<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Lorcel/ShutterstockSustainable Bioproducts gets the ingredients for its 'super protein' from the depths of Yellowstone's volcanic hot springs.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>A new kind of 'super protein' startup launched on Monday with backing from Silicon Valley VC firm <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-life-science-biotech-vc-investor-list-2018-8#an-engineering-junkie-from-his-early-days-benjamin-tseng-raised-60-million-for-a-startup-and-now-links-investors-with-pioneering-companies-in-china-5">1955 Capital</a> and the venture arms of two global food companies.</li><li>The raw materials for its approach came from research done deep inside Yellowstone's volcanic hot springs, where organisms must adapt to a barren environment.</li><li>The startup, called Sustainable Bioproducts, claims it can brew up high quantities of its product while having a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-meat-consumption-up-in-gmo-report-2015-8">minimal impact</a> on the environment.</li></ul>Protein is what's for dinner, but only if the world's biggest food companies can keep up.The rise in global appetites for everything from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meat-next-gene-editing-frontier-2018-1">meat</a> to beans and peas is creating what experts call a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5532560/">"perfect storm"</a> for environmental <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-meat-consumption-up-in-gmo-report-2015-8">concern</a>, as farmers must increasingly crank out more food with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/red-meat-consumption-up-in-gmo-report-2015-8">less land</a> and water.A new startup has one possible solution. Called Sustainable Bioproducts, the company sources protein from ingredients found deep inside an unlikely source: the searing volcanic hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. To make the product, the company brews it up using a process similar to that used to make beer.What comes out, CEO Thomas Jonas told Business Insider, is a neutral-tasting, naturally high-protein substance that can either be mixed into yogurt for an alternative to the Greek variety or shaped into patties for the next plant-based burger. Plus, the startup's product is naturally rich in some of the same key amino acids that the body needs to function. Often found in animal products like eggs, these protein building blocks are especially tough to procure from a vegan or vegetarian diet."What we have here is a super protein," Jonas said. "And it comes from one of the most pristine wild places on the planet."On Monday, the startup launched publicly with $33 million in funds from Silicon Valley-based venture firm <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-life-science-biotech-vc-investor-list-2018-8#an-engineering-junkie-from-his-early-days-benjamin-tseng-raised-60-million-for-a-startup-and-now-links-investors-with-pioneering-companies-in-china-5">1955 Capital</a> and the venture arms of two leading global food suppliers - grain company <a href="https://www.adm.com/">Archer Daniels Midland</a> and multinational food producer <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/danone-planning-to-be-worlds-largest-benefit-corporation-2018-10">Danone</a>. Based in Chicago, the startup is using the funds to build a production plant and cook up several prototype products. Key to the startup's operation, Jonas said, is that it will require a fraction of the natural resources needed for making other proteins like meat and nuts. In place of wasteful factory farms or large parcels of land, all they need, according to Jonas, is essentially a series of brewer's vats.The company's core technology is the process it uses to ferment a set of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/05/yellowstone-national-parks-geothermals/">unique microorganisms</a> first discovered in Yellowstone by Montana State University scientist Mark Kozubal nearly a decade ago. Now serving as the startup's chief <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> officer, Kozubal came across the organisms as part of a <a href="http://www.montana.edu/news/11756/msu-graduate-launches-biofuels-start-up-partners-with-university">research project</a> supported by grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, and NASA. <h2>Protein's rising popularity</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Impossible FoodsPlant-based burgers like the Impossible Burger - which 'bleeds' like the real thing when cooked - are skyrocketing in popularity.</div></div></div>The global market for alternative protein sources is climbing fast. According to a recent <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-protein-ingredients-market-analysis">report</a> from research firm Grand View Research, the market for protein formulations from sources like soy and beans is expected to reach $49 billion over the next six years.Consumption of proteins from conventional sources like meat and dairy is skyrocketing, too. The meat industry totals <a href="https://www.meatinstitute.org/index.php?ht=d/sp/i/47465/pid/47465">around $200 billion.</a> In China, meat consumption has grown sevenfold over the last 35 years, according to a recent <a href="https://research.rabobank.com/far/en/sectors/animal-protein/china_animal_protein_outlook_2020.html">report</a> from multinational finance company Rabobank.Experts say protein's popularity is a result of a growing population and an increased global awareness of the ingredient's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-lose-weight-2018-3#pay-attention-to-protein-7">role in good health</a>. Found in meat, beans, nuts, eggs, and an array of dairy products, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-lose-weight-2018-3#pay-attention-to-protein-7">protein</a> helps power our muscles and makes us feel full, two factors which may be linked with maintaining a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-lose-weight-2018-3">healthy weight</a>.But plain old meat, the most popular source of protein, is problematic for the planet - at least in the way it's currently produced. An ounce of beef - one-sixth of a standard burger patty - requires <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/real-villain-in-the-california-drought-isnt-almonds--its-red-meat-2015-4">over 100 gallons of water</a> to make. Dairy cattle, chickens, and pigs also <a href="https://extension.psu.edu/carbon-methane-emissions-and-the-dairy-cow">produce the greenhouse gas methane</a>, and the factories and farms that house them add carbon dioxide to the mix.That's driven a series of creative biotech startups, many of them concentrated in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lab-grown-meat-startups-burgers-chicken-fish-plants-cells-2018-7">California's Silicon Valley</a>, to find high-protein alternatives to meat.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lab-grown-meat-startups-burgers-chicken-fish-plants-cells-2018-7">The startup behind the Bill Gates-backed veggie burger that 'bleeds' is part of a transition to animal-free meat - here are the other frontrunners</a>There's fake meat that tastes and looks so much like the real thing it even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/impossible-foods-bleeding-veggie-burger-ingredient-gets-fda-green-light-2018-7">"bleeds" like it</a>; plant-based alternatives to animal products like bean-based <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-startup-just-mayo-hampton-creek-finally-vegan-eggs-grocery-stores-2018-8">"eggs" and vegan dressings</a>; and high-protein snacks and powders from sources like crickets, beans, peas, and fungi. A collection of startups is also aiming to make real chicken, duck, and cow from animal cells without the animal, but experts say those products are at least <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-share-when-eat-lab-grown-clean-meat-timeline-2018-11">three to five years away</a> from landing a spot on a restaurant menu. To date, this reporter has only tasted <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lab-grown-clean-cell-meat-photos-taste-review-2018-9">one prototype product</a> from one of those companies.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-share-when-eat-lab-grown-clean-meat-timeline-2018-11">Silicon Valley VCs are betting lab-grown meat could be just as big a deal as Uber was for taxis and have 'huge disruptive abilities' to a $200 billion industry</a>By contrast, Sustainable Bioproducts has a shorter timeline to market and a more versatile platform, according to <a href="http://www.1955.capital/team-andrew-chung/">Andrew Chung</a>, the founding partner of 1955 Capital and now a member of Sustainable Bioproducts' advisory board. Jonas said it aims to have a product on the market by 2021.Chung, a former partner at high-profile VC firm Khosla Ventures (an early investor in plant-based burger startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/impossible-foods-bleeding-veggie-burger-ingredient-gets-fda-green-light-2018-7">Impossible Foods</a> and food startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-startup-just-mayo-hampton-creek-finally-vegan-eggs-grocery-stores-2018-8">Just</a>) told Business Insider that he saw Sustainable Bioproducts as one of the most promising protein companies he'd considered backing in roughly a decade."This is an important answer to the question of how do you make the planet healthier," Chung said. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-polar-vortex-what-to-expect-cold-temperatures-record-breaking-2019-1">The polar vortex striking the US will cause temperatures to plummet up to 40 degrees colder than normal</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

A food startup backed by 2 industry giants is diving into the alt-meat market with a 'super protein' enabled by a discovery in Yellowstone's volcanic hot springs

