{"data":{"type":"company_profile","id":85973,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:85973","attributes":{"canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/netzro.sbc","generated_at":"2026-06-23T02:17:56Z","updated_at":"2026-06-22T05:03:20Z","entity_ids":{"company":"wefunder:company:85973","slug":"wefunder:company_slug:netzro.sbc"},"profile_visibility":{"owner_published":true,"public_search_results":true,"site_search_listed":true,"privacy_mode":"promote","invite_only":false},"provenance":{"source":"wefunder_public_company_profile","as_of":"2026-06-23T02:17:56Z","claims":{"total_amount_raised":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-22T05:03:20Z","as_of":"2026-06-23T02:17:56Z","confidence":"high"},"total_investors":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-22T05:03:20Z","as_of":"2026-06-23T02:17:56Z","confidence":"high"},"active_raise_states":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil)","last_verified_at":"2025-02-06T01:17:55Z","as_of":"2026-06-23T02:17:56Z","confidence":"high"},"latest_fundraise_state":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil).order(funding_started_at)","last_verified_at":"2025-02-06T01:17:55Z","as_of":"2026-06-23T02:17:56Z","confidence":"medium"}}},"company":{"id":85973,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:85973","slug":"netzro.sbc","name":"NETZRO, SBC","tagline":"State-of-the-art food tech producing nutritious, upcycled ingredients at scale","elevator_pitch":"NETZRO has developed a proprietary state-of-the-art food upcycling platform for licensing. This technology helps power the safe capture and conversion of industrial food and beverage byproducts into new sustainable food ingredients at scale.","story":"We're developing groundbreaking, upcycling tech that tackles food waste head on. Join us.NETZRO is currently preparing for a transformative stage of business growth. We are assembling capital resources and have built a team passionate about safe, scalable, and sustainable ways to reduce industrial food waste, while having an unparalleled impact on upcycled food potential.The ProblemDid you know when food rots in a landfill it creates huge amounts of methane gas? This methane is a green house gas more potent then carbon dioxide. It is estimated that between 6 to 8 billion pounds of food is wasted every year from food and beverage manufacturing. This food is often referred to as food byproducts. Food and beverage manufacturers face growing regulatory and social pressure to divert their byproducts responsibly. In addition, they face increasing costs for disposal that affect their bottom line.The NETZRO SolutionNETZRO has proven that food byproducts can be safely recovered into upcycled food ingredients which is used in new food products. NETZRO's technology has recovered spent grains from breweries and distilleries into upcycled grains used in snacks, cereals, seasonings as well as milled as specialty flour. It has also recovered eggshells from liquid egg production into upcycled calcium and collagen. These are used as functional ingredients for nutritional benefits.Our company has developed a proprietary state-of-the-art food upcycling platform that includes patent pending technology for licensing.This technology helps power the safe capture and conversion of industrial food \u0026amp; beverage byproducts into new sustainable food ingredients at scale. It does this by using special infrared heating assisted with a rotational process which allows for thorough heating to completely dry into shelf stable food ingredients.\u0026nbsp;The precise heat\u0026nbsp;kills pathogens instantly without burning or degrading nutritional value. The process throughput is designed to be continuous flow and is able to handle large volumes. The patent pending\u0026nbsp;technology can be installed at the\u0026nbsp;end of a food production line or used in an independent food processing facility.What we doNETZRO has built an ecosystem and collaborative partnerships around eliminating food waste and improving the food economy.\u0026nbsp;The platform was built with transformational change in mind; connecting the food supply chain not only farm to fork, but also fork back to farm. A true circular approach to our food system which is key to reducing the effects of climate change.The platform provides support for our customers who license the technology. This includes consulting on facilities, transportation logistics, process throughput as well as market identification and sales.\u0026nbsp;How it all beganNETZRO initially worked with a small scale version of the technology to upcycle two types of food byproducts; eggshells and spent grain.\u0026nbsp;EggshellsNETZRO sourced eggshells from liquid egg breaking facilities and research concluded that the technology was capable of separating the eggshell membrane from the eggshell creating two new upcycled ingredients, calcium and collagen. With a TAM (total addressable market)\u0026nbsp;of 300 million pounds of eggshell waste every year, the potential to provide upcycled calcium and collagen to food producers as well as health \u0026amp; beauty industry is endless.NETZRO has commercialized upcycled calcium for use as an ingredient\u0026nbsp;in pet food. We are\u0026nbsp;in development with food manufactures to use it\u0026nbsp;as an ingredient in\u0026nbsp; food products for human consumption. NETZRO has just completed a grant with Minnesota Department of Agriculture to commercialize upcycled eggshell collagen for human consumption.