TPB
Venture capitalSan Francisco · Seed–Late Stage · 6 people tracked
Also known as TPB MANAGEMENT LLC
Investment thesis
TPB is a holding company that both creates and invests in technology businesses aimed at reimagining core global systems. It focuses on commercializing scientific breakthroughs across life sciences, food and agriculture, and software, and building consumer brands. The firm backs businesses run by exceptional operators from the seed stage through public markets, seeking to radically increase efficiency in production, distribution, and health. Its stated mission emphasizes creating value for employees, investors, customers, future generations, and the planet, with a broader ambition to decarbonize and improve global systems through faster, cheaper, and better technology.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 25, 2026.
Founder fit — who David backs
A strong fit is a scientific founder with a discovery that can be commercialised into a market that already exists at enormous scale — food, feed, materials, health. You do not need a complete commercial team; TPB builds around the science. What you do need is a quantified tenfold claim with a named baseline, and a willingness to work on a decade-long timeline.
Consumer software, incremental improvements, and breakthroughs without an identified buyer. These are inferences from TPB's published criteria and portfolio, not stated exclusions.
How to pitch
State the tenfold improvement and the dimension it applies to — cost, energy, time or carbon — with the baseline you are measuring against. Show the data, including the trials that did not work. Name the buyer and the volume, because he takes science risk far more readily than demand risk. Expect an operator's questions: he currently runs a deep-science company himself.
As of August 2026 his primary role is operating: full-time CEO of Ohalo Genetics, taking Boosted Breeding from trial results toward commercial validation, alongside running The Production Board. TPB joined 8090's $135M Series A in 2026.
Editorial inference from David's portfolio, writing and public record — not a published mandate.
Investment themes
8 documented themes from David's essays, talks and portfolio, grouped by what they say about founders.
▶More themes5
Reimagine systems of production, not products2016
TPB exists to rebuild the fundamental systems that produce food, materials and medicine, rather than to fund incremental improvements within them.
For founders: Frame your company as a replacement for a system, not a better version of a product inside it.
Build companies, don't only back them2016
TPB is a holding company that creates businesses from scientific discoveries and staffs them, rather than a fund waiting for founders to arrive.
For founders: There is a route in as a scientist or operator joining a company being formed, not only as a founder raising a round.
Genetics is the leverage point in agriculture2024
Ohalo's premise is that re-engineering how plants reproduce — producing polyploid offspring that retain both parents' genomes — delivers yield gains that agronomic practice cannot match.
For founders: Upstream biological leverage beats downstream software optimisation in his framework.
Data first, then the physical system2006
The Climate Corporation began by pricing weather risk with data, then became an agronomy platform — the pattern he has repeated of using measurement to earn the right to change the physical process.
For founders: A data wedge into a physical industry is a shape he recognises.
Long capital for long science2021
The holding-company structure and its $300 million raise were designed to hold biological businesses across development timelines that a standard fund cycle cannot accommodate.
For founders: Ten-year technical roadmaps are fundable here.
▶Founders & company building3
A 10x threshold on cost, energy, time or carbon2016
TPB's published bar is at least a tenfold improvement on one of those four dimensions versus the conventional system being replaced.
For founders: Name the dimension and the multiple, with the baseline you are measuring against.
Science risk is acceptable; market risk less so2021
TPB backs commercialisation of emerging scientific discoveries, taking technical risk in categories with existing, enormous demand — food, feed, materials, health.
For founders: Hard science aimed at a market that already exists fits; speculative demand does not.
Operate the hard one yourself2023
He left a purely investing role to run Ohalo full time, treating the hardest company in the portfolio as the one that needed the CEO rather than a board seat.
For founders: He judges companies as an operator inside a deep-science business, not as an allocator.
Portfolio coverage
The Climate Corporation sold to Monsanto for roughly $1.1 billion in 2013. Metromile went public in 2021 but declined sharply afterwards and was later absorbed. The Production Board has created and backed companies including Pattern Ag, Triplebar and Ohalo, the last of which has raised over $100 million and reported early yield gains that, if they hold at scale, would be a significant result in crop science.
