# Matt Barnard

> Matt Barnard is the cofounder and CEO of one.bio, a Sacramento biotechnology company turning plant fiber into odorless, tasteless nutrients that can be dosed into everyday food to reshape the gut microbiome. A seventh-generation Wisconsin farmer turned technology operator, he first became known as the cofounder and CEO of Plenty, the SoftBank-backed indoor vertical farming unicorn. He now applies the same obsession - control what people eat, control their health - to fiber science spun out of UC Davis.

- **Role:** Cofounder & CEO at one.bio
- **Organizations:** one.bio, Plenty, Nest, Dropcam, SmartSynch, 523 Capital, Whalen & Company
- **From:** Wisconsin, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA and BM, Northwestern University, MS, Stanford Graduate School of Business
- **Known for:** Cofounded and led Plenty to unicorn status with backing from SoftBank, Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt., Raised over $200M for Plenty and claimed yields of up to 350x produce per acre using roughly 1% of the water of conventional field farming., Cofounded one.bio and raised $27M Series A (total funding ~$43.5M) to commercialize imperceptible, high-dose plant fiber.

## Career timeline

- **pre-2013** — Held operating and corporate development roles across telecom, utilities and technology - including work with Nest, Dropcam and Mightybell, plus VP of Deployment at SmartSynch.
- **2013** — Cofounded Plenty, an indoor vertical farming company, and became its CEO.
- **2017** — Plenty raised a $140M+ round led by SoftBank Vision Fund, with backers including Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, making it a unicorn.
- **2020** — Transitioned from Plenty CEO to Executive Chairman / cofounder role; Plenty signed a deal to supply hundreds of Albertsons stores in California.
- **2023** — Joined UC Davis spinout BCD Bioscience (One Bio) as cofounder and CEO; the company launched publicly in October 2023.
- **2024-12** — one.bio secured $27M Series A led by Alpha Edison, with Leaps by Bayer, Mitsui, Morado, ReMY, dsm-firmenich and others.

## Achievements

- Cofounded and led Plenty to unicorn status with backing from SoftBank, Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt.
- Raised over $200M for Plenty and claimed yields of up to 350x produce per acre using roughly 1% of the water of conventional field farming.
- Cofounded one.bio and raised $27M Series A (total funding ~$43.5M) to commercialize imperceptible, high-dose plant fiber.
- Helped build a fiber catalogue characterizing structures from over 2,500 plants, foods, algae and bacteria.
- World Economic Forum contributor on agriculture and food systems.

## Latest updates

- **2024-12** — one.bio closed a $27M Series A to launch its high-dose, anti-inflammatory plant fiber technology.
- **2023-10** — One Bio launched publicly as a UC Davis spinout with Barnard as cofounder and CEO.

## Links

- Website: https://one.bio
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbarnard

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/matt-barnard
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-01