GALY Raises $33M From Bill Gates’ BEV, H&M, and Inditex to Advance Climate-Resilient Cultivated Cotton – vegconomist
GALY, a plant-cell culture startup based in Brazil and Boston, USA, has raised $33 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round to advance its proprietary platform for cultivated cotton from lab to pre-industrial scale.
Additionally, the funds will support expanding R&D efforts to improve the quality of “GALY Cotton” and develop other sustainable alternatives to traditional crop-derived commodities.
“We are thrilled to have investors who recognize the crucial role that our climate adaptation technology will play”
The funding round was led by Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), with participation from two fashion giants, H&M Group and Inditex. Other participants included Indorama Ventures, Endeavor Scale-up Ventures, and Unreasonable. Previous investors Material Impact, John Doerr’s family office (Eighty Eighty Group), Artesian, BRINC, and Reaction Global also backed the sustainable cotton, bringing GALY’s raised capital to $65 million.
Luciano Bueno, founder and CEO of GALY, shared, “We are thrilled to have investors who recognize the crucial role that our climate adaptation technology will play in our daily lives. Climate change exposes the fragility of agricultural supply chains, and the recent rise in cocoa prices is a stark reminder of the new normal we face.”
Cellular agriculture solutions
Carmichael Roberts from Breakthrough Energy Ventures commented, “We need alternatives that can complement traditional agriculture without contributing to emissions or creating an overreliance on unstable supply chains. GALY’s cellular agriculture technology provides a solution to these challenges, while enhancing resource efficiency and building climate resiliency for the sector.”
GALY was established in Brazil in 2019 to create ethical and sustainable agricultural products. According to the biotech company, cotton accounts for 2.5% of the world’s total arable land, consumes 25% of the world’s agrochemicals, requires an estimated 10,000 liters of water per kilogram produced, and faces traceability issues due to unsafe labor conditions.
“GALY’s breakthrough in growing agriculture like cotton and others in a bioreactor is a game-changer”
By developing products with lower environmental impacts, GALY intends to reshape the textile industry and other sectors through sustainable practices while providing alternatives that mitigate the effects of climate change on agricultural supply chains.
Ryan Panchadsaram, John Doerr’s technical advisor at Kleiner Perkins, said, “GALY’s breakthrough in growing agriculture like cotton and others in a bioreactor is a game-changer. Over the past two years, they have proven their technology works across multiple crops.”
A responsible textile industry
GALY’s production process is said to use 99% less water and 97% less land while emitting 77% less CO2 compared to traditional methods. Investors such as BEV, H&M Group, and Inditex recognize the importance of GALY’s technology in reducing the use of natural resources and adapting to climate change.
Last year, the biotech secured a $50 million purchase agreement with Suzuran Medical of Japan to use its cultivated cotton to produce medical products, including gauze, absorbent and cosmetic cotton, and sheets.
Óscar García Maceiras, CEO of Inditex, stated, “GALY has developed a promising technology to reduce the impact of cotton production on water, chemicals, and soil use. Taking this equity interest marks a significant step in our commitment to advancing towards an innovative and more responsible textile industry.”