\u0026nbsp;The next phase includes the design of ancillary equipment to assist the NETZRO technology in capturing the full potential of the upcycled collagen for human health.Brewer's spent grainNETZRO's second upcycled byproduct was spent grain from the brewing and distilling industries. The TAM of 20 billion pounds of spent grain annually in the US, we can feed more people better without growing more grain. This will allow farmers to grow new perennial grains such as Kernza ® .The grain is recovered from the brewing and distilling process and upcycled as an ingredient for human and pet food, as well as premium animal feed. NETZRO partnered with Utepils Brewery in Minneapolis, MN to test a small version of the technology onsite.\u0026nbsp;Proof of Concept for NETZROAfter our extensive research and development, and completion of a pilot project using our prototype machine, we designed and built our first commercial upcycling platform. In 2020 we co-located with Tattersall Distilling to launch our proof of concept phase and engaged with all of our community stakeholders. This video shares what went into this project and how this model can work in local communities across the country and the world.The Upcycled Food Movement opportunityFood upcycling is a new and rapidly growing double-sided industry.\u0026nbsp;According to www.futuremarketinsights.com, in 2019 the global market opportunity from food waste was $46.7 billion. Food byproduct providers are seeking new ways to reduce food waste,\u0026nbsp;and new\u0026nbsp;food producers are\u0026nbsp;seeking new sustainable functional ingredients. This gives NETZRO the potential to scale its patent pending technology to meet increasing market demands.\u0026nbsp;Upcycling at this scale has the potential to reduce greenhouse gasses, enable sustainable agriculture, and fight hunger by providing a new nutritious food source. This video\u0026nbsp;from the Upcycled Food Association\u0026nbsp;\"What is Upcycled Food\"\u0026nbsp; explains this movement\u0026nbsp;and introduces the Upcycled Certification which is key to this growing industry.\u0026nbsp; NETZRO is proud to be founding member of UFA.Interest in upcycled food grew in 2020 by 128% with Whole Foods naming upcycled foods top 10 trend. In addition, Anheuser-Busch invested 100 million dollars into its facility to upcycle barley byproduct. Big food companies are starting to look at it as better efficiency for their production. Sales of upcycled food products within the Upcycled Food Association membership grew to $179 million in 2020 from $102 million in 2019. The upcycled food movement will capture $1 trillion dollars of food value that is wasted each year.\u0026nbsp;Upcycling is now “the new recycling,” presenting an attractive opportunity for businesses to curb food waste and loss, while scaling a host of new value-added food and beverage products from food byproducts.The Market Opportunity for NETZRONETZRO is strategically positioned between the food and beverage companies that can supply food byproduct in large volumes consistently, and food producers looking to source new sustainable food ingredients at scale.\u0026nbsp;Being a bridge to connect this gap in the food supply chain assists in reducing food waste. NETZRO’s technology recovers the food byproduct that would otherwise go to waste or underutilized. NETZRO is able to reharvest food at a lower cost than growing more food. This allows farmers to practive regenerative agricultural practices such as\u0026nbsp;crop diversity. And\u0026nbsp;our partners to create a new food ecosystem and source of revenue within the green economy, all without growing more food. Where we go from hereNow that NETZRO has proven its technology’s capability of recovering byproducts by consistently selling upcycled ingredients, discussions with several organizations are ongoing to license the technology. NETZRO licensing model consists of making money through engineering fees, markup on equipment, ongoing license fees as well as royalties from the sales of the upcycled ingredients.Moving\u0026nbsp;into our own processing facility at the Wycliff Building in St. Paul, MN, will allow for upcycling grain byproduct from breweries and distilleries in the Twin Cities at scale. In addition, the new space allows for NETZRO to relocate its research and development lab from Lino Lakes, MN. This location is conveniently located near its various local research and business partners as well as several breweries \u0026amp; distilleries. Some of NETZRO’s local relationships include Field Theory Foods, Midwest Northern Nuts (We Are Nuts), Bakers Field Flour \u0026amp; Bread, The Upcycled Food \u0026amp; Collaborative Kitchen, Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI), University of St. Thomas and various groups within the University of Minnesota.Together we can eliminate food waste,\u0026nbsp;feed more people, and save the planet!With the funds raised in this campaign we will be able to finish the buildout of our new manufacturing space, buy automated loading equipment \u0026amp; supplies and hire two additional team members.\u0026nbsp;Thank you for your consideration in making an investment\u0026nbsp;and being a part of the journey!\u0026nbsp;","location":"Minneapolis, MN","website":"https://www.netzro.us","total_amount_raised":162580,"total_investors":80,"is_funded":false,"is_active":false,"quality_score":3,"related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/netzro.sbc","https://www.netzro.us"]},"media":{"share_image_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/85973/xxl_cropped_Thumbnail_-_1.jpg","logo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/logo/85973/large_cropped_NZ_logo_for_Vimeo.png","header_media_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/85973/standard_cropped_Thumbnail_-_1.jpg","cover_photo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/85973/standard_cropped_Thumbnail_-_1.jpg","profile_video_url":"https://wefunder.wistia.com/medias/9nrq49jajq"},"links":{"company_url":"https://www.netzro.us","twitter_url":"http://twitter.com/NETZRO_US","instagram_url":"https://www.instagram.com/netzro.us/"},"highlights":[],"quick_facts":[{"index":1,"claim_id":"claim-fact-1","value":"Transforming food byproducts (eggshells, spent grain \u0026amp; more) into nutrient-rich ingredients."