Every time I post about MoldCo, I get a message something like this.

MoldCo was not an obvious bet by any means, so I thought I’d share some behind the scenes of how our decision to invest.

I met MoldCo’s founder Ariana Thacker in 2021, and we became friends and frequent collaborators in investments. We filmed a Seed to Harvest podcast together about her journey from an oil-and-gas engineer to starting her own venture capital firm, Conscience VC.

In 2024, Ariana mentioned she was starting a company. I was immediately intrigued. I asked what it was and she said “Oh we treat and diagnose mold related illness and we also do environmental home testing too!”

Initially, I was surprised…and curious to learn more.

An Exhaustive Quest for Understanding

What Ariana shared with me about her mold experience shocked me.

While running Conscience VC, she began experiencing mysterious symptoms that defied diagnosis: brain fog, fatigue, GI issues, sleep issues, mood changes, and more.

It wasn’t until a friend, familiar with mold-related toxicity, suggested she investigate her living environment that Ariana uncovered the shocking truth: her home had 35,000 mold spores per cubic meter, several times the limit of what is considered concerning.

Despite initial skepticism, the more she researched, the clearer it became: mold exposure was wreaking havoc on her health.

What followed was an exhaustive quest for understanding.

She read hundreds of publications, met several specialists who didn’t know what was happening or how to help, and watched many podcasts over the course of 15 months.

She sought out world experts, including Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker, a pioneer in mold toxicity research whom she calls “the Steve Jobs of mold” (or as her lead investor put it, “the messiah of mold”).

Ariana even flew to Maryland to meet him, discuss the health impacts of mold at length, and exchange insights. They bonded over their shared obsession with uncovering medical truths.

The Massive [and Overlooked] Mold Market

As Ariana researched her illness more, she discovered shocking statistics about the widespread effects of mold.

• 85% of office buildings have past water damage; 45% have current leaks (EPA).
• 50% of homes in a 12,842-household study showed mold, dampness, and water damage (Spengler).
• 14,000 people daily in the U.S. are affected by water damage (III).
• 21% of U.S. asthma cases are associated with dampness and mold (WHO).
• 96% of chronic sinus infections are linked to mold exposure (Mayo Clinic).
• Mold thrives in humid, moist, and damp conditions. In fact, it can begin growing within 24-48 hours of water intrusion (EPA).

Further, it’s been found that nearly a quarter of individuals have a genetic predisposition to mold-related health issues (Shoemaker).

But due to the lack of traditional options, hundreds of thousands of people feeling left behind by the current medical establishment rely on one another for treatment advice, suggestions, etc. through Facebook groups and Reddit threads.

There is also a large trend emerging in relation to holistic health that has emerged after the COVID pandemic. Whether it’s full-body MRIs (such as PreNuvo and Ezra) or at-home diagnostic tests (such as EverlyWell and InsideTracker), consumers are becoming ever more conscious about their health and being mindful.

From curiosity to conviction: Our Diligence Process

At this point, I understood Ariana’s motivations to build a company solving this problem, the scale of the market represented by helping so many people suffering from mold illness, and was excited to dig in to evaluate MoldCo as an investment opportunity.

We read through an extensive 44-page white-paper prepared by Ariana and her team and went through a series of back-and-forths on various questions we had regarding the product after we conducted our own research on the science behind mold-related illnesses.

We completed reference calls, which confirmed Ariana’s capabilities: a high execution velocity, keen operating acumen, an unparalleled work ethic, and a very communicative nature.

Our extensive diligence was incredibly helpful, and helped articulate our conviction of the opportunity both to Ariana to secure allocation, and to our investors.

We committed to investing $250,000 in MoldCo through Behind Genius’s Fund II in MoldCo's preseed round led by Starship Ventures and SALT.

MoldCo’s rapid execution post-investment

Since 2024, MoldCo has:

• Launched mold testing (health and environmental) an order of magnitude cheaper than alternatives
• Launched research-based treatment offerings in 16 states (59% of the population)
• Raised an $8M seed round led by Collaborative Fund and Cantos VC
• Brought on the world leaders as founding team members and scientific advisors
• Helped 94.5+ million of people better understand and address mold exposure in just 4 months through content efforts

We are incredibly excited about Ariana & what she is building. We recorded an updated podcast together here on MoldCo last year:

After investing, Ariana has been one of the most spectacular entrepreneurs I’ve gotten that chance to work with. She’s direct, communicative, and incredibly driven. She’s magnetic for top talent in the field. She skates ahead of the puck, led by her passionate curiosity and rigorous research.

Ariana had the following to say about working with Behind Genius:

“Paige is a visionary investor for technical storytellers - imparting heart, powerful language for persuasion, and network prowess for her founders. She’s also made impactful introductions for our fundraises.”

In building MoldCo, Ariana has stepped into a great quest. If her vision comes true, it will positively impact hundreds of millions of people, find cures for diseases, and return our funds many times over.

If you’re interested in learning more or testing your own home, please visit https://www.moldco.com/products

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