US-based microbiome company Evolve BioSystems closed a $40m series C round yesterday that featured agribusinesses Tate and Lyle and Continental Grain, pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson, dairy cooperative Arla Foods and food producer Campbell Soup.
Philanthropic organisation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-led the round with Horizons Ventures, the venture division of charity Li Ka Shing Foundation.
Venture capital firms Alta Ventures, Spruce Ventures and Bow Capital, which focuses on companies emerging from the University of California ecosystem, also took part in the round.
Tate and Lyle, Johnson & Johnson and Campbell Soup invested through their respective investment units Tate and Lyle Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and Acre Ventures.
Founded in 2011, Evolve is working on probiotics that establish, restore, and maintain a healthy infant gut microbiome. The company was spun out from the Food for Health Institute at University of California, Davis.
The series C capital will enable Evolve to expand availability of its flagship product, Evivo, in the US and internationally. Evivo has been clinically proven to restore beneficial bacteria in a child’s gut microbiome.
The money will also enable Evolve to create products for other older consumers and accelerate development of a microbiome diagnostic test.
Additionally, Gates Foundation will extend its partnership with Evolve, first announced in April, to investigate how Evivo can help infants suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Evolve previously secured $20m in series B funding backed Tate and Lyle Ventures, Acre Ventures, Horizons Ventures and Bow Capital, and led by Spruce in June 2017.
Tate and Lyle Ventures, Horizons Ventures and assorted angel investors previously participated in a $9m series A round in 2015, following an investment of undisclosed size by Tate and Lyle in 2014 and a seed round of undisclosed size in 2013.