Agronomics has led a Seed Funding Round for California Cultured, a food-tech company based in Davis, California, which utilizes cell culture technology to produce cocoa products like cocoa powder, chocolate, cocoa butter and flavanols in order to circumvent the serious issues arising from cocoa production such as deforestation and child slave labor.

California Cultured was founded by cell-culture technology veterans Alan Perlstein and Harrison Yoon, as a way to address the need for more ethical and environmentally friendly methods of chocolate production.

The company says, “We select cacao varieties with the best organoleptic properties, take a handful of cells and keep them growing infinitely. We do this by equipping the cells with a proper set of plant nutrients which allows for rapid growth. We harvest our cocoa cells from tanks, let them ferment to create a rich flavor and employ traditional roasting steps to create even more flavor. Then, out come our cell-cultured cocoa nibs, which can be turned into a variety of cocoa products.