In Massachusetts, Foray Bioscience, a startup using plant cell culture to grow plant materials in a bioreactor, has raised $3 million in seed funding. Foray will use the funds to expand its predictive plant cell culture platform, launch product development engagements with select partners, and expand its Boston-based team.
Foray’s goal is to grow plant materials for plant-based industries protect and restore natural ecosystems. “We believe plant cell culture is a critical and underutilized tool for plant conservation, restoration, and production. With Foray’s technology, our goal is to make biomanufacturing accessible across species and applications by significantly reducing the barriers to entry,” Dr. Ashley Beckwith, founder and CEO of Foray, said in a press statement. “Our platform is powered by a first-of-a-kind predictive database and advanced optimization strategies that will improve success rates, shorten development timelines and make plant cell culture accessible to the 99% of species that remain largely unexplored in biomanufacturing today.”
Dr. Beckwith founded Foray after developing foundational approaches in plant-based materials during her PhD at MIT and scholarship at Draper Laboratory. The funding was led by ReGen Ventures, with participation from The Engine Ventures, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Understorey Ventures, Superorganism, and others.