La Foundary co-founder explains the mushroomy future of packaging

La Foundary is a startup co-founded by Melody Wu, Anh Van, David Sea and Shikhar Jung Shahi Thakuri.

On November 30, Wu pitched to VC judges and a live audience at the Pitch, SmartCompany‘s early-stage startup competition, and was chosen as The People’s Choice winner by the attendees in the room.

The team of students has developed a sustainable packaging solution, which feeds farm waste to mushroom mycelium to generate a styrofoam alternative.

In a conversation with SmartCompany, co-founder Anh Van explained.

How La Foundary works

Mushrooms break down all the leafy greens that fall onto the ground and turn them into nutrients for the soil. “We use the same concept with agricultural waste,” says Van.

This could be from imperfect foods, the cover of rice and almonds, or waste from corn farming.

“We collect them together, calculate the correct ratio that provides us with the best material compost in the end, clean it up and inoculate it with our specially-developed mushroom strain.”

It’s exciting to think of the potential. Around 15 million tonnes of styrofoam are produced worldwide each year, and only 12% is recycled, according to La Foundary’s research. Along with eliminating this waste, La Foundary’s solution is quite energy and water-efficient.

“It grows in the dark and doesn’t require much water”, Van explains, “and it’s very space-saving because we grow it in racks”.

After four days “you have a properly working mycelium composite that acts and feels like styrofoam”.

Currently cut to size for SMEs’ packaging needs from standardised sheets, the team will also be able to create custom one-off moulding to grow product into.

Van describes juggling life as a budding entrepreneur and student as “hectic and chaotic”. But she is passionate about solving this problem and enjoys the opportunities to meet new people and interesting businesses through La Foundary.

The team is currently providing product to a handful of small businesses for packaging, and is looking to expand to medium-sized businesses by 2025, and large enterprises by 2026-28.

Co-founder Melody Wu’s standout pitch rose to the top of the crop for the audience at the Pitch, beating other shortlisted candidates at a night where Simon Skalicky’s Eyeonic was chosen by VC judges as the major prize winner.