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">AP Photo/Mark J. TerrillDonald Trump.</div></div></div>Tech leaders are taking a stand against Donald Trump.In <a href="https://medium.com/@KatieS/an-open-letter-from-technology-sector-leaders-on-donald-trumps-candidacy-for-president-5bf734c159e4#.hunna75a7" target="_blank">a scathing open letter</a> posted by former Twitter vice president Katie Stanton, leaders from some of Silicon Valley's biggest tech companies, venture-capital firms, and startups voiced their concerns about a Trump presidency - specifically, that Trump "stands against the open exchange of ideas, free movement of people, and productive engagement with the outside world that is critical to our economy."The letter is signed by more than 140 tech leaders, including:<ul><li>CEOs of relatively young tech companies and startups such as Box, Twilio, Slack, TaskRabbit, and Tumblr.</li><li>Well-known VCs and investors like Vinod Khosla, Pierre Omidyar, Shervin Pishevar, and Chris Sacca.</li><li>Tech industry veterans like former Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, and Interactive Corp. CEO Barry Diller.</li></ul>Tech leaders who openly support Trump are rare, with the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-speaking-at-republican-national-convention-2016-7">exception of Peter Thiel</a>, who is a delegate for Trump and will speak at the Republican National Convention next week.<a href="https://medium.com/@KatieS/an-open-letter-from-technology-sector-leaders-on-donald-trumps-candidacy-for-president-5bf734c159e4#.jcv3hsuw9">Read the whole thing here&gt;&gt;</a>Here's the full list of signatories:Marvin Ammori, General Counsel, Hyperloop One Adrian Aoun, Founder/CEO, Forward Greg Badros, Founder, Prepared Mind Innovations; Former Engineering VP, Facebook Clayton Banks, Co-Founder, Silicon Harlem Phin Barnes, Partner, First Round Capital Niti Bashambu, Chief Analytics Officer, IAC Applications John Battelle, Founder/CEO, NewCo, Inc. Ayah Bdeir, Founder/CEO, Little Bits Piraye Beim, Founder/CEO, Celmatix Marc Bodnick, Co-Founder, Elevation Partners John Borthwick, Founder/CEO, Betaworks Matt Brezina, Co-Founder, Sincerely and Xobni Stacy Brown-Philpot, CEO, TaskRabbit Brad Burnham, Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures Stewart Butterfield, Co-Founder/CEO, Slack Troy Carter, Founder/CEO, Atom Factory Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Founder/CEO, Joyus Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer Amy Chang, Founder/CEO, Accompany Aneesh Chopra, President, NavHealth; Former US CTO Patrick Chung, General Partner, Xfund Tod Cohen, General Counsel, StubHub Stephen DeBerry, Founder/Managing Partner, Bronze Investments Peter Diamandis, Entrepreneur; Author, Abundance and BOLD Barry Diller, Chairman, Expedia and IAC Esther Dyson, Executive Founder, Way to Wellville; Investor Amy Errett, Founder/CEO, Madison Reed Caterina Fake, Founder/CEO, Findery; Co-Founder, Flickr Christopher Farmer, Founder/CEO, SignalFire Brad Feld, Managing Director, Foundry Group; Co-Founder, Techstars Josh Felser, Co-Founder, Freestyle Capital &amp; ClimateX Hajj Flemings, Founder/CEO, Brand Camp University Natalie Foster, Co-Founder, Peers David Grain, Founder/Managing Partner, Grain Management, LLC Brad Hargreaves, Founder/CEO, Common Donna Harris, Co-Founder/Co-CEO, 1776 Scott Heiferman, Co-Founder/CEO, Meetup David Hornik, General Partner, August Capital Terry Howerton, CEO, TechNexus Reed Hundt, Former Chair, FCC Minnie Ingersoll, COO, Shift Technologies Sami Inkinen, Founder/CEO, Virta Health; Co-Founder, Trulia Craig Isakow, Head of Revenue, Shift Technologies Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., President and Founder, Rainbow PUSH Coalition Irwin Jacobs, Founding Chairman/CEO Emeritus, Qualcomm Inc Paul Jacobs, Executive Chairman, Qualcomm Inc Leila Janah, Founder/CEO, Sama &amp; Laxmi Sujay Jaswa, Former CFO, Dropbox; Founder, Witt Capital Partners Mark Josephson, CEO, Bitly Sep Kamvar, Professor, MIT David Karp, Founder/CEO, Tumblr Jed Katz, Managing Director, Javelin Venture Partners Kim Keenan, President/CEO, Multicultural Media, Telecom &amp; Internet Council Ben Keighran, Entrepreneur; Former Design Lead, Apple William Kennard, Former Chair, FCC Vinod Khosla, Founder, Khosla Ventures; Co-Founder, SUN Microsystems Ron Klain, Executive Vice President, Revolution LLC Walter Kortschak, Former Managing Partner and Senior Advisor, Summit Partners Jared Kopf, Founder AdRoll, HomeRun, Worldly Joseph Kopser, Co-Founder, Ridescout Karen Kornbluh, Former US Ambassador, OECD Othman Laraki, Co-Founder/President, Color Genomics Miles Lasater, Serial Entrepreneur Jeff Lawson, CEO, Twilio Aileen Lee, Founder/Managing Partner, Cowboy Ventures Bobby Lent, Managing Partner, Hillsven Capital Aaron Levie, Co-Founder/CEO, Box John Lilly, Partner, Greylock Partners Bruce Lincoln, Co-Founder, Silicon Harlem Ruth Livier, President, Livier Productions, Inc. Mark Lloyd, Professor of Communication, University of Southern California?-?Annenberg School Luther Lowe, VP of Public Policy, Yelp Nancy Lublin, Founder/CEO, Crisis Text Line Kanyi Maqubela, Partner, Collaborative Fund Jonathan Matus, Founder/CEO, Zendrive Josh McFarland, Vice President of Product, Twitter Andrew McLaughlin, Head of New Business, Medium; Venture Partner, betaworks Shishir Mehrotra, Entrepreneur &amp; former VP of Product &amp; Engineering, YouTube Apoorva Mehta, Founder/CEO, Instacart Doug Merritt, CEO, Splunk Dinesh Moorjani, Founder/CEO, Hatch Labs; Co-Founder, Tinder Brit Morin, Founder/CEO, Brit + Co Dave Morin, Entrepreneur; Partner, Slow Ventures Dustin Moskovitz, Co-Founder, Asana; Co-Founder, Facebook Amanda Moskowitz, Founder/CEO, Stacklist Alex Nogales, President/CEO, National Hispanic Media Coalition Alexis Ohanian, Co-Founder, Reddit Mike Olson, Founder/Chairman/CSO, Cloudera Pierre Omidyar, Founder, eBay Felix W. Ortiz III, Founder/Chairman/CEO, Viridis; Board Member of The NYC Technology Development Corporation Jen Pahlka, Founder/Executive Director, Code for America Barney Pell, Founder Powerset, MoonExpress, Locomobi; Founding Trustee, Singularity University Mark Pincus, Executive Chairman and Founder, Zynga Shervin Pishevar, Co-Founder/Managing Director, Sherpa Capital and Co-Founder/Executive Chairman of Hyperloop One Brandon Pollack, Director of Global Affairs, 1776 Amy Rao, Founder/CEO, Integrated Archive Systems, Inc. Eric Ries, Entrepreneur &amp; Author, The Lean Startup Justin Rosenstein, Co-Founder, Asana Alec Ross, Author, The Industries of the Future Javier Saade, Venture Capitalist; Former Associate Administrator, SBA Chris Sacca, Founder/Chairman, Lowercase Capital Dave Samuel, Co-Founder, Freestyle Capital Julie Samuels, Executive Director, Tech:NYC Reshma Saujani, Founder, Girls Who Code Chris Schroeder, Venture Investor; Author, Startup Rising Jake Schwartz, Co-Founder/CEO, General Assembly Robert Scoble, Entrepreneur in Residence and Futurist, Upload VR Kim Malone Scott, CEO, Candor, Inc; Former Director, Google Tina Sharkey, Partner, Sherpa Foundry &amp; Sherpa Capital Clara Shih, Co-Founder/CEO, Hearsay Social Shivani Siroya, Founder/CEO, InVenture Steve Smith, Executive Director, Public Policy Institute, Government Relations &amp; Telecommunications Project, Rainbow PUSH Coalition Jonathan Spalter, Chair, Mobile Future DeShuna Spencer, CEO, kweliTV Katie Stanton, CMO, Color Genomics; Former VP of Global Media, Twitter Jenny Stefanotti, Co-Founder, OneProject; Board of Directors, Ushahidi Debby Sterling, Founder/CEO, Goldiblox Seth Sternberg, Co-Founder/CEO, Honor Margaret Stewart, Vice President of Product Design, Facebook Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO, Yelp Michael Stoppelman, SVP, Engineering, Yelp Baratunde Thurston, Former supervising producer, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah; Co-Founder, Cultivated Wit Stephanie Tilenius, Founder/CEO, Vida Health; Board of Directors, Seagate Technology Richard D. Titus, Entrepreneur; SVP, Samsung Anne Toth, VP of Policy &amp; Compliance, Slack Bill Trenchard, Partner, First Round Capital April Underwood, VP of Product, Slack Max Ventilla, Founder/CEO, AltSchool Tabreez Verjee, Co-Founder/Partner Uprising; Board Director Kiva.org Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia Hunter Walk, Partner, Homebrew VC; Former Director of Product Management, Google Tristan Walker, Founder/CEO, Walker &amp; Company Brands, Inc.; Founder/Chairman, Code 2040 Ari Wallach, CEO, Synthesis Corp. Padmasree Warrior, CEO, NextEV USA; Former CTSO, Cisco Laura Weidman Powers, Co-Founder/CEO, Code2040 Kevin Weil, Head of Product, Instagram Phil Weiser, Hatfield Professor of Law, University of Colorado and Executive Director of the Silicon Flatirons Center Daniel J. Weitzner, Principal Research Scientist, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Emily White, Entrepreneur; Former COO, Snapchat Ev Williams, Founder/CEO, Medium; Co-Founder Twitter, Blogger Monique Woodward, Venture Partner, 500 Startups Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder, Apple Tim Wu, Professor of Law, Columbia University Andrew Yang, Founder/CEO, Venture for America Arielle Zuckerberg, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp; Byers <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-ios-android-annoying-problem-2016-6">The most annoying thing about the iPhone isn't changing any time soon</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="VibW5jNDE69GzqusUkQ8TPgI7rpDSkvZ" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

