Massachusetts-based Edacious, a multi-disciplinary technology company transforming the relationship between agriculture and human health, has announced the successful close of its $8.1 million Series Seed funding round. The round was led by Patagonia’s Tin Shed Ventures, with participation from the Nest Family Office, Trailhead Capital, Grantham Environmental Trust’s Neglected Climate Opportunities, iSelect Capital, First Thirty, Pelican Ag, and other private investors.
With this seed funding, Edacious will scale operations, enhance its proprietary tools, and deepen collaborations across the food system to create a more transparent food system and healthier planet.
“At Edacious, we have the data and technology to reveal how genetics, soil health, and management practices impact nutrition in our food,” said Eric Smith, Edacious founder and CEO. “This funding allows us to build the platform necessary to break the cycle of commoditization by empowering producers and consumers with verified, actionable data for food quality differentiation.”
The modern food system prioritizes yield above all else, yet the disconnect between food production and human health continues to grow. Focusing on quantity has led to declining food quality, environmental degradation, and poor nutrition.
Edacious is unlocking comparative benchmarks for whole foods and ingredients to dispel the idea that nutrition is a single data point. Most retailers and consumers, for example, treat apples as nutritionally identical. However, Edacious’ data reveals that in groups of similar foods, like apples, key nutrient levels may vary up to 10x.
By measuring more than 200 compounds essential to human health, Edacious provides unprecedented insight into what drives nutritional differences and their implications for producers, brands, markets, and policymakers.
“Nutritional transparency has the potential to reshape our food system,” added Paul Lightfoot, General Manager of Patagonia Provisions. “Edacious’ approach not only advances soil health but also empowers producers and consumers with critical data to make informed choices. We’re proud to support a company making such a profound impact on both human and environmental health.”
In pursuit of a food system that prioritizes human and planetary health, Edacious delivers two core solutions:
- A next-generation food lab that replaces incomplete and costly testing services with a streamlined, affordable analysis of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and carbohydrates
- A science-based software platform that allows users to understand, compare, benchmark, and share nutrition data and insights within and outside their organizations
“Nutrient density should be the catalyst for full food and agriculture value chain transformation,” said Pete Oberle of Trailhead Capital. “Edacious is making that possible by measuring and mapping nutrient density 10 times faster and cheaper, with an intuitive interface that incentivizes and enables the best regenerative practices from producer to consumer.”
These tools provide actionable insights for producers, consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, genetics companies, ingredient manufacturers, and retailers—enabling them to measure and communicate the nutritional quality of whole foods, ultimately connecting the dots to their impacts on human health. By making this data accessible and actionable, Edacious is setting a new standard for nutritional measurement and transparency, driving demand for foods that are better for people and the planet.