Ecotone Renewables raises a $3M seed round to turn food waste into fertilizer
Major investments in the Pittsburgh region this month have big ambitions to spark global change.
Local startup Ecotone Renewables raised $3 million to scale its food waste-to-fertilizer technology internationally, while the recently funded Vijayalakshmi Innovation Center at the University of Pittsburgh will soon work to address disparities in women's health.
Plus, the Richard King Mellon Foundation is investing up to $1.5 million in its fourth social-impact investment pitch competition. It's currently seeking applicants, and whichever business wins will be in good company, joining other prize-winning startups tackling social issues like energy poverty, drug overdoses and health equity.
Read on for more on these investments, and other money moves.
Ecotone raises $3M to scale waste-to-fertilizer tech
Pittsburgh-based sustainability startup Ecotone Renewables has secured $3 million in seed funding to accelerate the development of its proprietary system that transforms food waste into organic fertilizer, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.
Founded in 2019, Ecotone helps organizations convert food waste into liquid plant fertilizer called Soil Sauce and clean energy, using its patented Zero Emissions Upcycling System (ZEUS). Ecotone has already diverted 200,000 pounds of food waste from landfills and deployed eight ZEUS across Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, according to the company.
Now, with help from multiple investors, such as tech firm Cisco and cleantech investor Earth Foundry, Ecotone intends to go international with ZEUS.
The raise announcement comes just a few weeks after all three co-founders of the company, CEO Dylan Lew, COO Kyle Wyche and CFO Elliot Bennet, were recently named on the Forbes' 30 Under 30 List for Energy and Green Tech.
In 2023, Ecotone won a $300,000 pitch competition at the University of Pittsburgh, which it used to advance the company's tech. That same year, it was a member of the city's eighth PGH Lab accelerator cohort.
Pitt launches $20M AI-driven women's health research center
To counter major disparities in women's health, the University of Pittsburgh will create the Vijayalakshmi Innovation Center in Women's Health Analytics and Research (VIHAR) with help from a $20 million investment.
The investment comes from Pitt's School of Medicine and Vishnu Vardhan and Harsha Vardhini, siblings and co-founders of health tech company Vizzhy Inc.
The center, named after Vardhan and Vardhini's mother, will be the first global innovation center to bridge women's health research data with advanced AI and analytics. It aims to develop digital models of a woman's health that can be used to simulate or track how certain factors might affect them over time.
'At Pitt, we have developed an ecosystem for health analytics data mining that is second to none, and it has become a training ground for pre- and postdoctoral researchers,' said Michael J. Becich, professor and chair of the University's Department of Biomedical Informatics. 'With the addition of VIHAR, we will establish a new area of concentration in the application of artificial intelligence for women's health—leading to new understanding and breakthroughs.'
$1.5M grant competition now open for social impact startups
The Richard King Mellon Foundation announced in late November it is seeking contestants for another social-impact pitch competition. Startups seeking to create positive societal change have a chance to win a first-place prize of $500,000.
The foundation anticipates at least three prizes will be awarded, with a total investment of up to $1.5 million. Startup applications are due by Dec. 30.
'In addition to the many social benefits advanced through our investments, we also are finding that our startup investments are helping Pittsburgh-area entrepreneurs to stay and grow in Pittsburgh, creating additional economic development benefits for our region,' Foundation Director Sam Reiman said in a press release.
The competition is part of the foundation's social-impact investment program. Since the program's inception in 2021, the foundation has invested $17.4 million in 54 social-impact startup companies, making it one of the most active early-stage funders in the region. By 2030, the foundation anticipates it will invest at least $50 million as part of the program.
The winners of the last round, which ended in August 2024, included People's Energy Analytics, a program to connect residents at risk of missing bill payments with assistance programs, human trafficking prevention AI startup Marinus Analytics and financial education company Troutwood, Inc.
More money moves:
Realyze Intelligence, a company that uses AI to match cancer patients to clinical trials and a portfolio company of UPMC Enterprises, was acquired by Carta Healthcare, a clinical solutions company, for an undisclosed amount.
Supply chain services company Wesco International, the second-largest publicly traded company in Pittsburgh, finalized its purchase of Ascent, a data center facility management company. Wesco announced it would acquire Ascent for $185 million in October.
Cannonsburg-based engineering simulations company Ansys was awarded a contract from the US Department of Defense to supply services to Microelectronic Commons, a national network focused on producing semiconductors to further US national security.
Turtle Creek-based agtech startup Four Growers raised $9 million in a Series A funding round. The capital will be used to scale the company's tomato-picking robot, enabling it to harvest other crops, like cucumbers.
Cranberry Township-based pricing analytics company Green Cabbage announced a successful Series A funding round in October. Recent SEC filings indicated the company raised $20 million, a sizable raise for a Pittsburgh-area company.
Local clean energy startup Farm to Flame Energy was awarded $50,000 from Black Ambition, a nonprofit organization founded by Pharrell Williams to provide capital and resource access to Black founders.
Pleasant Hills-based computer services company Ideal Integrations acquired a managed IT services provider 1Path for an undisclosed amount to expand its cybersecurity offerings.
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