More than 140 tech leaders agree: 'Trump would be a disaster for innovation'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Guardant Health</div></div></div>A startup that wants to make cancer testing as simple as taking a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/big-data-and-cancer-2015-9">blood test</a> just raised nearly $100 million.Guardant Health, a Redwood City-based cancer diagnostics company, said it's completed a series D funding round led by <a href="http://www.orbimed.com/">OrbiMed</a>. The healthcare-investment firm is joined by Silicon Valley venture capitalists Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital, which also invested in earlier rounds. Guardant did not disclose a valuation. Guardant's "liquid biopsy" Guardant360 test takes blood samples from cancer patients and sequences genetic information in that blood to figure out how tumors are responding to a certain cancer therapy. This way, a patient using the Guardant360 test can get a liquid biopsy every few weeks, rather than every few months, the timeline for a traditional biopsy.Guardant CEO Helmy Eltoukhy told Business Insider that the company is running these tests at a rate of about 20,000 a year, with almost 2,000 cancer doctors using the test to monitor their patient's disease. He said this volume of tests has increased tenfold since the company's <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/guardant-health-secures-additional-50-million-based-on-strong-demand-for-its-biopsy-free-cancer-blood-test-guardant360-300028792.html">last round of funding</a>. Unlike Flatiron Health, one of the companies Guardant has partnered with in the past that also announced a funding round this week and said it's planning for an IPO <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/flatiron-health-raises-175-million-from-roche-2016-1">within a few years</a>, Eltoukhy said there isn't an exact timeline for going public."We're making sure we do our homework to make sure that the company's processes and management team and all the different pieces are at a level such that we can go public if we so choose," he said.Guardant, which launched its first test in 2014 has only been around for a little over three years. Now, it is working quickly to partner with pharmaceutical companies to start developing companion diagnostic tests. The goal there is to match cancer patients to a medication that's going to work the best against their tumors, based on that person's genetics.Although some liquid biopsy companies have <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-blood-test-for-early-cancer-detection-sparks-debate-1443472840">run into trouble recently</a> for not having their tests clinically validated, Eltoukhy said Guardant has been taking steps to make sure its tests are accurate, including publishing studies that compare results to traditional mass tissue biopsies and running the technology past cancer centers. The company also works in CLIA-regulated labs, and is keeping its standards up to FDA quality in the event that it becomes a companion test to a cancer drug. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/painkiller-warnings-increased-fda-can-cause-stroke-heart-attack-2015-12">The FDA just released new warnings about painkillers like ibuprofen - here's what you need to know</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="JocDVzeTpTvORagyqC2du2ghWhZoPw4y" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

A company that wants to replace cancer biopsies with blood tests just raised nearly $100 million

<table class="image-container float_right" width="200"><tr><td><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.piersonlabs.com/#team">Pierson Labs</a>Ramona Pierson</td></tr></table>Everybody has a story but few are as painful and triumphant as <keyword id="1747872" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ramona-Pierson">Ramona Pierson</keyword>'s.
Pierson is the CEO of a stealth startup, Pierson Labs.
She is also, quite possibly, the most inspiring tech founder in the Valley today. And that's saying something.
Business Insider recently met with her and her cofounder Nelson González at the startup's Palo Alto headquarters.
Pierson is lucky to be alive. She's also lucky to be walking, talking and thinking, much less be leading her second startup, developing big-data education software.
In 1984, when she was 22 years old, she went out jogging with her dog and was hit by a drunk driver. The car crushed her face, throat, heart lungs and legs. At the hospital, she fell into an 18-month coma. And then she had a heart attack.
Instead of killing her, the heart attack woke her up. She came to weighing 64 pounds, blind and unable to walk, talk, eat.
Doctors rebuilt her through more than 50 surgeries: a plastic nose, a new eye, lots of titanium used as bones and some bones taken from cadavers, too.
"Eventually, I started to look human," she says in her <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pTy6NeX1E4">stirring 2011 Ted Talk</a> about the ordeal.
Today, she looks more than human. She looks like the attractive, fit, ex-Marine that she is. But it was a long road to recovery involving having to relearn everything.
In the marines, Pierson learned to code. Her experience lead to an interest in neuroscience so during her military service she wrote algorithms to diagnose brain injuries from the battlefield.
<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pTy6NeX1E4"></a></div>Business Insider/Julie BortNelson González, Ramona Pierson, and Tanqueray Pierson</div>That lead to an interest in how people learn and a job as director of technology for Seattle Public Schools. There she created a social network for students and teachers called "The Source."
And that lead to her first startup, SynapticMash, an education software company sold to Promethean World for $10 million in 2010.
But her injuries still plagued her. The cadaver bone in her leg randomly broke while she was running and needed to be replaced. Just last year, her toes needed to be fixed.
She became so good at living through surgeries that she actually negotiated the sale of SynapticMash from the hospital recovery room 15 minutes after an operation. She refused the pain medicine and instead popped open her laptop, hopped onto Skype and sold her company, she told Business Insider.
Despite her history, Pierson is a cheerful, hopeful, driven person with a big sense of humor and an enormous amount of charisma. A screenwriter for Moneyball is even writing screenplay about her life.
Her new company is likely to be more successful than the last one. Pierson Labs will exit stealth next month and the company already has some big customers, we've heard, and a partner at venture capital firm Khosla is her personal advisor.
The company is home to about 20 employees who are building a big-data platform called Declara. It's a combo analytics/social networking platform to help teachers create more personalized lessons for students. It can also be used by enterprises for training, González told us.
Plus the company is working on other interesting projects. For instance, Hall of Famer 49er's football player Ronnie Lott is an investor, Pierson says. He wants to make football safer and is looking at Pierson's tech for that. By attaching sensors to player's bodies, the platform can analyze bio-mechanic data and assess injuries.
Pierson is also half of a Valley power couple. Her partner Debra Chrapaty, Zynga's former CIO, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/debra-chrapaty-zynga-nirvanix-2013-3">just became CEO for Khosla-backed cloud-storage startup Nirvanix</a>.

