TerViva

We are an ag-tech firm commercializing pongamia, a non-GM oilseed tree, to help farmers grow the most cost-effective, sustainable oil and protein in the world.

  • Stage Prototype Ready
  • Industry Agriculture
  • Location Oakland, CA, USA
  • Currency USD
  • Founded May 2010
  • Employees 50
  • Incorporation Type C-corp
  • Website terviva.com

Company Summary

TerViva is a 9-year old ag-tech company whose mission is to plant billions of trees to feed billions of people. We grow healthy food and produce clean energy on underutilized agriculture land. Our trees, which are proprietary cultivars of the legume species pongamia pinnata, yield 1000% more oil and 400% more protein than soybean, which we process to help farmers challenged by climate change and shifting markets in Florida, Hawaii and Australia.

Team

  • Maggie Kavalaris
    Founder & Chief Legal Officer

    New venture attorney and serial entrepreneur, including most recently as co-founder of PayMo (now Boku, one of the Wall Street Journal's top 25 ranked start-ups since 2011)

  • Naveen Sikka
    Founder & CEO

    20 years of experience working in biotech, agriculture, and natural resources

  • Sudhir Rani
    CFO

    Formerly a Director in the private equity arm of DE Shaw, and previously with UBS in asset management and investment banking.

  • Dave Harry
    Vice President, Tree Improvement

    Formerly a faculty member at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne and Oregon State University, taught tree breeding and genetics.

  • Ron Edwards
    Chairman

    CEO, Evans Properties (40,000 agricultural acres in Florida)
    Former COO, Tropicana
    Founder, South Beach Beverage Corporation (SoBE; sold to Pepsi)
    Founding Investor, Blue Buffalo Pet Food (IPO; sold to General Mills)

  • Vice President, Products and Processing

    30 year of professional experience in food product development at Monsanto, ConAgra, DSM, and Sapphire Energy.

  • Vice President, Australia

    Entrepreneur who has served in the C-suite of several venture-backed fintech startups, co-founder of the multi-continent mobile payments company Paymo, now part of Boku (LON:BOKU), and global advisory board member of Astia.

  • Senior Vice President

    Led impact investing for The Nature Conservancy and UNICEF Bridge Fund, a 2017 Aspen Institute Finance Leaders Fellow, member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, formerly at McKinsey & Company. Harvard Business School MBA, Harvard Kennedy School MPA.

Previous Investors

  • GrayGhost Ventures
    Unconfirmed
    Angel Round
    Unconfirmed
    Founders
    Unconfirmed

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