},{"index":2,"claim_id":"claim-fact-2","value":"Patent pending tech can be applied to various food byproducts."},{"index":3,"claim_id":"claim-fact-3","value":"Multiple food and beverage manufacturers have expressed interest in licensing our tech."},{"index":4,"claim_id":"claim-fact-4","value":"Selected for The Kroger Co. Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation Innovation Fund’s 2021 Cohort"},{"index":5,"claim_id":"claim-fact-5","value":"Majority women-owned business. Certified B Corp."},{"index":6,"claim_id":"claim-fact-6","value":"The upcycled food industry worth $46.7B+ in 2019 \u0026amp; expected to grow 5% annually over next 10 years."}],"team":[{"id":1681988,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:1681988","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:1429907","role":"founder","name":"Sue Marshall","title":"Founder, CEO \u0026 CFO","bio":"Proudly lives in Minneapolis, MN. She spends her days managing NETZRO's business development, contract negotiation, community development and collaborative planning activities. Sue is a founding \u0026amp; board member of The Upcycled Food Association.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/1681988/square_cropped_Netzero__207.jpg?1631573189","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/suemarshall","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-marshall-871a964/","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/suemarshall"]},{"id":1975364,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:1975364","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:1607274","role":"employee","name":"Reed Watson","title":"VP of Strategic Growth and Operations","bio":"Reed is driven to help leaders, companies \u0026amp; teams be wildly successful by accelerating growth, whether it’s scaling up rapid growth in small/mid-cap \u0026amp; start-up companies, or building speed \u0026amp; double-digit growth in large companies.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/1975364/square_cropped_Reed_Watson.jpg?1629295335","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/reedwatson","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/reedwatson/","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/reedwatson"]},{"id":1975378,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:1975378","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:2351262","role":"employee","name":"Hash Brown","title":"Director of Business Development","bio":"Ashley’s passion for environmental progress is matched only by her service-first mindset. She brings a strong background in sales and relationship building to the NETZRO team and is responsible for nurturing partnerships with producers and providers.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/1975378/square_cropped_DSC05688.jpg?1674671957","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/hashbrown","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-brown-impact/","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/hashbrown"]},{"id":2803340,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:2803340","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:2632305","role":"employee","name":"Craig Dowd","title":"CTSO","bio":"Craig works to power forward growth through optimizing of the NETZRO’s proprietary equipment and technology. Over 38 years of experience in food technology with recent positions at General Mills R\u0026amp;D. U of MN alum with B.S. Chemical Engineering.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/2803340/square_cropped_Craig_Dowd_headshot.jpg?1678810956","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/craig.dowd","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-dowd-875791b/","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/craig.dowd"]},{"id":2803359,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:2803359","role":"employee","name":"Ben Bowman","title":"Acting CFO","bio":"Ben is an innovative thinker with demonstrated ability to develop and execute on business opportunities. Personal management style blends curiosity, humor and humility to deliver results for cross function teams.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/2803359/square_cropped_Ben_Bowman_headshot.jpg?1678810956","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjbowman/","related_urls":[]}],"featured_investors":[{"id":5552,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_investor_profile:5552","investor_profile_id":1141863,"investor_profile_entity_id":"wefunder:investor_profile:1141863","subject_entity_id":"wefunder:user:1621485","name":"Vicki Shenk","avatar_url":"http://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/user/avatar/1621485/medium_blob.jpg","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/vickishenk","investment_total":5000,"investment_info":"Invested $5,000 this