Startup Founder Ramona Pierson Has Survived Worse Things Than Most People Can Imagine

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunchHampton Creek Foods Founder Josh Tetrick (left) showing off their line of products at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.</div></div></div>It looks like <keyword id="6357722" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="silicon-valley">Silicon Valley</keyword> venture capitalists have found the next industry they would like to disrupt: <keyword id="6181" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Food">Food</keyword>. 
A batch of food startups have sprung up over the last few years, backed by big money, with the goal of revolutionizing the way that we eat. 
In 2012, investors<a href="http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/venture-capital/food-technology"> put nearly $350 million dollars into the burgeoning food technology industry,</a> which includes web and mobile food applications and actual food products coming to market. That's a 37% increase over 2011. In 2008, the number was just $50 million. 
So why, the food industry? Josh Tetrick, the founder and chief executive of Hampton Creek Foods, the makers of a plant-based egg product, had an answer. 
<a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/disruptions-silicon-valleys-next-stop-the-kitchen/">"The food system is bizarre and ineffectual and completely lacking in innovation,"</a> Tetrick told The New York Times. 
Here are the start-ups that are making Silicon Valley VCs investment-crazy:
<a href="http://hamptoncreekfoods.com/">Hampton Creek Foods</a>
What Are The Products: Beyond Eggs is a plant-based egg substitute made out of peas, sorghum, and nine other plants. While it may sound gross, Hampton Creek claims its product is healthier, has a longer shelf-life, and costs 19 percent less than real eggs. As of right now, Beyond Eggs is intended only for baking uses, though the company just released Just Mayo, a plant-based mayo substitute, and it has announced plans to release a scrambled egg product next March. Here is a preview: 

Who Is Investing: <a href="http://www.khoslaventures.com/">Khosla Ventures (Vinod Khosla &amp; Bill Gates)</a>
How Does It Taste: In blind taste tests, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/09/11/chicken-or-egg-question-cracked-scientists-create-plant-based-egg/">Bill Gates, Tony Blair</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681889/inside-the-company-thats-producing-the-most-realistic-fake-eggs-youll-ever-taste#6">Fast CoExist's Ariel Schwartz</a>, and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/23/beyond-eggs_n_3963845.html">Huffington Post's Nile Cappello</a> couldn't tell the difference between products baked with Beyond Eggs and those that weren't. 
Why You Should Pay Attention: The egg industry is a $6 billion dollar industry and Hampton Creek claims that its product is "better than eggs." While it may take a while to win over everyday consumers, the company has already arranging deals with major food manufacturing companies to replace eggs in many processed foods you already eat. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Beyond <keyword id="52511" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Meat">Meat</keyword></div></div></div>
<a href="http://beyondmeat.com/">Beyond Meat</a>
What Are The Products: Chicken-Free Strips are Beyond Meat's solution to the potentially unsustainable poultry industry (<a href="http://www.tested.com/inventern/458382-beyond-meats-not-chicken-strips-may-revolutionize-meat-substitutes/">humans eat 183 billion pounds of chicken every year</a>). The chicken-free strips are made of a variety of plants including soy, peas, flours, and fiber and come in three varieties: lightly seasoned, grilled, and southwest.
What makes Chicken-Free Strips different from fake meat already on the market (such as Tofurkey or Boca Burgers) is that they are the first of their kind to mimic not only the taste of chicken but also the texture. The plant protein mixture is kneaded into a specific arrangement that looks like chicken and feels like it when you bite into it. 
Who Is Investing: <a href="https://medium.com/obvious">Obvious Corp (the company behind Twitter)</a>, <a href="http://www.kpcb.com/">Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers</a>
How Does It Taste: Chef and Food Network host Alton Brown tasted the not-chicken and declared, <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/09/fakemeat/">"It's more like meat than anything I've ever seen that wasn't meat."</a> However, he wasn't all glowing. While he found the texture to be on point, he said the product tastes "distinctly vegetal."
After the taste test, Brown went to work with a team of chefs to try the product out in different recipes. While he had trouble recommending the product for anything that puts the not-chicken front and center, he said that it works well for tacos, stir-fries, soups, and even chicken nuggets ("most impressive"). 
Why You Should Pay Attention: We're not buying Twitter's Biz Stone's declaration that, <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680007/biz-stone-explains-why-twitters-co-founders-are-betting-big-on-a-vegan-meat-startup">"If someone were to serve this to me in a restaurant I would have said 'I think this is a mistake,'"</a> (he is a vegan after all). However, it's clear he believes in the company, which might be reason for us to as well.
What turned the heads of the guys at Obvious Corporation wasn't necessarily the product itself, but founder Ethan Brown's vision. Brown told Stone and company that he didn't want the product to be a niche product for vegans, he wanted it to be something everyday consumers would replace their chicken with. 
It is already available at Whole Foods, packaged and in many of their prepared products. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">REUTERS/David Parry</div></div></div>
<a href="http://modernmeadow.com/">Modern Meadow </a>
What Are The Products: Modern Meadow co-founder Andras Forgacs has a revolutionary, if somewhat unsettling idea: use lab cultures and 3-D printing to grow meat in a lab. Forgacs is trying disrupt the meat industry, which he calls <a href="http://phys.org/news/2012-08-paypal-founder-bankrolls-d-meat.html">"an environmental train wreck,"</a> by combining regenerative medicine (cell cultures from cow stem cells) with 3-D printing to create hamburger meat without the environmental impact or the inhumane animal treatment. The product is still in the testing phase and is probably several years away from scaling to a level where you might find it in a grocery store. 
Who Is Investing: Paypal co-founder <a href="http://www.breakoutlabs.org/home.html">Peter Thiel's Breakout Labs</a>, a <a href="http://www.sbir.gov/">grant from the S</a><a href="http://www.sbir.gov/">mall Business Innovation Research</a>, and $1.4 million in investments from angel and seed funds.
How Does It Taste: In a recent Reddit AMA, Forgacs <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/199f0n/im_andras_forgacs_ceo_of_modern_meadow_a_company/">gave an extremely candid response on the details of the lab meat.</a> Here's what he had to say: 
I've tasted it as have my colleagues. We've only been able to have small bites since we're still working on getting the process right.
I cooked some pieces in olive oil and ate some with and without salt and pepper. Not bad. The taste is good but not yet fully like meat. We have yet to get the fat content right and other elements that influence taste. This process will be iterative and involve us working closely with our consulting chefs.
Why You Should Pay Attention: In the same AMA, Forgacs stressed that the "bio-printing" process used to create lab beef could be used for just about any type of meat, including fish. The trick is getting the cost down, which Forgacs has said is a main priority. He estimates that by the time the meat comes to market, it will cost $30/lb to start. Not cheap, but not terrible either.
The company has big money behind it and a great idea that is sounding less like science fiction everyday.

