We Make Work Phlo
Senior scientific and data leadership for frontier biology, bio-based and functional innovation
We help established companies, startups and investors make confident decisions on first-of-kind biology driven products and technologies.
Established AgTech and Bio-Based Companies
Senior scientific and data leadership for R&D teams working with plants, microbes, fungi or algae. We help teams reduce technical risk, interpret complex biology and make confident go/ no-go decisions.
Startups Solving 0 to 1 Biology
Technical clarity for startups building first-of-kind biology driven products, including bio-based and frontier ag, functional foods, physiology sensing platforms and therapeutic adjacent technologies like psychedelic research. We focus resources on experiments and data that actually matter for validation and early growth.
Investors and Capital Partners
Independent technical due diligence for agtech, cleantech, functional foods and bio-based or therapeutic adjacent startups. Clear assessments of scientific plausibility, scalability and execution risk.
We deliver R&D innovation without the overhead and complexity that cost clients time and money. Instead, we create no-nonsense solutions that move with elegant efficiency—like the phloem vascular system that inspired our name. Because if we’ve learned anything from 20+ years in agtech, it’s that great work flows naturally when methods fit the system.
Join Us in Transforming Biological Intelligence
What Sets Us Apart
Unmatched Expertise and Innovation
Our Foundation
Deep Technical Expertise
Phloem was founded in 2017 and is being relaunched with expanded capabilities. Our founder brings decades of experience across plant, fungal, and algal R&D—from 10+ years at Fortune 500 Crop Science Companies designing experiments and establishing statistical frameworks, plus 10+ years at AgTech startups including cofounding Cosmic Eats and serving as Chief Science Officer and Principal Investigator and Co-PI on NASA, DARPA, and NSF-funded projects. This includes winning Phase I of NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge and securing $1.3M+ in federal funding.
Our founder’s relationships span the AgTech sector at companies like Indigo Agriculture and Novonesis, plus deep connections through founding and co-organizing the AgBio+AgTech networking community (800+ members in the Research Triangle).