Overview of Case Study

Company

TerraFerma Foods, Inc. is a San Francisco–based biotech company developing an AI-accelerated platform for precision fermentation. Their approach combines machine learning with strain engineering to produce high-quality, animal-free proteins under the brand Ten Lives. TerraFerma aims to transform protein production using scalable, sustainable fermentation instead of livestock agriculture.

SBIR Journey

In 2025, TerraFerma received an NSF SBIR Phase I award to validate a novel platform for accelerated strain development. The award supports early-stage R&D across microbial engineering, AI-guided strain optimization, and fermentation trials. This Phase I project positions the company for future Phase II scale-up and potential commercialization.

Why Forge

With scientific, engineering, and operational teams growing in parallel, TerraFerma needed a system that could manage SBIR-compliant accounting, keep accurate time and effort reporting, and automatically produce audit-ready documentation for NSF. As a Phase I company with limited ops headcount, they selected Forge to help with combining SBIR Accounting + Monthly Bookkeeping to create a compliant, scalable foundation from day one.

About TerraFerma

TerraFerma is building the next generation of food-grade protein production using precision fermentation and AI-enhanced biology. Their platform focuses on designing bespoke yeast strains with improved yields, secretion efficiency, and cost-effective fermentation characteristics. This unlocks sustainable, animal-free proteins at industrial scale while reducing carbon footprint, water usage, and land impact.

The Challenge

As TerraFerma moved from concept to Phase I execution, several operational challenges emerged:

• Disconnected finances and R&D progress: Experimental costs, vendor invoices, and time spent on strain engineering weren’t tied to award tasks.

• SBIR compliance pressure: NSF requires rigorous cost controls, effort reporting, and milestone-linked documentation.

• Limited internal bandwidth: Scientists and engineers needed to focus on strain development, not bookkeeping or manual reconciliations.

• Vendor-heavy workflows: Lab materials, consumables, and subcontractor work all needed to map cleanly to budget lines.

Without a structured compliance system, Phase I reporting risked becoming a bottleneck.

What They Needed

To keep the company focused on science while meeting NSF requirements, TerraFerma needed:

• A single, centralized budget view tied to SBIR work packages.

• Automatic time and effort tracking aligned to research tasks.

• Seamless mapping of vendor invoices and lab spend to budget lines.

• A quick way to generate NSF-ready reporting kits with receipts, time logs, and budget variances.

• A scalable ops backbone to support future Phase II expansion.

How Forge Helped

Forge deployed a turnkey Phase I SBIR management workspace tailored to TerraFerma’s award:

• SBIR-Aligned Budget Architecture: Each research module, strain design, ML modeling, fermentation trials, was structured into budget lines, tasks, and spending rules.

• Effort Tracking Built Into Daily Workflow: Engineers and lab scientists logged time through a lightweight workflow that automatically mapped effort to SBIR tasks.

• Automated Vendor-to-Task Mapping: Lab materials, sequencing costs, fermentation services, and equipment spend automatically attached to the correct budget category.

• Real-Time Burn + Milestone Dashboard: Leadership viewed burn rates, category variances, upcoming risks, and scientific milestones in a single live dashboard.

• NSF-Ready Report Kits: With one click, TerraFerma generated quarterly reporting binders: receipts, invoices, payroll allocations, time reports, and budget notes.

With Forge, TerraFerma established a fully compliant Phase I financial backbone without adding operations headcount.

Results

• Days of reporting time saved each month
  Scientists and leadership no longer spend cycles reconciling spreadsheets.

• Real-time clarity on award progress
  Burn rate, tasks, vendor charges, and milestone status now live in one place.

• Audit-ready compliance
  Every transaction, hour logged, and receipt supports SBIR requirements.

• Stronger positioning for Phase II
  Clean financials and structured documentation make the Phase II transition significantly easier.

Why It Matters

Precision fermentation is capital-intensive, research-heavy, and fast-moving. A company like TerraFerma can’t afford compliance drag or budget blind spots. Forge gives them the operational discipline to scale responsibly, freeing scientists to focus on breakthroughs, not bookkeeping. With a strong Phase I foundation, TerraFerma now enters the next stage of biomanufacturing with confidence, clarity, and momentum.