These Silicon Valley-Backed Startups Are Looking To Revolutionize Your Food

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">ShutterstockSynthetic biology company Amyris is charging into health with a focus on fragrances, skincare, and sweetener.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Bay Area synthetic biology company Amyris tried to transform the transportation industry with <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/426866/amyris-gives-up-making-biofuels-update/">sustainably-produced fuel</a>, but the effort flopped.</li><li>Now, it's charging into health with a focus on fragrances, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sephora-skincare-gifts-2018-12#biossance-squalane-and-glycolic-renewal-facial-4">skincare</a>, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amyris-to-host-launch-of-its-new-zero-calorie-natural-sweetener-in-new-york-on-december-3-2018-1027528084">sweetener</a>.</li><li>Amyris uses living organisms instead of traditional manufacturing processes to make its ingredients faster, cheaper, and with less of an impact on the environment.</li><li>Business Insider recently toured the company's 600-person Emeryville, Calif. facility and tried two of its new products: a zero-calorie sweetener and a line of face creams which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/7-new-beauty-products-to-look-out-for-at-sephora-this-september-2017-9#biossance-squalane-antioxidant-cleansing-cloths-4">can be found at Sephora</a>.</li></ul>After a valiant-but-failed <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/426866/amyris-gives-up-making-biofuels-update/">attempt</a> at disrupting the oil industry with microorganisms that churned out clean fuel, Amyris is charging into the consumer health arena.The Bay Area company, which went public in 2010 after spending seven years as a startup, is still driven by the same renewable principles that inspired its biofuels push. This time, they're being applied to products like fragrances, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sephora-skincare-gifts-2018-12#biossance-squalane-and-glycolic-renewal-facial-4">skincare</a>, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amyris-to-host-launch-of-its-new-zero-calorie-natural-sweetener-in-new-york-on-december-3-2018-1027528084">sweetener</a>.Amyris is a pioneer in the field of synthetic biology. The goal is to move away from old, highly polluting manufacturing processes based on petrochemicals to cheaper, faster, and more sustainable methods founded on cells. Essentially, Amyris uses living things to manufacture its ingredients. Synthetic biology has been a struggle financially. Amyris has reported financial losses every year but one since its 2010 IPO, and the company's stock has lost nearly 99% over that time period. Today, the shares are trading at roughly $3, giving the company a market value of about $250 million.Still, a growing group of companies are pursuing similar techniques to make less-toxic <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amyris-to-host-launch-of-its-new-zero-calorie-natural-sweetener-in-new-york-on-december-3-2018-1027528084">sweeteners</a> for food, biodegradable <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mushroom-packaging-startup-aims-for-lab-grown-meat-ecovative-2018-10">building materials</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/synthetic-biology-zymergen-raises-hundreds-millions-for-future-manufacturing-2018-12">foldable electronics</a>, and investors have been <a href="https://www.cbinsights.com/research/industrial-synthetic-biology-market-map/">pouring money</a> into the field. From 2012 to 2017, funding for synthetic biology startups more than tripled, surpassing the $1 billion mark in 2016, according to a <a href="https://www.cbinsights.com/research/synthetic-biology-startup-market-map/">report</a> from CB Insights. Earlier this month, a synthetic biology startup called Zymergen <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/synthetic-biology-zymergen-raises-hundreds-millions-for-future-manufacturing-2018-12">raised $400 million</a> from investors including SoftBank and Goldman Sachs. Its aim is to make novel items like ultra-durable coatings and nontoxic insect repellents. (Of Zymergen's three co-founders, two came from Amyris.)Amyris is taking a different tack. It's focused on making superior versions of consumer products that already exist. That includes perfumes, moisturizers, and sweeteners that are cheaper, can be made faster, and are less environmentally-damaging than what most people use today."I want people to become aware of us because we're in their lives," Amyris CEO John Melo told Business Insider on a recent tour of the company's Emeryville, California headquarters, just north of Oakland."If I were to extrapolate that to its fullest, I would love to be the 'Intel Inside' everybody's goods."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/synthetic-biology-zymergen-raises-hundreds-millions-for-future-manufacturing-2018-12">A Silicon Valley startup with 26 patents under its belt just raised $400 million from SoftBank and Goldman Sachs to make materials from living things</a><h2>Inside Amyris' plan for global domination</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Courtesy AmyrisBillionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is responsible for much of Amyris' present renown.</div></div></div>Inside Amyris' sprawling, multistory headquarters in a rapidly developing part of Emeryville, the sound of humming robots and other pricey lab equipment fills the air. Hundreds of employees work with the glimmering equipment to churn out all of the base ingredients for its range of consumer products. A decade ago, a much smaller set of machinery was being used to make industrial goods. With funds from investors including Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins and support from billionaire Bill Gates, Amyris produced the precursors to malaria drugs and hydrocarbon-based biofuel. But neither operation could compete financially with traditional manufacturing processes, so after years of work, Amyris had to either shut down or spin off both enterprises.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-life-science-biotech-vc-investor-list-2018-8">40 AND UNDER: The Silicon Valley biotech stars who are backing startups aiming to cure disease, prolong life, and fix the food system</a>Still, Melo doesn't think the company's work on malaria or fuel was all for nothing. Today, he says the work on consumer goods is succeeding - largely thanks to the hard lessons learned in biofuels."Not everybody has the benefit of those pieces," Melo said.<h2>From malaria drugs to biofuels to skincare, fragrances, and sweetener</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Courtesy AmyrisAmyris' Biossance products, sold at Sephora, contain up to 60% of the skin-quenching ingredient squalene. Only theirs is made with microbes, not shark livers.</div></div></div>Luckily for a company like Amyris, shifting from one industry to another isn't as difficult as it sounds. "Instead of a chemical company which has to change the pipes, all we have to do is change the organism," <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-cherry-bb3bb838/">Joel Cherry</a>, Amyris' president of research and development, said in December.And changing the organism is precisely what Amyris did when it entered the health space in 2016. Instead of focusing exclusively on yeast, the company feeds the same sugarcane waste that it used for malaria treatments and biofuel to a host of microorganisms like E. coli and different kinds of fungus.The company can coax the microbes into making the scent of patchouli or sandalwood for Chanel perfume, or the moisturizing emollient in its own lineup of skincare products called Biossance, which have been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sephora-skincare-gifts-2018-12#biossance-squalane-and-glycolic-renewal-facial-4">sold at big name retailers like Sephora</a> since 2017. Together, the sweetener and skincare industries provide Amyris with $200 billion in market potential, Melo estimated.And to ensure that it can compete financially, Amyris specifically looks for products whose supply could be threatened by changing climates or irregular harvests.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/crispr-genetic-modification-agriculture-food-2018-4">A controversial technology could save us from starvation - if we let it</a>In its Biossance products, the key ingredient that Amyris makes is called squalene. Normally derived from shark livers, the ingredient is prized by the cosmetic industry for its ability to hold moisture and keep skin soft and pliable. But dozens of countries have banned shark hunting, which harms the species along with the ocean ecosystems. So Amyris makes squalene with genetically engineered microbes instead.Amyris' unique production method for squalene has other benefits, too.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Courtesy AmyrisAmyris CEO John Melo</div></div></div>In most face and body products, squalene only exists as a tiny fraction (some 2-10%) of the overall ingredient list. But some of Amyris' Biossance products contain as much as 60% of the prized ingredient, something Melo says they do simply because they can."That's the strategy for everything we do, where people start with a small volume of our ingredient because they can claim it, it's good, and it does good things for the final product," Melo said. "The more they use it, the more they decide, 'We should be using more of this.'"The company hopes to do the same thing with its new zero-calorie sweetener, made using synthetic biology and an ingredient from the stevia plant.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eating-fat-wont-make-you-fat-sugar-will-2018-7">There's growing evidence that eating fat won't make you fat, but sugar will</a>In October, Amyris signed its first major supply and distribution agreement with ASR Group, the largest cane sugar refiner in the world. Last month, protein shake company <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amyris-celebrates-launch-of-new-zero-calorie-naturally-derived-sweetener-1027779348">Shaklee announced</a> it would make its shakes with Amyris' sweetener. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Erin Brodwin / Business Insider</div></div></div>Business Insider sampled coffee sweetened with a packet of the ingredient and tasted a chocolate bar made with the product. Both tasted similar to products sweetened with Splenda (sucralose) or Stevia, only without the bitter aftertaste."We go after big problems and part of that is going after markets where we can be the number one technology in the world for those markets," Melo said."I think of sweetener as the next market that we're entering, and there will be many more."<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/ai-in-us-healthcare?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=dhealth_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=dhealth_ctgr_leadgen_ai_in_us_healthcare"></a></hr> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tried-22-day-revolution-beyonce-vegan-diet-weight-loss-2017-9">I went on Beyoncé's 22-day diet - and I lost 15 pounds</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

After a kick-start from Bill Gates, a Silicon Valley company aims to be the 'Intel Inside' of the $200 billion sweetener and skincare market

