Giraffe Bio Raises $6.4M Seed Round

Leaven Foods

A 2026 NEXTY Award winner for “Best Pantry Staple” at the prestigious Natural Products Expo, Leaven’s "Instant Sourdough" is the first and only real sourdough starter replacement that eliminates the need for a traditional sourdough starter for commercial and home bakers. Made from carefully curated wild yeast and beneficial bacteria isolated from sourdough, it delivers real sourdough fermentation, flavor and benefits in a convenient powdered format. Bakers simply mix it into the dough; allow it to rise, ferment, and then bake. No starter required. In addition, Leaven offers an Instant Wild Yeast, a premium baking yeast for better baking performance. It’s an undomesticated wild yeast that delivers a rich, buttery flavor creating delicious bread the way it's meant to taste. Both products are all natural, non-GMO and gluten-free. Founded by microbiologists with a passion for baking, Leaven Foods, harnesses the microbial power of ancient fermentations to create all-natural, flavorful, healthier, and more sustainable food. At the heart of Leaven Foods is a proprietary fermentation platform designed to understand and preserve the complex microbial ecosystems that make wild fermentation so unique. With 1/3 of food fermented, the mission is bigger than sourdough. Leaven will bring the complexity, flavor and potential benefits of naturally fermented foods to the masses. Leaven is building a new generation of fermentation ingredients and applications, starting with sourdough and expanding into other baked goods and fermented foods. By combining microbiology, computational biology and food science, Leaven is making wild fermentation more accessible, convenient and scalable, without compromising what makes it special.

Spout Finance

We built a lending protocol on Solana where borrowers deposit tokenized stocks (AAPL, TSLA, SPY, and 24 more) as collateral and take stablecoin loans with no ongoing interest charges. The collateral generates yield through an automated covered call engine, which pays lenders instead of charging borrowers. The result: borrowers get leverage at a fraction of the cost of traditional margin, and lenders earn double-digit APY backed by real options activity on US equities.