Morrison & Foerster advised Evolve BioSystems Inc. in its $55 million Series D financing co-led by Cargill Inc., a global food, agricultural, financial, and industrial products company, and Manna Tree Partners, an investment firm committed to improving human health. The new capital will be used to help the company continue commercializing a next generation of probiotic capable of addressing a widespread deficiency in the infant gut microbiome.

Based in Davis, California, Evolve manufactures and distributes Evivo, a proprietary groundbreaking probiotic proven to resolve infant gut dysbiosis, or Newborn Gut Deficiency. Evivo is comprised of activated B. infantis EVC001, which studies have shown guides critical development of infants' digestive and immune systems. Evivo restores this missing bacterium to the infant gut microbiome, reducing potentially pathogenic bacteria by 80 percent, as well as significantly reducing intestinal inflammation. Evolve was spun off from the Foods for Health Institute at the University of California, Davis in 2014, and MoFo has advised the company from near inception.

The MoFo deal team was led by John Campbell, senior counsel in the firm's Emerging Companies + Venture Capital Group, and included corporate associates Kate Tyler and Connor Acle, all based in San Francisco.