Cotton
Lab
- Funding will be used to advance GALY’s proprietary lab-grown cotton product, ‘GALY Cotton,’ from lab to pre-industrial scale
- Company to expand R&D efforts into the development of cotton and other plant-cell based products
BOSTON, Sept. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GALY CO., a climate tech company pioneering the development of first-of-its-kind sustainable cellular agriculture products, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $33 million Series B financing led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) with additional participation from new investors H&M Group and Inditex.
The funds will primarily fuel the expansion of GALY’s research and development on its innovative cellular agriculture platform and its flagship product, “GALY Cotton,” which uses 99% less water and 97% less land than traditional cotton while emitting 77% less CO2, as it advances towards pre-industrial quality and scale.
“We are thrilled to have investors who recognize the crucial role that our climate adaptation technology will play in our daily lives,” said Luciano Bueno, CEO and Founder of GALY. “Climate change exposes the fragility of agricultural supply chains, and the recent rise in cocoa prices is a stark reminder of the new normal we face. Unfortunately, it’s not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when.’ Soon, the world will face increased volatility in conventional agriculture as extreme weather conditions become more frequent. When that time comes, GALY will be ready, better equipping our economy to withstand these shocks.”
Founded in 2019 with a mission to find ethical and sustainable agricultural solutions, “GALY Cotton” is the company’s first product targeting conventional cotton practices. “GALY Cotton” fully replicates traditional cotton in quality, retaining its exact attributes because it originates from an actual plant, all while offering ESG benefits, customizable quality and a clear roadmap to reach cost parity. With this success, GALY is expanding its cellular agriculture platform beyond cotton to include other plant-cell products, aiming to address a global agricultural market valued at $1.7 trillion annually.
In addition to BEV, H&M Group, and Inditex, the oversubscribed investment round was joined by repeat investors including Material Impact, John Doerr’s family office (Eighty Eighty Group), Artesian, BRINC and Reaction Global. Additionally, there was participation from Indorama Ventures, Endeavor Scale-up Ventures, and Unreasonable, among others.
“Agriculture is arguably the industry sector most impacted by climate change, while also being a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions itself,” said Carmichael Roberts, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “We need alternatives that can complement traditional agriculture without contributing to emissions or creating an overreliance on unstable supply chains. GALY’s cellular agriculture technology provides a solution to these challenges, while enhancing resource efficiency and building climate resiliency for the sector.”
“We urgently need solutions that drastically reduce emissions and are more sustainable, using less land and water. GALY’s breakthrough in growing agriculture like cotton and others in a bioreactor is a game-changer,” said Ryan Panchadsaram, John Doerr’s technical advisor at Kleiner Perkins. “Over the past two years, they have proven their technology works across multiple crops. With this new capital, they will focus on scaling up and improving the quality of their products.”
“GALY has developed a promising technology to reduce the impact of cotton production on water, chemicals and soil use. Taking this equity interest marks a significant step in our commitment to advancing towards an innovative and more responsible textile industry. By investing in cutting-edge technologies for producing next-generation fibres, we are not only moving towards our goal of exclusively using materials with a lower environmental impact, but also actively shaping the transformation of the industry through strategic capital investments,” said Óscar García Maceiras, CEO of Inditex.
“GALY’s lab grown cotton is on the verge of a breakthrough and could reduce reliance on virgin cotton if successful. We’ve been supporting the company’s progress since 2019 and are really excited to be part of this latest investment round. About 60% of the materials we source for our products is cotton and we have high ambitions that all our materials come from recycled or other sustainable sources by 2030, so partnering with GALY makes perfect sense,” said Martin Ekenbark, H&M Group, Circular Innovation Lab Lead and Board Observer at GALY.
“The support of Breakthrough Energy Ventures is a testament to our vision and recognizes our scientific progress to date, and the commitment of industry leaders like H&M Group and Inditex adds both capital and expertise, helping us develop our product to reach market quality and build modular-based capacity,” added Bueno.
GALY’s current cap table, which includes Sam Altman (Hydrazine Capital), Tony Fadell’s Build Collective, Tim Draper (Ventures Lab), Pillar VC, Petri Bio, Harry Tannenbaum, Yoav Lurie, Babel Ventures, Lake House, Incite, Agronomics, Fashion For Good, and Apollo Projects, among others, positions GALY uniquely in the current market environment. “We at Ventures Lab welcome such a star-studded group of investors into GALY,” said Tim Draper, venture capitalist and founder of Draper University. “GALY has innovative technology that can change everything in the clothing world. We expect this funding to help make it happen.”
GALY has also secured millions of dollars in proof-of-concept agreements with top industry players and a 10-year, $50 million offtake agreement with Suzuran Medical, a Japanese medical supplies manufacturer, for the sourcing of “GALY Cotton.”
To learn more about how GALY is transforming traditional agriculture, visit www.galy.co.
About GALY CO.
Launched in 2019, GALY is a climate tech company dedicated to developing novel cellular agriculture products. Starting with cotton—which accounts for 2.5% of the world’s total arable land, consumes 25% of the world’s agrochemicals, requires an estimated 10,000 liters of water per kilogram produced, and faces traceability issues due to unsafe labor conditions—the company has successfully developed a minimum-viable product and is working on both enhancing the product’s quality parameters and scaling up production. Recognizing the potential of its platform through its work with cotton, GALY has expanded its foundational technology to other crops in industries such as food and beverages, among many other possibilities.
Contact:
GALY CO.
Luciano Bueno, Founder and CEO
social@galy.co | www.galy.co
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/74ccf5ca-6964-469b-be08-45c956c2afc3
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/03059c62-0e63-42b8-83c3-802b2fd18f88
