Nathaniel Chu is the co-CEO and co-founder of Tezza Foods (now Plonts), an Oakland-based food company using ancient fermentation techniques and microbial science to make genuinely complex, stinky plant-based cheese from soy milk. Holding a PhD in microbiology from MIT and a BS from Brown University, Chu spent years studying gut microbiomes before pivoting to harness those same microbial principles in food. With $12M in seed funding led by Lowercarbon Capital, Plonts launched in August 2024 in New York City and San Francisco restaurants, offering a plant-based cheddar that actually ages, melts, and smells like the real thing.
Arturo Elizondo is the co-founder and CEO of The EVERY Company (formerly Clara Foods), the precision fermentation biotech pioneering animal-free egg proteins used by food brands worldwide. Born in Laredo, Texas, educated at Harvard, and seasoned by stints at the White House, USDA, and Credit Suisse, he co-founded the company in 2014 after meeting a cell biologist at a food-tech conference. Under his leadership, EVERY has raised over $471M, launched the world's first animal-free egg protein into Walmart, attracted actress Anne Hathaway as an investor, and earned Elizondo the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 Bay Area Award. His mission: end factory farming by making fermentation-derived proteins cheaper, cleaner, and better than the real thing.