Public databases count this portfolio differently — scopes and methodologies vary, so no single total is definitive.
| Fundraising Fox | Tracked TPB investments | 5 |
| Fundraising Fox | Tracked personal investments | 2 |
| Crunchbase | Profile-reported TPB investments | varies |
| Ohalo | Reported capital raised | $100M+ |
▶3 more attributed companies without a tracked profile yet
Pattern AgTriplebarLavoro
Positions, predictions and career history live on David Friedberg →
Deep-research dossier, compiled August 2026. Every row carries its own source.
Team · 6 people
from the firm's website & public directories
Founder mafia
2 people who came through TPB went on to found or lead other companies.
What they invest in
from 4 of 8 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×3AgTech ×2Biotech ×2Deep Tech ×2Climate Tech ×1Data & Infrastructure ×1Developer Tools ×1Enterprise Software ×1
HQs:United States×5
Investments · 8 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2026 · 12025 · 22023 · 12022 · 12019 · 16 dated
EarthOptics measures soil health for farmers and landowners using field sensors and lab analysis to assess soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties.
AgTechAI & Machine LearningClimate TechData & InfrastructureDeep TechArlington, US
Lars Dyrud(CEO)inTodd Martin(Executive Officer)inStephanie Landa(Executive Officer)Hunt Bowers(Executive Officer)inAdam Gerson(Executive Officer)John Dombrosky(Executive Officer, Director)
Board seatDavid Friedberg· per SEC Form D
Co-investorsArgonautic VenturesCerity Partners VenturesDoon CapitaliSelect FundMiddleland CapitalRoute 66 Ventures+6 more
Emeryville, US
Board seatDavid Friedberg· per SEC Form D · $40M raise · filed Jul 2022
Triplebar builds an AI platform for Genomic Design Automation (GDA), using microfluidics to generate large-scale biological datasets with matched genotype and phenotype at lower cost and faster than liquid handling robotics.
AI & Machine LearningBiotechDeep TechEmeryville, US
Jeremy Agresti(Founder)inHoward Levin(Director)Maria Cho(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardRose Wardle(Director)
Board seatDavid Friedberg· per SEC Form D · $20.5M raise · filed Oct 2023
Co-investorsiSelect FundStray Dog CapitalSynthesis Capital
Uplifting Results Labs, doing business as Supergut, makes clinically tested gut-microbiome nutrition products.
Culver City, US
Marc Washington(Executive Officer, Director)Tracey Halama(Executive Officer, Director)Bharat Vasan(Director)
BoardBader Alam(Director)Nate Redmond(Director)in
Board seatDavid Friedberg· per SEC Form D · filed Feb 2025
Co-investorsAlpha Edison
8090 is an AI-native software development platform designed for regulated enterprises in healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and government that enables teams to build production code from business intent with full audit trails and governance controls.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise Software
Chamath Palihapitiya(Co-founder and CEO)Rohit Kelapure(Founder)Sina Sojoodi(Founder)
Co-investorsS32Section 32Craft VenturesLAUNCHSalesforce Ventures
Ohalo develops products aimed at improving agricultural productivity and supporting farmers globally.
AgTechBiotechFoodTechAptos, US
David Friedberg(Executive Officer, Director)Judson Ward(Founder)in
Co-investorsCapria VenturesValor Capital Group
Co-investorsiSelect FundValor Capital Group
Rows marked “SEC filing” are inferred from directors named on the company's SEC Form D — public regulatory data, not a portfolio list published by the firm.
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companies8090 · businesswire.com · Jun 30, 2026
Ohalo Genetics · nasdaqprivatemarket.com · Dec 23, 2025
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does TPB invest at?
- TPB invests at the Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth, Late Stage stages.
- What sectors does TPB focus on?
- TPB focuses on Advanced Manufacturing, AgTech, AI & Machine Learning, Biotech, Cleantech, Climate Tech, Deep Tech, Energy, FoodTech, SaaS.
- Where is TPB located?
- TPB is headquartered in San Francisco, US.
- Who does TPB co-invest with?
- TPB most often shares deals with iSelect Fund, Synthesis Capital, Valor Capital Group, among 3 tracked co-investors.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the team'The yield gains are insane' — Friedberg unwraps Ohalo's Boosted Breeding
agtechnavigator.com · David Friedberg · agtechnavigator.com
TPB's David Friedberg on Lavoro SPAC Deal
Bloomberg Technology · David Friedberg
Images
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