Boston’s foodtech scene just got spun into overdrive, literally. Lasso, the newly rebranded evolution of Tender Food, just secured a $6.5M seed round to commercialize its proprietary Lasso SpinTech system. Led by Rhapsody Venture Partners with Safar Partners and Claridge Venture Partners joining in, this isn’t just another early-stage headline, it’s capital in motion, propelling a platform that could reshape how the world builds food from the ground up.
Born out of Harvard’s Wyss Institute, Lasso started as seven years of biomaterials research turned edible innovation. Co-founders Kit Parker, Luke MacQueen, Christophe Chantre, and Grant Gonzalez weren’t trying to mimic meat, they were engineering structure. SpinTech doesn’t cook or extrude proteins; it spins them. Using centrifugal force, it binds proteins and fibers into cohesive, structured foods, no high heat, no binders, no fake stuff. The result? Clean-label, nutrient-dense products that finally align with what people say they want to eat but rarely find on shelves.
Then came Mike Messersmith. The former Oatly North America president knows how to turn a niche category into a cultural moment, and now he’s CEO at Lasso, pushing the SpinTech engine into commercial orbit. Their compact production units are already generating over 2M lbs of finished product per year. They use less energy than a toaster oven, take up the footprint of a washing machine, and crank out fiber-spun foods that eat like the real thing. In a world obsessed with “sustainability,” that’s not a press release, it’s proof of concept with a power switch.
This isn’t about chasing the plant-based hype cycle. Lasso’s play is bigger: clean-label food for a market tired of ultra-processed everything. When consumers can’t pronounce half their ingredient list, transparency becomes currency. SpinTech’s physics-first process offers exactly that, fewer additives, better nutrition, scalable production. While others are still pitching the idea of “better alternatives,” Lasso is building the machines to make them a reality.
With DTC brands coming soon and licensing talks underway with global food manufacturers, the company’s next phase spins far beyond Boston. The system can handle 1,000+ ingredient combos, opening lanes into snacks, pet food, and specialty ingredients. It’s part science, part art, and all momentum.
