Eben Bayer

At MyFOREST Foods, CEO Eben Bayer taps into nature’s magic, cultivating mushroom mycelium, a tasty, sustainable, and naturally savory new protein that delivers the true meat experience.

As co-founder and CEO of Ecovative, Bayer uses biology to solve important environmental challenges by growing safe and healthy new materials as well envisioning creative ways to use natural technology at industrial scales.

Ecovative envisions a future where everyday materials and products are grown, not manufactured. Ecovative’s mycelium platform supports the production of a wide range of product types, from luxury quality leather like materials, through high performance foams, to cellular scaffolding for food and medical applications.

Ecovative’s work has been widely recognized including as a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer, a U.S.EPA Environmental Quality Award winner, and Buckminster Fuller Institute socially responsible design designee.

Growing green packaging material out of mushrooms might seem like the stuff of science fiction, but it’s exactly what Eben Bayer is doing at Ecovative. Bayer cofounded the company in 2010 with his friend Gavin McIntyre, whom he met while they were both studying mechanical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. Since then Ecovative has raised over $14 million in funding, and its 65 employees already produce packaging for companies like Dell and Steelcase. The process involves using agricultural waste to grow mushrooms—and, more important, their binding vegetative roots known as mycelium—in mold for 96 to 120 hours. The resulting material is tough enough to keep your laptop safe during shipping but won’t spend 10,000 years decomposing in a landfill. Best of all, the mushroom stuff costs the same—even less—than traditional Styrofoam.

Eben Bayer received a dual B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Product Design and Innovation from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Prior to founding Ecovative he worked at ARA designing humanitarian de-mining vehicles.