Innova Memphis
Innova Memphis is a Memphis-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2007. It backs pre-seed and seed startups in agtech, bioscience, and logistics across rural and underserved US markets, holding a USDA licence as a rural business investor. As of 2026, its one water bet is Glanris, a rice-hull filtration startup.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Innova Memphis was spun out of the Memphis Bioworks Foundation in 2007 by Ken Woody to do something most coastal venture firms never bother with: write the first cheque for startups in the rural middle of the country. Its money goes to pre-seed and seed founders in agtech, bioscience, and logistics, and it holds a USDA licence as a Rural Business Investment Company, which is venture-speak for a fund Washington has cleared to put capital into rural America.
Innova Memphis now runs on farm tech, through a series of Ag Innovation Funds led by partner Dean Didato. In 2024 the firm reached a $40 million first close on its sixth fund, the Innova Ag Innovation Fund VI, with the tractor-maker AGCO among its backers and a $75 million target. The thesis is unglamorous on purpose: founders who grew up on farms, building the automation and data tools their parents actually needed.
Water is not a theme at Innova Memphis, it is a single, telling bet. Innova Memphis backed Glanris, a Memphis company that bakes discarded rice hulls into a carbon-negative filtration media, across three rounds from seed to Series A. It is the kind of deal that sits exactly where this firm lives, at the seam of agriculture and clean water, even though the firm has never made water a category of its own.
For a newcomer investor, Innova Memphis is worth watching less as a water fund and more as a rural-innovation specialist whose agtech bets keep wandering into water. The next Glanris, if there is one, will probably arrive the same way: a farm problem that turns out to be a water problem.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Innova Memphis invest in?
- Innova Memphis backs pre-seed and seed startups in agtech, bioscience, and logistics, with a focus on rural and underserved US markets. Innova Memphis is a USDA-licensed Rural Business Investment Company, and its active strategy centres on farm-technology founders building automation and data tools for agriculture.
- Who runs Innova Memphis?
- Innova Memphis was founded in 2007 by Ken Woody, who remains its president. Partner Dean Didato leads the firm's agtech and farm-technology investing, and Jan Bouten is also a partner. Innova Memphis operates from Memphis with a small, hands-on investment team.
- Is Innova Memphis a water-focused fund?
- Innova Memphis is not a dedicated water fund. Innova Memphis is a generalist early-stage firm whose thesis spans agtech, bioscience, and logistics. Its link to water runs through a single agtech investment, Glanris, which turns rice hulls into filtration media.
- How many water companies has Innova Memphis backed?
- Innova Memphis has backed one water company, Glanris, supporting it across three funding rounds from seed to Series A. (don't) Waste Water rates the firm's overall water commitment One-Off, reflecting a single water deal inside a much broader agtech and bioscience portfolio.
- What is the Innova Ag Innovation Fund VI?
- The Innova Ag Innovation Fund VI is Innova Memphis's sixth fund, focused on pre-seed and seed farm-technology startups. As of 2024 it had reached a $40 million first close, with a $75 million target and the tractor-maker AGCO among its investors.