Sign In

Ryan Bethencourt

CEO @ Wild Earth Inc | Plant-Based Protein

Ryan Bethencourt is a prominent figure in the sustainable food and biotechnology sectors, currently serving as the Managing Partner at Sustainable Food Ventures (SFV). In this role, he is responsible for sourcing deal flow and making investment decisions, focusing on early-stage companies in the plant-based, cell-based, and recombinant food sectors.23

Background and Achievements

Bethencourt co-founded Indie Bio in 2014, where he played a significant role in funding 42 biotech startups, contributing to the growth of the portfolio's market cap to $3.2 billion. He has been instrumental in backing notable companies such as UPSIDE Foods and Geltor.123 Additionally, he co-founded Wild Earth, a leading direct-to-consumer plant-based pet food company, which gained significant attention after appearing on "Shark Tank," where he secured a $550,000 investment from Mark Cuban.45

His educational background includes studies at prestigious institutions such as Cambridge, Berkeley, and Stanford, focusing on business, biotechnology, and molecular biopharmaceuticals.4 Beyond his investment roles, Bethencourt has also been involved in various initiatives aimed at fostering innovation in biotechnology and sustainable food production, including serving as an advisor to several organizations and startups.45

Current Focus

At Sustainable Food Ventures, Bethencourt continues to champion sustainable food innovations, emphasizing investments that do not involve animal agriculture. His work is pivotal in shaping the future of food through supporting startups that aim to revolutionize how food is produced and consumed.36

Highlights

Mar 13 · twitter

Finally ran my first cloud GPU inference, a protein structure prediction using ESMFold.

The sequence was a 135-residue protein, specifically a ubiquitin-like protein:

MKTAYIAKQRQISFVKSHFSRQLEERLGLIEVQAPILSRVGDGTQDNLSGAEKAVQVKVKALPDAQFEVVHSLAKWKRQQIAATGFHIIPPNQFEITVEEQIIRDISGQTYPVSQNEIDAIQQFAQQYMERFRKR

ESMFold predicted its 3D structure in 2.8 seconds, returning a full PDB file with backbone atom coordinates (N, CA, C, O) and per-residue confidence scores (pLDDT). 🧬

INSANE what is now possible in Science with Open Source Protein Folding Models!

Mar 10 · twitter

Hermes Agent is Cypherpunk

Related Questions

What are some of the most successful startups funded by Ryan Bethencourt?
How did Ryan Bethencourt's experience on Shark Tank impact his career?
What is the post-animal bioeconomy, and how is Ryan Bethencourt contributing to it?
Can you tell me more about Wild Earth and its innovative approach to pet food?
What are the key investment criteria for Sustainable Food Ventures?
Ryan Bethencourt
Ryan Bethencourt, photo 1
Ryan Bethencourt, photo 2
Add to my network

Location

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area