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">Courtesy Color GenomicsWhat's inside a Color Genomics testing kit.</div></div></div>Color Genomics, a genetics testing company that for $249 wants to tell you if you have the genetic mutations that could predispose you to certain types of cancer, just raised another $45 million to help it get its tests into more people's hands.The series B round is led by General Catalyst. Color previously raised $15 million - bringing the total raised to $60 million - from investors including Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective, Khosla Ventures, and 8VC, who are all also participating in this funding round. Bono, of the band U2, is also investing in the new round.Color will also be adding Hemant Taneja, managing director at General Catalyst, and Susan Wagner, BlackRock co-founder, to its board. Color CEO and co-founder Elad Gil told Business Insider that General Catalyst was a good fit for the round because of its expertise in apps like Snapchat and Stripe, as well with medical diagnostic startups. "They cover both sides of the spectrum," he said. That mix is something that Color's known for, too: Gil and President Othman Laraki both worked at Twitter for a number of years.Color launched its test in April 2015 and now <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-can-i-learn-from-a-color-genomics-test-2016-4">offers an updated test</a> that looks at 30 genetic markers, or parts of our DNA that have been linked to certain conditions. These genes are linked with a higher risk of developing, breast, ovarian, colorectal, melanoma, uterine, pancreatic, prostate, and stomach cancer. (The company has <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/color-static-prod/pdfs/validationWhitePaper.pdf">a white paper</a> explaining how they validated the accuracy of the test's results using 500 samples, though none of the markers can predict a future diagnosis with any certainty; they only measure elevated risk)Knowing what mutations you have is a key part of understanding your risk of getting certain types of cancer, a highly complex <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> that researchers are still teasing out. Lifestyle factors, like how often you exercise and what you eat, play a major role in your risk for cancer, but tests like those Color offers look only at your genetic risks.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Color GenomicsA scene inside Color's lab.</div></div></div>For example, the risk of getting breast cancer goes <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/features/hereditarycancer/">from 7%</a> to an <a href="http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/moreinformation/breastcancerearlydetection/breast-cancer-early-detection-risk-factors-you-cannot-change">average of 55-65%</a> when you have the BRCA1 or 2 gene mutation. Knowing you have one of these genetic tweaks, then, could ostensibly help you make more proactive decisions, like getting more frequent cancer screenings or eating healthier (though few cancer-related genetic risks are understood quite as well as the BRCA gene mutation).For healthy people, getting genetic tests that are not required or suggested by your doctor does have <a href="http://www.healthnewsreview.org/review/color-genomics-sells-249-breast-cancer-gene-test-masses/">some risks</a>. Results can be worryingly ambiguous, and there can be false positives, leading to anxiety, stress, and even unnecessary interventions.With the additional funding, Color has a couple of things in the works: first, it's offering $50 tests for people who have a direct family member with an inherited cancer gene mutation (regardless of whether that family member got his or her report through Color or another genetic test). Gil said the hope is to provide these discounted tests to thousands of families. (While $50 is a deep discount, for women with a significant family history of breast cancer, the BRCA test and associated genetic counseling is actually something that insurers are <a href="https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Fact-Sheets-and-FAQs/aca_implementation_faqs12.html">required by the Affordable Care Act to cover</a>.)Color's also teaming up with the BRCA Foundation to launch a BRCA gene registry, so that people who have the BRCA mutations can opt in and be contacted for future research or clinical trials. <h2>How a Color test works:</h2><ol><li>Call your doctor. Because it gives out some serious medical information, Color requires that you have a physician involved. If you don't want to include your own doctor, Color will link you with an independent physician who'll evaluate your information and assign you a test - if they decide it's the right move. Either way, you or your doctor can order the test directly through <a href="https://getcolor.com/providers/about-test">Color's website</a>. </li><li>After registering online, you'll get a testing kit in the mail. </li><li>Collect your spit, like you would with many other genetics tests. It <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/i-tried-the-new-23andme-genetic-test-2015-12">might feel a bit awkward</a>. </li><li>Send in your spit for Color to analyze. They'll return the results to you and your doctor.</li><li>Still want to learn more? Color provides a free genetics counselor to discuss your results further as part of its process.</li></ol> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/thyroid-cancer-treatment-doctors-science-2016-5">Doctors now say this type of cancer isn't actually cancer - and the new classification is changing thousands of lives</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BxeWRjMzE6AMEa_vuqxMvN4-OMcv2XjC" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

A genetics company founded by former Twitter execs just raised another $45 million

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/game-changers"></a><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right" style="width:468px"><div class="image">Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunchTetrick, left, presenting at TechCrunch Disrupt.</div></div>
Hampton Creek, a San Francisco-based startup, is tackling a problem that's seriously hard to crack. It wants to make the egg obsolete. 
The company's breakthrough idea: replicating eggs with plants.
Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick says his product is 48% cheaper than using conventional chicken eggs.
"The cost of an egg comes from feed," Tetrick tells Business Insider. "Unless egg makers are willing to lose money, they don't have a structure to compete with us. Unless they come up with a new way to not feed the chickens."
Investors are buying in. In February, Hampton Creek <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hampton-creek-raises-23-million-led-by-horizon-2014-2">got $23 million in funding led by </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hampton-creek-raises-23-million-led-by-horizon-2014-2">Li Ka-Shing's Horizon Ventures</a>. Li is Asia's richest man, with a net worth of $33 billion, according to <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/2014-06-19/cya">Bloomberg's Billionaire Index</a>. That brings its total funding up to $29.2 million. Other investors include Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, among others. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Seth PerlmanNot suited for the 21st century?</div></div></div>
In Search Of The Perfect Scrambled Egg
Tetrick has a team of scientists breaking down plants to find structures that can replicate what eggs do.
"We've got lots of people from all over the world. They abandoned jobs paying $300,000 for this," Tetrick told us earlier this year. His team has examined 3,000 plants. They've narrowed that down to 11 plants that are good for making food products. He's also told us, "These people know nothing about food. They know about protein structure. They come from a lab ... they analyze the molecular structure."
Right now, the company's primary product is a mayonnaise substitute called Just Mayo. It's being used for chicken salads at some Whole Foods stores. In the future, the company hopes, it could be used by fast-food companies instead of real mayo. (We've tested it and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hampton-creek-mayo-cookie-dough-taste-2013-12">it's hard to tell the difference between Just Mayo and the real thing</a>.) Another product in development is a cookie dough that can be eaten raw or baked into cookies. 
But the big product Hampton Creek is chasing: a scrambled-egg substitute called Just Scramble, which the company says it is close to perfecting. It's just a matter of tweaking the flavor.
It's not just about taste. It's also about nutrition. Hampton Creek offers more protein in its products than egg-based products. "For what ever reason our society has gotten stuck on this notion of animal protein as the paradigm by which we do things," says Tetrick.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Mike Nudelman</div></div></div>
Why are technology investors investing in a food company? 
Tetrick likes to point out that only a tiny sliver of the eggs we consume come from free-range, fairly treated chickens. The rest, he says, come from chickens in dirty cages.
"You are covering innovation, you are covering where the world is going. For some reason, innovation decided to pass food along the side of the road," says Tetrick. "They look at the inefficiency of [the egg industry], and it's like, I'm investing in iPhone technology where I can monitor my heart rate, and these f------ eggs are coming from rusty cages with chickens s------ all over each other?"
Hampton's founder is a vegan but keeps that quiet. He doesn't want Hampton Creek to be marginalized as a niche company. His goal is to be a mainstream, low-cost, high-quality product that appeals to people who want good food. 
"We didn't start this to say you shouldn't eat eggs, we started to say this model of intensive agriculture is bizarre and belongs in the 19th century," says Tetrick. "It's not appropriate to the 21st century."

