SALT Fund

CellX is creating the world's first mushroom protein from morel mycelium fermentation. Our ingredient and product solutions can be applied to savory snacks, protein powders, and meat alternatives. We are also licensing existing IPs to help accelerate the commercialization of cultivated meat. Our technology offerings include suspension cell lines and serum-free media that have achieved 30M/ml cell density and <$5/L media cost, tested at the 2,000L scale.

UPSIDE Foods (formerly known as Memphis Meats) develops meat produced directly from animal cells without the need to raise and slaughter actual animals. This approach requires significantly less water, land, and energy than conventional meat production, enabling consumers to enjoy meat that is clean, humane, and free of harmful chemicals. Co-founded and led by Dr. Uma Valeti in 2015, UPSIDE Foods is headquartered in Berkeley, California.

Tessera Therapeutics is an early-stage life sciences company pioneering Gene Writing, a new biotechnology designed to offer scientists and clinicians the ability to write small and large therapeutic messages into the genome, thereby curing diseases at their source. Gene Writing holds the potential to become a new category in genetic medicine, building upon recent breakthroughs in gene therapy and gene editing while eliminating important limitations in their reach, utilization, and efficacy. Tessera Therapeutics was founded by Flagship Pioneering, a life sciences innovation enterprise that conceives, resources, and develops first-in-category companies to transform human health and sustainability.

Minded is an online psychiatry practice for women.

Nucleus provides genetic analysis of greater breadth, depth, and beauty. Users can upload their genetic information obtained through an established company. The proprietary algorithms will calculate polygenic risk scores and measure disease risk based on analysis of genetic variants and display them in a user-friendly platform.

Cambrian Biopharma is a multi-asset biotech R&D firm uniquely focused on a specific field of biomedical research: the biology of aging, also known as geroscience. We believe the future of medicine should be proactive and committed to extending our best years, not just reactive to certain diseases. As experts in the biology of age-related disease, it is our mission to assemble the world's best scientists to accelerate this paradigm shift. We are built on an emerging business model we call a "Distributed R&D Company" (or "DisCo"), partnering with academic geroscientists to build companies, conduct preclinical drug discovery, and manage clinical trials. Cambrian looks to discover and develop therapeutics that target the molecular damage that arises during aging and leads to chronic disease. Our approach is to build a diverse portfolio led by scientific rigor and data, not ego. Focusing on early-stage therapeutics, we collaborate with pioneering scientists to bring discoveries out of the lab and into the clinic as efficiently as possible. So far, we have launched 10 companies with leading geroscientists and have relationships with more than 100 geroscience-focused labs globally, translating to a toolkit for tech-transfer negotiations and rapid spinouts.

Gameto is a biotechnology company whose mission is to redefine female reproductive health by developing therapies that improve lives. Women’s health is a vastly underserved therapeutic area. Most conditions have few treatment options, and those available often cause frequent complications and offer limited clinical benefit. Gameto aims to change that. Gameto is committed to using cutting-edge scientific advances to deliver better solutions to patients. Using cellular engineering, they have developed a platform to produce female reproductive cell lines. They use proprietary combinations of transcription factors to reprogram hiPSCs into engineered ovarian and endometrium cell lines that mimic the functions of endogenous cells, producing and responding to all hormones. Their team of cellular engineers is using this platform to advance a portfolio of cellular therapeutics for female reproductive diseases. Gameto's first program, Fertilo, is a therapeutic for IVF and egg freezing, aiming to make the process shorter, safer and more effective. Additional applications of our platform include, an organoid of the female reproductive system, Deovo, and a cell-based therapeutic to ameliorate the health consequences of primary ovarian insufficiency and menopause, Ameno.