round","is_lead_investor":true,"related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/vickishenk"]}],"investor_memos":[],"tab_counts":{"posts":1,"ask_questions":3,"featured_investors":1,"faq_entries":3},"active_fundraises":[{"id":47704,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:47704","state":"successful","offering_type":"506(b)","funding_type":"note","structure":"ttw","security_type":"equity","currency":"USD","testing_the_waters":true,"min_purchase":250,"max_purchase":9,"funding_target":50000.0},{"id":47703,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:47703","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","funding_type":"note","structure":"safe","security_type":"equity","currency":"USD","testing_the_waters":false,"min_purchase":250,"max_purchase":9,"funding_target":145000.0,"funding_started_at":"2021-09-15T23:47:32Z","funding_closed_at":"2022-01-25T05:01:35Z","auto_close_at":"2022-01-25T04:59:59Z"}],"latest_fundraise":{"id":47704,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:47704","state":"successful","offering_type":"506(b)","structure":"ttw","testing_the_waters":true,"can_invest_now":false,"funding_started_at":null,"funding_closed_at":null,"terms":{"eb":null,"nb":null,"txt":null}},"recent_posts":[{"id":149379,"entity_id":"wefunder:feed_item:149379","type":"FeedItem::Update","visibility":"public","title":"It's NETZRO's Final Countdown","preview":"It's the final countdown for our Wefunder Crowdfunding Campaign. We will be closing the round next week. We are shooting for our stretch goal, and you can help us get there! If you have been following us, now is a great time to make an investment. If you know of someone who would be interested in NETZRO, please share our campaign. If you have already invested, thank you so much! With any new or increases of investments of $500 or more, we'll send you one of our special artisan seasoning bowls...","published_at":"2022-01-11T22:19:17Z","author_name":"Ashley Brown","url":"/feed/149379","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/feed/149379"}],"q_and_a":[{"id":185932,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:185932","question":"Hello, Interesting technology. I have a few questions: 1. What is the status of your patent? Has it been granted? How much is your competitive advantage eroded if the patent is not granted? 2. What are the competing technologies that can be similarly appended to the end of food production lines? What other solutions are available? 3. Are there other applications of existing tech beyond eggshells and spent grain? Do you intend to continue developing other up cycling technologies? 4. What is the forcing function for adoption of your technology? You’ve mentioned “Food and beverage manufacturers face growing regulatory and social pressure to divert their byproducts responsibly. In addition, they face increasing costs for disposal that affect their bottom line.” Can you talk more about the regulatory aspect and the increasing costs that Food and beverage manufacturers face? I’d appreciate if you’d offer further reading materials on these issues. 5. Are there other forcing functions for adoption? 6. What new competition are you likely to face as the problem becomes more recognized (and profitable)?","author_name":"Georgiy Grigoryan","votes":2,"created_at":"2022-01-03T08:42:29Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/netzro.sbc#question-185932","answers":[{"id":186121,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:186121","answer":"Hello Georgiy - Thank you for your interest and great questions. Our patent education is pending and we have just filed for a PCT patent since we have several companies interested internationally. The patent is important but we have a substantial trade secret portfolio. There are technologies that are readily available for small scale processing of organics to a dried matter for composting. I have seen several companies that are using this type for upcycling fruit pulps and spent grains. I just returned from Montreal Canada to see two businesses that are upcycling spent grains. One had this organic composting dryer and it takes 12 hour to process 100 lbs of wet spent grains. The other company is using large commercial ovens to dry out the spent grains on commercial size baking sheets. This is typical and a couple companies that have LOI's on NETZRO equipment is doing it this way. It is very hard to scale that type of process. We do intend to research other types of byproducts. For example we just successfully processed lavender from a bitters distillery. This worked great and we have a beverage company that is doing a pilot using the upcycled lavender for use in a new beverage. When we look at these types of opportunities it is critical to look at the current demand in the market for such an upcycled ingredient before we would commercialize with a strategic partner that would then lease the tech. As far as where the pressure is coming from to gain interest, when we started out on this venture the cost of disposal was just starting to be a problem in certain areas geographically. For example urban centers for breweries and distilleries hit this first. These spent grains are not allowed to go into the dumpsters which requires them to find an outlet (like a farmer coming into the urban center) or pay for an organic waste hauler to pick it up. This pressure is increasing both from a financial perspective as well as from the community (it is quite stinky). For other large manufacturers like egg producers that are located in rural areas the pressure is coming from inappropriate land application techniques that damage the soil. In some states regulations have become so strict that its common for egg producers to truck semi loads full daily to other states that have not tightened restrictions yet. As you can imagine the costs to get rid of this byproduct is rising in some cases monthly. This does not help with the shortage of truck drivers. The pressure coming from climate change and supply chain issues has given the upcycled food industry a boost in interest. As a founder and executive board member of https://www.upcycledfood.org/ we are very excited about the