A San Francisco Startup Has Plans To Blow Up The Egg Industry

Something is rotten at food startup Hampton Creek, former employees say

Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunchEarly investors were impressed with the organization and vision of DoorDash cofounder Tony Xu and his team.<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/doordash">DoorDash</a> is one of the most valuable private <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/startups">startups</a> and has recently emerged as the leader in the food-delivery industry.</li><li>Its also reportedly gearing up for a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/ipo">public offering</a> as soon as next year.</li><li>Early investors in the company aren't shocked by its success.</li><li>Even when the company was less than a year old, its business plan and management team impressed them and suggested it had a big future ahead of it, they told Business Insider.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>Paul Buchheit was worried that the team from Stanford wasn't going to figure things out.It was the summer of 2013, and the four-person team was a part of Y Combinator's latest class of founders of fledgling startups. Months earlier, the group had launched a company that took orders for and delivered food from restaurants located near their university, including a popular Israeli restaurant called Oren's Hummus.The team had seen some initial success, enough to get them into the incubator's program, but now they were struggling to determine what to focus on. They seemed to be getting some traction delivering larger, catering-type orders to companies. Meanwhile, delivering meals one at a time to consumers looked like it could be a tough business, particularly in trying to figure out how to attract customers in a cost-effective and sustainable way. Jokingly, Buchheit suggested that they could hand out refrigerator magnets to advertise their company."It wasn't clear if it was going to work at all," Buchheit told Business Insider in a recent interview.But within a few weeks, the group had settled on a plan - they would concentrate, at least initially, on delivering to consumers after all. And after a bunch of experimentation, they had figured out how to reach those customers without blowing their budget. A key piece of that was simply getting more restaurants tied into their service so consumers were more likely to find their favorites.The team's turnaround impressed Buchheit, so much so that even though more than six years have passed and he's worked with thousands of other founding teams, the Stanford group's story still stands out."Going from me thinking this might not ever work to having confidence in about a month and a half is very fast," he said.The team and company that so impressed Buchheit? Tony Xu and his cofounders at DoorDash.DoorDash is now the most popular food delivery service in the US. Backed by top venture and institutional investors including Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and SoftBank, DoorDash has a valuation of $12.7 billion and is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-19/is-doordash-public-food-delivery-company-weighs-direct-listing">rumored to be preparing for a public listing next year.</a>That makes the six-year old food delivery company one of the key startups to watch in 2020. DoorDash's next move, be it through an initial public offering or a direct listing, will test whether public investors can still muster an appetite for a buzzy gig-economy startup with an impressive founder at a time when several earlier offerings from the same Silicon Valley cookbook have been decisively rejected. <h2>DoorDash has taken off</h2>From its small-scale origins delivering meals from restaurants near the Stanford campus, DoorDash grown to a national, even international giant, offering food delivery in some 4,000 cities across the United States and Canada. It's now the most popular food delivery service in the United States, <a href="https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/food-delivery-services-grubhub-uber-eats-doordash-postmates/">according to market research firm Second Measure</a>, accounting for 35% of delivery transactions this October and surpassing that of longtime leader Grubhub. It's expected to pull in as much as $1 billion in sales this year,<a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/with-public-debut-looming-doordash-projected-450m-2019-loss">according to a report by The Information.</a>Only a tiny fraction of startups achieve the kind of success DoorDash has seen. But early investors in the company say they aren't surprised at how the food delivery startup has turned out. To them, the company just made sense, and its founding team, particularly Xu, stood out even among all the high-achieving Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.Xu "was just an execution machine," said David Lee, who invested in DoorDash in the fall of 2013 while a managing partner at SV Angel. "His pace of getting things done is just really impressive.""Every time I would speak to him," continued Lee, who is now the chairman of Refactor Capital, "he had done so much. He had accomplished so much."DoorDash representatives declined to comment for this story.<h2>Palo Alto residents had few delivery options</h2>Several of DoorDash's early investors lived in or near Palo Alto at the time and were well aware of the paucity of food delivery options there and in other suburban areas. With Grubhub and similar companies primarily focused on big cities at the time, the only food consumers in less dense areas could get delivered was pizza and sometimes Chinese or other Asian food.Even in areas when consumers could get food delivered, the service was typically bad, Lee said. The deliveries were often late. The food was frequently cold. And the delivery charges were expensive.So when Tony and his team offered a wider range of options for Palo Alto residents - including food from Oren's Hummus, one of Lee's favorite restaurants - it didn't take much to convince Lee to back the company."It was a pretty easy investment," he said. "I was kind of looking for something like this."Buchheit was so excited about the service DoorDash was offering that he asked Xu and the team, while they were still in the Y Combinator program, to redraw their service area to specifically include his house.Including DoorDash in the Y Combinator and investing in the company was "not too hard of a decision, because it was literally a thing I had been wanting," Buchheit said. Before DoorDash came along, he continued: "It seemed a little bit mysterious that the only food that could be delivered to my house was pizza."But early investors weren't just enthused about DoorDash because they could suddenly get Oren's falafel pita sandwiches delivered to their doors. Many saw that it could have appeal far from Stanford's campus.<h2>Early investors foresaw big potential for DoorDash</h2>US consumers collectively <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/food-prices-and-spending/">spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year on food made outside the home</a> - and that amount has been rising steadily. With many people short on time, it made sense to some of those investors that a growing number of consumers would pay for the convenience of having food delivered to them, particularly in the suburbs where they hadn't had many options in the past. And the advent of smartphones and apps for them promised to make it much easier for consumers to place orders.semilshah.comDoorDash's business plan made sense to Semil Shah and other early investors."There's a very strong desire among consumers to eat, and consumers are lazy," said Semil Shah, who invested in DoorDash in fall 2013 as a general partner of Haystack. The company's general business plan "made sense to me," he added.And some investors saw even bigger possibilities. Other companies in the food delivery market at the time, such as Blue Apron, were intensely focused on the food itself, said James Currier, now a managing partner at NFX. In pitching investors, they would talk about the quality of the food they would be delivering and how it would differ from that of other services in terms of the amount of salt or fat or who their target customers were, he said.By contrast, Xu and his team weren't fixated on the food DoorDash was delivering, said Currier, who also backed DoorDash in the fall of 2013 as the CEO of Ooga Labs. Instead, they were much more focused on building out a delivery network that could be eventually be a new kind of logistics company, a sort-of next-generation UPS, that could deliver much more than just food, he said."It just made sense," Currier said. "It made sense that with the high frequency of food ordering, you could build out a network. And once you got a network in place, that network would allow you to provide greater value at higher speed and lower cost to all other deliveries that you might want to do on that network."<h2>Tony Xu and his team stood out</h2>Early investors saw other things to like about DoorDash, namely its team. Many investors point to founding teams as the reason why they backed particular companies. After all, Silicon Valley has more than its share of energetic entrepreneurial wunderkinds ready to conquer the world. But even in that environment, Xu and his cofounders stuck out, early backers say.Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunchSome of DoorDash's early investors, including David Lee, then of SV Angel, were disappointed in the delivery options in Silicon Valley and were looking for a service like DoorDash.Part of what stood out for investors was Xu organization and his grasp of even the smallest details about his business. He could succinctly make his pitch, articulating what the business was all about, the early backers said. But he also had a command of the facts.Xu is "just really organized and really focused," Shah said. "If you meet him, in two to five minutes, you just feel that immediately.""It's very different than meeting other people day in and day out," he continued. "Occasionally you meet somebody where you just kind of go, 'whoa!'"Early backers were also impressed with how quickly Xu and his team were moving. By the time they entered Y Combinator, they'd already started their service in Palo Alto and had paying customers, mere months after coming up with the idea for the company. They then quickly sorted through their struggles in Y Combinator and pressed forward.By that fall, when the company raised a $2.5 million seed round, it already had an operating service to tout to angel investors."They had accomplished so much in such a short amount of time," Currier said.Another thing struck Currier about Tony and his team. Even in DoorDash's earliest funding round, it attracted investments from a virtual all-star team of investors. The company's earliest backers included Khosla Ventures' Keith Rabois; Andy Rachleff, who had cofounded Benchmark; Charles River Ventures' Saar Gur; not to mention Currier himself. That group had extensive experience investing in, launching, and running startups."These guys stacked - just at their seed round - they stacked themselves up with operators," Currier said, continuing, "There was a preponderance of people who knew what we were doing."<h2>There are still plenty of challenges ahead</h2>To be sure, for all the excitement DoorDash generated early on and all the success it's had since, the company still faces plenty of challenges. According to a recent report from The Information, it's <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/with-public-debut-looming-doordash-projected-450m-2019-loss">on track to lose some $450 million this year</a> - or about 50 cents for every dollar of revenue it brings in. And that's on an adjusted basis, not its net loss, so it excludes things like taxes, interest, and amortization of assets.That kind of loss could put a damper on DoorDash's expected public offering. Other so-called unicorns - startups with a private valuation of $1 billion or more - have faced intense scrutiny from the public markets this year over their ongoing losses. Uber, Lyft, and Slack - all of which have consistently operated in the red - are each trading well below their public offering prices. The public investor pushback against WeWork and its massive losses was so intense that it had to cancel its IPO.DoorDash's potential listing comes as the spotlight is on other Softback-backed companies, following the upheaval at WeWork and the collapse in its valuation, revealing further troubles at those firms. In recent weeks, struggling dog-walking service Wag <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-gives-up-investment-dog-walking-startup-wag-2019-12">bought back its shares</a> that were held by the Japanese conglomerate, laid off numerous workers, and saw the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/wag-announces-appointment-of-garrett-smallwood-as-ceo-and-member-of-the-board-of-directors-1028719651">departure of its CEO</a>. Robotic pizza-making company Zume <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zume-cmo-mark-crumpacker-executive-departures-softbank-startup-2019-11">saw the departure of four top executives</a> and announced a reorganization.The company's plan to expand beyond food delivery to become a delivery network for all types of goods sounds a lot like what other companies, including Uber and Amazon are already doing.Meanwhile, DoorDash is contending with other concerns, particularly with its network of delivery drivers. The company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doordash-delivery-tipping-practices-under-fire-cash-2019-7">faced a backlash from drivers and customers</a> earlier this year over its practice of using customers' tips to cover part of the fees it had promised drivers. It later <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doordash-changes-tip-policies-after-criticism-from-workers-customers-2019-7">announced it would change that policy</a> so that any tips customers paid would go directly to drivers and would be in addition to the fees DoorDash itself paid them.Starting next year, a new law in California could force the company - as well as competitors including Grubhub and Uber Eats - to classify many of its delivery drivers as employees. The move would generally increase wages and benefits for those workers, while raising costs for DoorDash. The company, along with its rivals, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-bill-to-treat-contract-workers-as-employees-2019-9">is trying to overturn the new law</a> with a ballot measure.Still, the company's early backers are thrilled with what the company has achieved so far. Thrilled, but not necessarily astonished."With Tony, I'm not surprised," Shah said. "If you told me in five years, DoorDash is public and worth 100 billion bucks, I wouldn't be surprised," he continued, "Maybe I'd be a little bit surprised ... I wouldn't be shocked."Got a tip about DoorDash or another startups Contact this reporter via email at twolverton@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/troywolv/">@troywolv</a>, or send him a secure message through Signal at 415.515.5594. You can also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tip-business-insider-securely-guide-signal-securedrop-2017-6"> contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop</a>. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/getting-laser-eye-surgery-was-the-best-decision-ever-2019-11">What it's like to get laser eye surgery</a></h3>

