Windfall Bio Expands Production Capacity to Accelerate Commercialization of Methane Capture & Transformation Solution
Fueled by Series A and customer demand, Windfall opens new R&D facility and more than triples in team size to scale pilots from lab to field trials across agriculture, oil and gas, and waste management sectors
SAN MATEO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Windfall Bio, a leader in methane-to-value solutions, announced it has nearly doubled its production capacity with a new research and development facility to support its robust commercial pipeline. Located in San Mateo, California, and equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories and collaborative work areas, this new facility will serve as Windfall’s R&D hub to evaluate and optimize operating conditions for on-site pilot deployments of its nature-based solution across a range of applications.
Since the company exited stealth mode in 2023, Windfall has undergone rapid growth. Notably, the company recently appointed Forrest Baringer-Jones as Windfall’s Chief Financial Officer, Luan Nguyen as Senior Vice President of Technology and Head of Methane Emissions Solutions, and McKenzie Wilson as Director of Carbon Accounting. An experienced executive and advisor in the climate tech space, Forrest will utilize his expertise to strategically scale Windfall’s methane mitigation solution across industries. With over 25 years of R&D experience, Luan will focus on process development and technology deployment. McKenzie, who most recently served as a manager of ESG and sustainability services at Deloitte, will lead ESG reporting, product life cycle analysis, carbon credit methodology, and development of Windfall’s monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) services.
Additionally, Carla Risso and Judy Su, members of Windfall’s founding team, have been named to the leadership team as their roles evolved in tandem with company growth. With these critical hires and others, Windfall has grown from five employees to nearly 30 and expects to continue hiring in R&D, engineering, scientific operations, and finance roles.
“Windfall’s new space represents a significant step forward in our mission to empower customers across industries to eliminate harmful methane emissions and create valuable outputs in return,” said Josh Silverman, co-founder and CEO of Windfall Bio. “We’ve gained commercial traction and customer interest across multiple sectors and geographies, and are ramping up our manufacturing efforts to meet that demand. We are intentionally hiring for roles that not only support bringing Windfall’s solution to market but ensure we are addressing our customers’ needs and challenges.”
Methane is a harmful greenhouse gas that is 86x more warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, yet it can also be a valuable resource. Capturing these emissions represents an opportunity to reduce global emissions quickly and significantly. Windfall’s nature-based solution harnesses methane-eating microbes—referred to as mems—to capture and transform methane from any source into valuable outputs, like organic fertilizer. Depending on the application, Windfall’s mems create value in different forms, including producing nitrogen rich fertilizer, enabling emissions reductions and compliance, improving resource efficiency, increasing soil health, and generating new revenue streams for customers with wasted methane resources. This new facility and growing team enable Windfall to focus on refining its innovative solution per application use to meet the needs of each customer industry. The learnings and data collected from the expanded R&D work will be incorporated throughout in-field pilot deployments on the company’s path to commercialization.
These milestones come on the heels of Windfall’s recent $28 million Series A, led by Prelude Ventures with participation from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and others. Further validating the need and promise for its methane mitigation solution across industries, the fresh financing came just a year after Windfall’s $9 million seed raise in March 2023, bringing the company’s total fundraising amount to $37 million.
About Windfall Bio
Windfall Bio has developed a sustainable solution to capture and transform climate-harming methane emissions into organic fertilizer, addressing both an underappreciated contributor to climate change as well as the negative environmental impacts associated with the overuse of synthetic fertilizer. Windfall’s nature-based solution harnesses methane-eating microbes to transform methane from any source into valuable outputs, creating a rare win-win-win scenario for the planet, producers, and consumers. The company’s solution allows industries such as agriculture, oil and gas, and waste management to reduce their methane footprint while operating more efficiently and improving their profitability and environmental impact. Founded in 2022 and based in San Mateo, CA, Windfall Bio is venture-backed by top-tier firms including Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, B37 Ventures, Baruch Future Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Cavallo Ventures, Global Brain (through its Norinchukin Innovation Fund L.P.), Incite Ventures, MCJ Collective, Mayfield, Positive Ventures, Prelude Ventures, and UNTITLED (a fund backed by the Tetra Laval family). To learn more about how Windfall Bio turns a climate and business woe into a windfall, visit www.windfall.bio.
Contacts
Megan Nealon for Windfall Bio
V2 Communications
windfallbio@v2comms.com