interest from large food and beverage manufacturers to invest in this new industry. Lastly, the ultimate forcing function for adoption is when the revenue opportunities meet consumer interest which is what we are experiencing. It is my opinion that competition will arise from new technologies that can handle scale enabling the handling 100% of byproduct from any manufacturing facility. This can be several tons per day but unless you can take away 100% of that manufactureres problem it is not a real solution. The challenge ultimately is making use of these volumes and it can not just be for human consumption. There is just too much so it must include value add for animal \u0026amp; pet food as well as industrial products made from these upcycled organic byproducts. There has been alot of interest coming from universities in the area of industrial bio products making construction products, furniture, textiles, etc. The future is so bright in the opportunities on what can be done with food that we otherwise would think is waste. Thanks again for your interest.","author_name":"Sue Marshall","votes":2,"created_at":"2022-01-04T21:20:05Z"}]},{"id":183668,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:183668","question":"Thanks Sue. Did you just change or add the \"min $250\", because I do not recall that being there previously, and I know that I was looking for it.","author_name":"Josh S.","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-12-14T11:17:02Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/netzro.sbc#question-183668","answers":[{"id":183677,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:183677","answer":"Thanks for the question Josh, we have always had the $250 minimum on this campaign, in addition to that there are other perks at different levels.","author_name":"Sue Marshall","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-12-14T14:24:11Z"}]},{"id":182908,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:182908","question":"Hi, Up to how much are you hoping/planning to raise in this round? Until when is the fundraiser open if you do not reach that limit earlier? I could not find that you state anywhere how much of that \"upcycled food industry worth $46.7B+\" that you hope to capture. Do you not (yet) have any projection models? Thanks","author_name":"Josh S.","votes":0,"created_at":"2021-12-07T19:39:24Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/netzro.sbc#question-182908","answers":[{"id":183568,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:183568","answer":"Hi Josh. Thank you for the questions. We will be raising a series A in May 2022 timeframe. We will be closing this campaign just after the 1st of the year. NETZRO's addressible market of the $46.7B is $8B. This captures the spent grain byproducts. There is more opportunity in eggshell upcycling and even though we have been selling one upcycled ingredient under this verticle there is more R\u0026amp;D work to be done on commercializing upcycled collagen (eggshell membrane) which is underway. We do have projects and they are based on our revenue model which is licensing fees, NRE and royalties from the sale of the upcycled ingredients. Our processing facility that we just moved into is an operating facility and we do sell upcycled ingredients from this location. However its intent is that of a showroom for our partners to see the operation and then license the NETZRO platform. We do have prospective customers with signed letters of interest waiting in the wings. The funding from the series A is to fulfill orders of the NETZRO platform. Happy to answer any further questions on revenue model/projections or anything else. Thank you so much for your interest.","author_name":"Sue Marshall","votes":1,"created_at":"2021-12-13T15:58:01Z"}]}],"faq":[{"question":"Hi, Up to how much are you hoping/planning to raise in this round? Until when is the fundraiser open if you do not reach that limit earlier? I could not find that you state anywhere how much of that \"upcycled food industry worth $46.7B+\" that you hope to capture. Do you not (y...","answer":"Hi Josh. Thank you for the questions. We will be raising a series A in May 2022 timeframe. We will be closing this campaign just after the 1st of the year. NETZRO's addressible market of the $46.7B is $8B. This captures the spent grain byproducts. There is more opportunity in eggshell upcycling and even though we have been selling one upcycled ingredient under this verticle there is more R\u0026amp;D work to be done on commercializing upcycled collagen (eggshell membrane) which is underway. We do ..."},{"question":"Thanks Sue. Did you just change or add the \"min $250\", because I do not recall that being there previously, and I know that I was looking for it.","answer":"Thanks for the question Josh, we have always had the $250 minimum on this campaign, in addition to that there are other perks at different levels."},{"question":"Hello, Interesting technology. I have a few questions: 1. What is the status of your patent? Has it been granted? How much is your competitive advantage eroded if the patent is not granted? 2. What are the competing technologies that can be similarly appended to the end of foo...","answer":"Hello Georgiy - Thank you for your interest and great questions. Our patent education is pending and we have just filed for a PCT patent since we have several companies interested internationally. The patent is important but we have a substantial trade secret portfolio. There are technologies that are readily available for small scale processing of organics to a dried matter for composting. I have seen several companies that are using this type for upcycling fruit pulps and spent grains. I ju..."}]}}}