DoorDash, the $12.7 billion food delivery startup, could make or break tech IPOs in 2020. Early investors explain why they backed the company and its founder.

This month’s announcement of Indian-born <keyword id="276564" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Satya-Nadella">Satya Nadella</keyword>’s elevation to the top job at <keyword id="10387" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Microsoft">Microsoft</keyword> has triggered some soul-searching among the Indian intelligentsia about how the best and the brightest from India tend to leave for foreign shores in search of better opportunities, instead of investing their intellectual capital at home. 
 A country of 1.2 billion with some crucial problems like poverty, illiteracy, <keyword id="6358907" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="unemployment">unemployment</keyword> and lack of public health facilities, India needs innovation at the grassroots, and as a corollary, an ecosystem that supports such innovation where it is needed most. 
 
Partnerships, not prescriptions 
In the past, India would have looked for aid from developed countries, which would be willing to provide it, along with a lengthy list of prescriptions on how and where that money should be used. 
 Happily, that model has given way to a new range of partnerships between leading Indian and foreign organisations, where Indians are innovating right here at home. One such partnership is the Stanford-India Biodesign Program (SIB), which was set up in 2001. Since its inception, it has focused on developing medical devices that solve specific challenges seen in the Indian scenario. A three-way collaboration of Stanford University, IIT-Delhi and the <keyword id="6365231" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="All-India-Institute-of-Medical-Sciences">All India Institute of Medical Sciences</keyword> (AIIMS), this programme stands out due to shared technological expertise and joint <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="40" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> that comes from the <keyword id="44734" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Indian-Government">Indian government</keyword> and US sources. 
 But the SIB programme, supported by Indo-US governmental efforts, is not the most revolutionary aspect of India’s changing innovation ecosystem. Some of the current developments are even more encouraging. For instance, there is <keyword id="6355629" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Google">Google</keyword>’s Impact Challenge and last year, the Internet giant funded a few social innovations in the country for the first time. 
 
From integrated water and sanitation systems for rural India to motorbike-borne science labs to get rural Indian kids excited about pursuing science and technology, Indians are being given a chance to determine their own innovation priorities and how to go about it. Consequently, an Indian Norman Borlaug may now use a homegrown innovation to benefit the entire mankind. 
 
A desi model Indians also have to be smart about innovating things the Indian way. Leveraging global benchmarks such as <keyword id="6357097" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="venture-capital">venture capital</keyword>, ease of doing business (India currently ranks an unenviable 134th in this area), <keyword id="388837" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="intellectual-property">intellectual property</keyword> protection and market access is important, but just copying another country’s model will also have its pitfalls. 
 So it is extremely unlikely that anyone but <keyword id="6360722" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="ratan-tata">Ratan Tata</keyword> would have been able to realise his dream of <keyword id="28810" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Nano">Nano</keyword>, the super low-cost car. Tata had the capital to back such R&amp;D and the organisation to endure the legal and political battles that accompany any large industrial project in this country. There is a reason why we can’t produce another <keyword id="6355315" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Elon-Musk">Elon Musk</keyword> in India. But even he had to move from South Africa to the US to pursue his dreams. 
 
However, we can and have produced a Phanindra Sama, founder of redBus, an online booking site for inter-city buses that largely operate in the unorganised sector but carry millions of passengers daily. India’s large pool of IT-savvy professionals is a cliché but it took Sama’s imagination and a few millions from India’s growing VC community to create long-term value. 
 
Unlike Sama, Mansukhbhai Prajapati does not figure on VC watch lists. But that doesn’t make his invention of a clay fridge called Mitticool (it needs no electricity) is any less cool. Frugal innovation is the buzzword when it comes to grassroots innovation in India and it is being championed by its very own Vinod Khosla, Professor Anil Gupta and his Honey Bee Network. E.F. Schumacher’s ‘small is beautiful’ principle is driving a new model of Indian low-cost, but high-impact innovations. 
 
Another benefit of flying under the radar with such innovations is that they don’t run into the typical problems of red tape and special interests that seem to bedevil the ‘big bang’ approach to innovation, where scale becomes a pre-condition for success. 
 
Implementation beats intent 
India is no different from other countries when it comes to the biggest enemy of innovation – poor implementation. When the world’s cheapest tablet Aakash was announced, most of us expected a grand repeat of the success we had with Nano. The Indian government also jumped on the bandwagon but in hindsight, that was one of the reasons for failure. 
 
There is a cautionary tale here for the well-intentioned folks who advocate massive institutional support for specific innovations. That can sometimes make innovators cocky or worse, sloppy, as a lessening of the fear of failure sometimes creates the conditions for falling short. 
 
Institutions need to contribute in order to strengthen the ecosystem – it should be their dharma. Leave it to the Indian innovator to do the rest. 
 
Image: ThinkStock

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