urbanSTL

All told, BioGenerator has invested around $775,000 in Benson Hill and remains a shareholder in the startup. Bolten said the addition of a new St. Louis unicorn — a startup valued over $1 billion — provides a milestone for the region’s startup sector. But perhaps more important, he said, Benson Hill's ability to go public would also provide dry powder for local venture firms.

And it marks a key moment in St. Louis industry. The region is home to some agriculture giants, including German multinational Bayer AG, ingredient producer Bunge, and animal feed maker Novus. Business and civic leaders here have also worked, since the founding of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center almost 25 years ago, to develop home-grown ag-tech companies. Benson Hill, if successful, would be the first such company to go public.
......
This is the third area startup to recently announce a $1 billion deal. In January, Nerdy, the Clayton-based parent company of Varsity Tutors, announced a $1.7 billion deal. And in November, software company Gainsight, founded in St. Louis but now based in San Francisco, announced an investment reportedly valued at $1.1 billion.

“This is an extraordinary level of activity for a Midwest market,” said Jason Hall, CEO of business booster Greater St. Louis Inc.

Benson Hill works with artificial intelligence and data science to boost food nutrients and crop sustainability. It was founded in 2012, and for the first few years was situated in both St. Louis and North Carolina.  As the company began to grow and win early funding, Crisp said it became increasingly clear that St. Louis had the infrastructure it needed, a wealth of plant science experts, and crucially, early investment capital. And with the vast majority of the company’s employees in St. Louis, Benson Hill halted North Carolina operations.

“As we grew, we were able to attract venture financing and stakeholders from the West Coast and the East Coast,” said Crisp, the CEO. “But we received a tremendous amount of support locally.”  Today Benson Hill has about 330 employees, 200 of them in the St. Louis area, part of an ag-tech community here of over 15,000 workers.

The deal will support Benson Hill’s growth in the plant-based meat segment, which is expected to be worth $140 billion by 2029, the company said.

CoverCress, founded in 2013, is developing an oilseed “cash cover crop” to provide winter and early spring soil cover between corn harvest and soybean planting. The startup says the new crop, which is based on the native plant pennycress, can generate revenue as animal feed and high-protein meal. Additionally, the startup said the plant’s low carbon intensity oil can be used to produce fuels.
.................
CoverCress is based in the 39 North agtech district in Creve Coeur and has 20 employees. It announced in March that it had closed an $8 million Series B-1 round led by Bunge Ventures Ltd., the venture arm of St. Louis-based agribusiness and food company Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG).

And in the last several months, the movement has taken hold in St. Louis. In addition to Hungry Planet, corporate giants like Anheuser-Busch and Post Holdings, and agtech upstarts like Benson Hill, have begun to stake their own claims to what has quickly become a $7 billion industry sector. 

In doing so, they're making the case for St. Louis as a focal point for the industry, given its cluster of agtech startups and crop science professionals, food and beverage manufacturing prowess, and proximity to agricultural producers. 

"I think there's something super interesting and very exciting about playing a role in helping boost the city of St. Louis and helping look for new ways the city of St. Louis can shine," said Cesar Vargas, U.S. chief external affairs officer for Anheuser-Busch, which is investing $100 million in a Soulard plant to convert spent grains into food products. "If this emerging industry can kind of take hold and we contribute to building something in St. Louis that has impact even beyond the limits of St. Louis, that's exactly the role we want to play."

That the region’s most promising agtech firm [Benson Hill] — which has snagged more than $280 million in venture funding — is targeting the plant-based sector is emblematic of why experts and business leaders say the region’s agtech resources provide a competitive advantage in the region's ability to become a major player in plant-based foods.

Boosted by what Javan calls the “mecca” of agtech talent, plant-based companies say St. Louis is a place where operations can be centralized.

“You can do the R&D here, you can produce it here and then you distribute it from here. And you can check all three of those boxes and they all make perfect sense,” said Hungry Planet's Todd Boyman.
For EverGrain, the sustainable ingredients company backed by Anheuser-Busch, the decision to build its new grain repurposing facility in St. Louis seemed like an obvious choice.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but I'm told Label Insight was worth around $100 million. Chances are, it wouldn't have gotten there without the early backing it found in St. Louis.

Label Insight started in 2004 under the name Food Essentials. The three founders were all in different places: Chicago, France and Australia. Their idea was that consumers and researchers needed a central source for all the nutritional data contained on food labels.  By 2012, they had a contract with the Food and Drug Administration and were looking to grow. They heard about a new competition called Arch Grants, which would award $50,000 to high-potential startups under one condition: At least part of the founding team had to move to St. Louis.

By coincidence, Chicago-based founder Dheeraj Patri's wife had just taken a job in St. Louis. So, after winning an Arch Grant, the firm moved its headquarters here.

Label Insight would be based here until 2016, when later investors recruited a Chicago-based CEO and moved the headquarters there.  Now, of course, the shots will be called by NielsenIQ, which is also based in Chicago, but Patri said the 40 employees here are about half the company's total staff. “The St. Louis office remains vibrant and strong,” he said.

Meanwhile, Label Insight's early St. Louis investors will make a profit, which they can reinvest in other startups. Sheth is an entrepreneur in residence with the Arch Grants organization, sharing the wisdom he accumulated while building the company.

Patri also intends to mentor fellow entrepreneurs while spreading the word about the warm reception his startup received here. “We weren't looked at with a skeptical eye, we were looked at with a hopeful eye,” he said. “If I talk to any entrepreneur who's considering St. Louis, I'll say they won't find a more welcoming and consequential place to grow a business.”

The announcement from the U.S. Commerce Department said the lab will use extended-reality technology to "address the pressing challenges of working, educating, and meeting remotely."

T-Rex must match the grant with $163,840 in local funds. The Commerce Department said the lab is expected to create 422 jobs and generate $5 million in private investment.