A Chicago cleantech startup that trains fungi to eat trash just raised $2.2 million to further develop its product and expand its team.
Mycocycle, which uses mushrooms to remove toxins from waste, on Tuesday announced the seed funding, which brings its total funds raised to $3.7 million. The funding was led by Anthropocene Ventures, with additional investments from the Tellus Pollinator Fund for Good, Alumni Ventures and Telescopic Ventures, among others.
Mycocyle's process neutralizes toxicity in waste while transforming it into a renewable, low-carbon material, which in turn aims to drive circularity in the construction supply chain and divert waste from landfills.
Joanne Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Mycococyle, said the company has doubled its operational capacity over the last year with the ability to now produce eight tons of treatment a month.
Like most startups across the country, Mycocycle felt the crunch of the venture capital market during its recent raise.
"It impacted our timeline, deal flow and even caused retraction of verbally committed funds from major VCs as they saw their [limited partners] reserve their funding in light of unfolding economic conditions," Rodriguez said in an email to Chicago Inno.
Solidifying Chicago as a tech hub
While Rodriguez praised Chicago's tech ecosystem and credited establishments like 1871, World Business Chicago, Chicago Innovation and Gener8tor, among others, for getting Mycocycle to where it is today, she still sees a lack of access to venture capital that could be retained more readily on the West Coast. And although she's not considering leaving the Windy City, she admits that some of her colleagues in the space would.
"Chicago VCs need to take the lead on companies like mine, especially if they want to solidify their position as a tech hub — the money has to match the supportive ecosystem," she said. "Right now, these are not equally matched."
Mycocycle has an office and lab in Bolingbrook, along with a location in Poland and a lab collaboration in Mexico. Rodriguez anticipates the company will double its space within the next year to almost 10,000 square feet and hopes to work with its current landlord to get it done, though she doesn't rule out getting a second location in the greater Chicagoland area.
"We would look for a larger production footprint while retaining our current headquarters space as a model pilot and testing facility," she said.
