About Us
We are the venture capital arm of Wilbur-Ellis, a privately owned family business approaching its centennial anniversary. We invest our own capital and are looking for pioneering entrepreneurs that insist upon building successful companies without taking shortcuts.
Beyond capital, we provide our deep expertise and market knowledge. We enable founders to launch new products and services, run trials, expand and recruit new talent.
What do we look for
Dedicated founders solving real problems, with an unwavering resolve to build and execute.
Livestock feed, pet nutrition, aquafeed
Ingredients & formulation for cosmetics, human nutrition
Alternative to industrial chemicals
Agrochemical active ingredients
Alternative delivery & spraying methods
Water management & irrigation
Soil biology
Resource conservation
Team
Michael Wilbur
President
Mike is a founding member of Cavallo Ventures and has been with Wilbur-Ellis for over 20 years. During his time at Wilbur-Ellis, Mike has worked across all three business divisions and at numerous offices both in the U.S. and overseas. Mike holds a B.A. in Economics from Boston College.
Son Vo
Managing Director
Son joined Cavallo Ventures in early 2018. Prior to Cavallo, Son worked in healthcare investment banking at Cowen and Company where he focused on capital raising and M&A for life sciences and medtech companies. Son holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.
Brett Morris
Managing Director
Brett joined Cavallo Ventures in 2021. Brett has spent nearly a decade in venture capital, company building, and corporate development and strategy across the agriculture and animal nutrition/health industries. Prior to Cavallo, he helped lead venture investing and the incubation of new startups for TechAccel. Brett graduated from the University of Kansas and is a CFA® charterholder.
Portfolio
Boost Biomes
Harnesses the power of the microbiome through a proprietary discovery platform for identifying microbial products
Bountiful Ag
Provides yield forecasting utilizing remote sensing imagery, field practices, historical data, and weather
Sound Agriculture
Developing technologies to help farmers sustainably increase harvest yields by enhancing crop nutrient and water use
Taranis
Uses deep learning on proprietary data sets to predict and prevent crop disease and pest losses
Performance Livestock Analytics
Performance Livestock Analytics provides software subscription services to livestock producers, brokers, risk managers, nutritionists, animal health and animal nutrition companies
SomaDetect
Optical sensor to detect mastitis in cows. Also measures fat and protein content in real time, and predicts reproductive cycle
FarmWise
Autonomous vegetable weeder helps you get rid of herbicides, save time, have better products and greater yields
Sabanto Ag
Farming-as-a-Service company performing row-crop operations using advanced autonomous equipment.
Verdant Robotics
Technology empowers grower results by combining computer vision, artificial intelligence, and automated robotics to understand every part of every plant at massive scale
Ascus Biosciences
Developing new feed solutions based on the emerging science of Endomicrobial Ecology
