This year, five SOSV portfolio companies were named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026 List!
Cauldron Ferm
For lowering the costs of industrial-scale biomanufacturing
Cauldron Ferm is an Australia-based biomanufacturing company that aims to transform the way everyday goods are made using precision fermentation. That technique has been used for decades in pharmaceutical manufacturing, and now Cauldron Ferm, founded in 2022, is using it to produce bioproducts—everything from dairy proteins used in making cheese and ice cream to specialty chemicals that can go into sustainable aviation fuel.
Bactery
For creating a soil-powered battery for precision-ag sensors
Bacteries are batteries powered by bacteria. The rise of precision ag has put roughly a quarter billion sensors on farms worldwide, most of them depending on single-use batteries or complex solar setups. Bactery’s alternative—known in science as a microbial fuel cell—generates power by capturing electrons that are released when bacteria break down organic soil matter.
Everbloom
For creating wool that doesn’t harm the planet
Luxury fashion’s reliance on natural fibers like wool and cashmere comes with a steep environmental cost. Producing those fibers requires vast amounts of land and water, contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, and often degrades ecosystems through overgrazing. Everbloom is attacking that problem at the material level.
Puna Bio
For increasing farm yields throughout South America with ‘extremophile’ bacteria bio-fertilizers
“Extremophiles” aren’t lovers of extreme sports, like skateboarding or skydiving. They’re organisms that thrive in places with extreme conditions, like deep sea vents, toxic waste dumps, or Earth’s highest and driest desert, the Puna de Atacama. Puna Bio is an Argentine company that has built a business on the unique attributes of extremophiles found in this last location. It studies and tests bacteria, looking for attributes that could be useful in agriculture. It says some of the microbial “biostimulants” it’s developing might replace industrial-grade chemical fertilizers that are known to pollute waterways and degrade soils.
This recognition is a strong signal that what these companies are building and how they’re building it is moving the needle.🚀
