How one biotech startup is betting on cows and winning over investors
Cow burps are a climate problem, and one startup wants to reprogram them.
Livestock are a major source of methane emissions, a greenhouse gas that is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. While plenty of startups are trying to tackle the issue with seaweed feed, synthetic additives, or carbon offsets, one biotech founder is taking a more fundamental approach: changing what happens inside the cow's gut.
Hoofprint Biome is using enzymes to rewire the cow's microbiome from the inside out, cutting methane production and improving feed efficiency along the way. The company just raised a $15 million Series A round from investors including Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, and they're just getting started.
Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Tim De Chant sat down with Kathryn Polkoff, co-founder and CEO of Hoofprint Biome, to talk through it all.
Listen to the full episode to hear about:
How enzymes and AI are helping fight climate change (seriously).
What it takes to raise money for biotech in a sea of SaaS.
Why thinking like a farmer, rather than a climate scientist, was Polkoff's superpower. As she put it, 'That'd be like if you were engineering a car but had never changed the engine — that's where all the energy comes from.'
The future of methane reduction and feed efficiency at scale.
Equity will be back Friday with our weekly news roundup, so stay tuned.
Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
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