When Ariana Thacker last appeared on Seed to Harvest, she was focused on investing in deep tech and consumer startups through her firm, Conscience VC. Fast forward to today, and she’s wearing an entirely new hat—that of a founder. Sitting down once again with longtime friend and host, Paige Doherty, Thacker shared the incredible, and deeply personal, journey that led her to launch MoldCo, a healthcare platform designed to tackle the widespread yet overlooked issue of mold toxicity.

A Personal Health Crisis Turned Mission

The genesis of MoldCo began with an invisible adversary lurking in Thacker’s Miami apartment—mold. While running Conscience VC, she began experiencing mysterious symptoms that defied diagnosis. She saw an array of specialists, underwent extensive lab testing, and even dabbled in functional medicine, all without clear answers.

It wasn’t until a friend, familiar with mold-related toxicity, suggested she investigate her living environment that Thacker uncovered the shocking truth: her home had 35,000 mold spores per cubic meter—70 times what is considered concerning. Despite initial skepticism, the more she researched, the clearer it became: mold exposure was wreaking havoc on her health.

What followed was an exhaustive quest for understanding. She sought out world experts, including Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker, a pioneer in mold toxicity research whom she calls “the Steve Jobs of mold” (or as her lead investor put it, “the messiah of mold”). Thacker even flew to Maryland to meet him, discuss her case, and exchange insights—bonding over their shared obsession with uncovering medical truths.

From Reluctant Founder to Relentless Problem-Solver

Despite her passion for solving tough problems, Thacker wasn’t initially sold on launching MoldCo. “A lot of my friends actually tried to convince me not to do it,” she admitted. “They said there was no TAM [total addressable market], no opportunity here.”

At first, she agreed. Thacker even spent months searching for a CEO to run the company instead. But as she continued gathering data and witnessing firsthand the scale of the issue—friends, family, even strangers at social events recounting eerily similar health struggles—she realized that she was the right person to build the solution.

The conviction paid off. MoldCo recently secured a $3 million pre-seed round, backed by investors like Starship. Their goal? To make mold-related toxicity diagnosable and treatable through a streamlined, accessible healthcare platform.

Unraveling the Science Behind Mold Toxicity

Mold toxicity is more than just a stuffy nose or a little mildew in the bathroom—it’s a complex, multi-system condition that can lead to severe neurological and immune system dysfunction. Thacker explained the “biotoxin illness pathway,” where mold spores and mycotoxins enter the body, triggering chronic inflammation and immune system dysregulation. Symptoms can range from brain fog and cognitive impairment to severe fatigue, gastrointestinal distress, and even hair loss.

The problem, however, is that traditional medicine often fails to recognize or diagnose mold toxicity. “Most of my labs came back normal,” Thacker recalled of her own experience. “But I knew something was deeply wrong.” MoldCo aims to change that by codifying the leading research and making diagnostic testing and treatment widely available.

Building a Future of Mold-Free Living

At its core, MoldCo is a healthcare platform that simplifies the complex. “We took a 12-step, highly esoteric approach and boiled it down to three easy steps,” Thacker explained. They’ve built an exclusive clinician network, structured their healthcare framework from the ground up, and are leveraging existing AI and bioinformatics tools to accelerate research.

Thacker also sees a significant opportunity in expanding awareness. “Mold toxicity has finally exited the heterodoxy and entered the mainstream,” she noted. Celebrities like Tori Spelling have spoken out about their experiences, and pop culture is catching on—HBO’s The Regime and Netflix’s Maid both highlight the dangers of mold exposure.

The Conviction to Move Forward

Thacker’s story isn’t just about tackling a medical mystery—it’s about resilience, transformation, and finding purpose in adversity.

At one point, she admits, she nearly succumbed to a victim mindset, resigning herself to a life defined by illness. Instead, she flipped the narrative, asking, “How is this for me?” That shift in mindset propelled her into action, leading to the creation of MoldCo and the pursuit of a problem that, for too long, has been ignored.

As Doherty pointed out, “I got chills when you said that. You had to follow your conviction into the unknown.”

And follow it, she did.

MoldCo is just getting started, but with Thacker at the helm, its potential impact is undeniable. For millions unknowingly suffering from mold-related toxicity, help is finally on the way. MoldCo is now available in Texas and Florida, with a planned nationwide rollout by the end of the year. If you or someone you know is affected by Mold Toxicity, Ariana recommends signing up on MoldCo's waitlist at moldco.com and ordering a $99 MoldCo Standard lab Panel to get clarity on your symptoms.

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Our full conversation available here on Youtube: