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MISSION

Pioneering a Healthier Path Forward

Brightseed is the bioactives company on a mission to illuminate nature to restore human health. Brightseed discovers bioactive compounds in nature with its Forager® AI platform and develops novel, efficacious ingredients for food & beverage, specialized nutrition and consumer health companies.

ABOUT US

Impacting Humanity for the Better

Brightseed was founded by a diverse group of passionate individuals dedicated to addressing the world’s most pressing health challenges with solutions from the natural world.

From agricultural crops to specialized ingredients to pharmaceuticals, we are committed to advancing health by building an ecosystem that delivers the benefits of bioactives to consumers.

OUR PURPOSE

A Mission To Restore Human Health

Brightseed exists to change the way we approach health—and to shift us from a reactive system to a proactive one. Through science, we unlock natural solutions across the health continuum that change the lives of people around the world.

As health’s unsung heroes, bioactives offer the key to ending the burdens of chronic diseases. Because of this, Brightseed partners with industry leaders to commercialize and communicate the power of bioactives as we build the next era of human health.

OUR TEAM

Working Together As One

We are scientists, technologists, metabolomics experts, biologists, natural product chemists, doctors, process engineers, supply chain builders, and business leaders. We are also musicians, athletes, mothers, fathers, artists, writers, and plant fanatics—all working together to advance the knowledge of plants and their impact on humankind.

JOIN THE TEAM

Management

Jim Flatt, PhD

Co-Founder and CEO

Sofia Elizondo

Co-Founder and COO

Lee Chae, PhD

Co-Founder and CTO

Stephanie Wright

Chief People Officer

David Blackwood

SVP, Bioactive Ingredients

Jan-Willem van Klinken

SVP Medical, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs

Anna Gershenzon

VP, Finance

Meng Xu

VP, Discovery

Alina Slotnik

VP, Product Marketing and Strategy

David Brown

VP, Business Development

Board

Bart Swanson

Investor, Horizons Ventures

Becky O’Grady

Former President of Yoplait and Häagen-Dazs, General Mills

Chuck Templeton

Former Founder and CEO, OpenTable, Former Chairman, GrubHub, Investor, S2G

Elaine Leavenworth

Former CMO, Abbott Nutrition

Ryan Rakestraw

Investor, Temasek International

Advisors

Bernhard Van Lengerich

Former CSO, General Mills

Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH

Cardiologist & Dean of the School of Nutrition, Tufts University

Indra Nooyi

Former Chairman & CEO, Pepsico

Walter Robb, PhD

Former CO-CEO, Whole Foods

Bioactives Coalition

Ashlie Burkart, MD, CM

Chief Scientific Officer at Germin8 Ventures; Associate with the Belfer Center's Environment and Natural Resources Program, Harvard Kennedy School

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Jed W. Fahey M.S., Sc.D

John Hopkins nutritional biochemist whose research on plant-based nutrition targets chronic disease prevention

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Chef Robert E. Graham, MD, MPH

Harvard-trained researcher and physician, public health scientist, food activist and founder of FRESH Medicine and FRESH Med U

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Mark Hyman, MD

Founder and Senior Advisor for the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine; founder and director of The UltraWellness Center; host of The Doctor’s Farmacy Podcast

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Jennifer Kelly, PhD

Nutrition Director at Food Systems For The Future

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Katie Stebbins

Executive Director of The Food & Nutrition Innovation Institute at Tufts University

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Taylor C. Wallace, PhD, CFS, FACN

Principal and CEO of the Think Healthy Group; co-author of the first North American guideline and intake recommendation for flavan-3-ols

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