Leaven Instant Sourdough and Leaven Instant Wild Yeast

### The Story Behind Leaven

Cameron and James, two scientists based in San Diego, spent the early days of the pandemic on the front lines of the scientific response to COVID-19. Like millions of others, they turned to sourdough baking during lockdown. When their carefully nurtured starter didn’t survive, they did what scientists do best: they went back to the lab.

Using their expertise in microbiology and fermentation, they set out to create a real sourdough starter replacement that didn’t require a starter. The result was Leaven Instant Sourdough, the first and only shelf-stable powder containing non-GMO wild sourdough yeast and beneficial bacteria that delivers real fermentation, flavor and benefits without the feeding, maintenance or daily ritual of keeping a starter alive. Instant Sourdough won the coveted NEXTY award for Best Pantry Staple at the 2026 Natural Products Expo. It is available for home bakers and commercial use.

But sourdough is just the beginning.

At the heart of Leaven Foods is a proprietary fermentation platform designed to understand and preserve the complex microbial ecosystems that make wild fermentation so unique. The team captures detailed snapshots of microbial communities throughout the fermentation process, then uses computational biology to map how the individual species interact over time.

That microbial blueprint allows Leaven to reconstruct fermentation in a stable, concentrated format, preserving the natural behavior and diversity of wild microbes rather than domesticating or altering them to force faster or cheaper fermentation.

With 1/3 of food fermented, the mission is bigger than sourdough. Leaven will bring the complexity, flavor and potential benefits of naturally fermented foods to the masses.

Leaven is building a new generation of fermentation ingredients and applications, starting with sourdough and expanding into other baked goods and fermented foods. By combining microbiology, computational biology and food science, Leaven is making wild fermentation more accessible, convenient and scalable, without compromising what makes it special.