does. The Oakland, California-based startup raised a Collection A that brings its complete raised to $30 million.

Luum’s AI lash extension robots, or Luum Lash, is precisely what it feels like — an autonomous robotic that works on eyelash extensions. Resulting from how delicate and exact such work might be, Luum claims the robotic is definitely safer and extra correct than people, and makes use of no sharp devices.

The corporate already has collaborations with Ulta Beauty (an investor) and Nordstrom, which is piloting the eyelash extension service in San Jose retailer areas.

It’s not surprising that an AI robotic can carry out eyelash extensions, however $30 million is plenty of money for eye lashes. Then once more, everybody has them.

Fortifying vegetation for local weather change

Knowledge from WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas reveals that 25 international locations — with about one-quarter of the worldwide inhabitants — face extraordinarily excessive water stress annually. Within the U.S. alone, it’s estimated about 23% of the land space is experiencing water stress.

With water turning into a rarer commodity and the associated stress occurring extra usually, it can be crucial populations one way or the other strengthen their meals provide to compensate.

One startup wanting to try this is Elicit Plant, which locked up a $48 million Collection B led by Carbyne Equity Partners.

The startup has developed phytosterol-based options to assist vegetation adapt higher to local weather change. Phytosterols are pure substances produced by vegetation in response to water stress, enhancing resilience and decreasing water dependency.

Elicit’s options might be utilized as a twig early within the season, serving to crops mitigate environmental stress. Farmers who’ve used the spray reported diminished water consumption of 20% whereas growing yields by as much as 10%.

The corporate will use the brand new money to broaden within the U.S. Since 2022, it has been partnering for discipline trials within the nation’s corn belt. The corporate is able to launch its product subsequent yr and broaden its product vary to soybean and different crops by 2027.

Extra protein

Staying on meals for a minute, Plantible Foods closed a $30 million Collection B co-led by Piva Capital and Siddhi Capital this month.

The San Diego-based international meals provide chain firm has developed a proprietary agricultural manufacturing platform to provide Rubi Protein — a protein derived from duckweed, a fast-growing aquatic plant.

The startup says its Rubi Protein outperforms the purposeful and dietary properties of each  conventional animal- and plant-based proteins.

Whereas the protein is plant-based and viable for vegan diets, its properties are extra akin to animal protein and can be utilized in baked items, condiments, meat alternate options and extra.

It’s additionally extremely sustainable, as duckweed can truly double its mass each two days.

The corporate will use its new funding to broaden its manufacturing operations at its first industrial plant in West Texas.

With duckweed’s capacity to develop shortly, that Texas plant could also be very busy.

Water tech

Since 1970, water demand has elevated by 1.7x, whereas provide has dropped by 50%, and now consultants challenge that 5 billion people could be without clean drinking water by 2050.

That’s clearly an issue — and one water tech startup OceanWell goals to assist treatment. The Los Angeles-based firm locked up an $11 million Collection A this month because it seems to be to scale its modular deep-sea water farm resolution. The spherical included participation from Kubota Corp.

OceanWell is growing deep-sea water farms which might harness strain at depths of 400 meters for reverse osmosis desalination. The farms are product of pods which might  produce as much as 1 million gallons of recent water each day. The tech even ensures “ultra-clean water” by filtering out salts, micro organism and extra.

Whereas conventional desalination processes are energy-intensive, OceanWell says its farms cut back that vitality consumption by as much as 40%.

The corporate is about to launch a California water farm pilot — a state that faces a extreme water disaster within the not-too-distant future — with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District.

Constructing out house

Whereas many consider rocket launches when detailing the brand new house financial system, it’ll take extra than simply propelling issues from Earth to build-out house.

Lunar Outpost is hoping to be one of many startups to steer that cost with its lunar mobility choices. The Golden, Colorado-based startup raised a Collection A spherical co-led by Industrious Ventures and Type One Ventures. The quantity within the spherical was not disclosed. The corporate raised a $12 million seed spherical in 2022.

The corporate, which creates industrial LTVs and rovers for house exploration, has 4 missions to the moon with  the primary voyage launching this yr on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. That mission will embody the primary operation of a industrial rover on one other planetary physique.

The startup — which is also growing a platform to create oxygen from the ambiance of Mars — additionally has contracts with NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense for different missions because it seems to be to participate in future exploration and infrastructure growth of house.

Attending to the moon is one factor — getting round on it’s one other.

Illustration: Dom Guzman