By Chris Roush
Durham’s Elo Life Systems, which is developing a natural sweetener and other food ingredients through molecular farming, has raised $20.5 million from investors.
The company says it will use the money to further scale and commercialize its sweetener product and increase its molecular-farming pipeline of healthy and sustainable ingredients.
It’s also working on crop protection and productivity efforts, including work to save the banana from extinction. The company has now raised $45 million.
“At Elo, we’re on a mission to unlock nature’s abilities to make consumers’ favorite foods more delicious, healthy and planet friendly,” said Elo CEO Todd Rands in a statement. “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.”
Rands joined the company in April 2022 and spent nearly 15 years at Monsanto in various roles.
Through molecular farming, Elo produces ingredients difficult to harvest from natural sources and cannot be synthesized through artificial or other techniques.
“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,” said Stephen Van Helden, principal in the bioindustrial investments group at Novo Holdings US, one of the lead investors in the latest round of funding.
Elo’s first molecular-farming product is a natural, monk-fruit derived sweetener that is 300 times sweeter than sugar without calories. It is expected to launch in 2026 and the company says it can be used in thousands of food and beverage products to reduce sugar and artificial sweeteners while enhancing nutrition.