Company Profile (AI Text)
Name: TAXA Biotechnologies
Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/taxa
Updated at: 2026-06-22T05:02:51Z

Tagline: Bio-engineering for the home, starting with a glowing plant
Elevator pitch: We enable cheaper, faster, and better genetic engineering of plants. We offer our platform both as a service to other companies and use it internally to develop our own engineered plants. We make money from platform access service fees and from royalties on the sale of the final products. Our first product is a Glowing Plant, which was the first Kickstarter for a synthetic biology application earning us over $600k in pre-orders. We are also close to shipping a Fragrant Moss.

Key claims:
- Total raised on Wefunder: 309807 | citation: https://wefunder.com/taxa#claim-total-raised
- Total investors: 528 | citation: https://wefunder.com/taxa#claim-total-investors

Verified facts:
- Total raised on Wefunder: 309807 | observed_at: 2026-06-22T05:02:51Z | expires_at: 2026-06-23T05:02:51Z
- Total investors: 528 | observed_at: 2026-06-22T05:02:51Z | expires_at: 2026-06-23T05:02:51Z

Computed metrics:
- total_amount_raised: 309807
- total_investors: 528
- team_size: 5
- featured_investor_count: 0
- faq_count: 5
- recent_post_count: 9

Quick facts:
- Over $600k in pre-orders for Glowing Plant. | citation: https://wefunder.com/taxa#claim-fact-1
- Shipped first ever kit which allows anyone to genetically engineer a plant at home. | citation: https://wefunder.com/taxa#claim-fact-2
- Shipped Fluc v1 of Glowing plant, the lowest cost GE plant ever sold commercially, demonstrating clear regulatory pathways and working technology. | citation: https://wefunder.com/taxa#claim-fact-3
- Validated demand for TAXA platform by signing 3 collaborative research agreements with partner companies (more in pipeline). | citation: https://wefunder.com/taxa#claim-fact-4
- First biotech investment by Y Combinator. | citation: https://wefunder.com/taxa#claim-fact-5

FAQ:
- Q: What is the percent carry on this investment?
  A: There is no carry. We pay 3% of funds raised to WeFunder as a fee, but you keep all returns from your shares.
- Q: Can you share your existing cap table?
  A: We can't share all the details on that, but on a fully diluted basis I own 64% and the balance is split between the team and our existing investors. Those investors invested on the same financial terms as we are offering today. You can read all the disclosures we are making here: https://wefunder.com/taxa/form_c
- Q: Can you change or update your investment? For instance if you do the minimum $100 today, can you change that a few days later? Also, can you explain a bit about the equity raised? April 2014:$120,000; December 2014: $323,000; and now this round is for an additional $400,000? I...
  A: Yes, you can change your investment up until a few days before we close the campaign when it will become fixed. Your equity numbers are correct, though we might go over the minimum $400k we are targeting. Here's more information on the planned use of proceeds: $400k will allow us to continue the R&D required to bring our first two products to market, the glowing plant and fragrant moss. The glowing plant requires work to improve the luminosity and implementation of a new method for doing ...
- Q: I'm guessing that under Title III equity funding, you don't have to do a formal prospectus. However, I would like to see some sort of financial document that shows a balance sheet before and after funding with a special emphasis on equity and debt before and after. IE total nu...
  A: Nathanael: have you seen the Form C disclosures and the Q&A section? I think that covers a lot of the information you are asking for. The Form C is here: https://wefunder.com/taxa/form_c and the Q&A is at the bottom of the main page. Happy to answer other questions that you feel aren't addressed there.
- Q: I like the concept, but what safeguards are in place to ensure that any genetic modification is not spread to wild-type plants and who would be responsible for the aftermath if it did occur?
  A: We avoid releasing plants which have genes that can provide a selective advantage, for instance we are removing herbicide markers from our plants. This means that while the modification can spread to wild-relatives evolution will work against the genes persisting in the wild.

Recent posts:
- TAXA: Introducing Orbella the Fragrant Moss (2017-07-31T20:50:53Z) https://wefunder.com/feed/90479
- Tell your friends about Orbella (2017-07-25T17:20:13Z) https://wefunder.com/feed/90640
- 2016 Annual Report (2017-05-02T18:15:29Z) https://wefunder.com/feed/90236
- TAXA Q2 Investor Update (2016-08-04T20:00:51Z) https://wefunder.com/feed/89282
- Introducing Globiotics (2016-07-18T20:50:12Z) https://wefunder.com/feed/88883
- Didn’t catch our LIVE Q&A? Listen to it here. (2016-06-27T18:11:22Z) https://wefunder.com/feed/88338
- LIVE Q&A, THURSDAY @ 5PM (PST) (2016-06-22T00:16:45Z) https://wefunder.com/feed/88169
- Fragrant Moss passes final technical milestone (2016-06-01T21:29:41Z) https://wefunder.com/feed/87566
- TAXA checklist for Title III equity crowdfunding (2016-05-16T16:06:31Z) https://wefunder.com/feed/86701