At Jason Wiener|p.c., we are honored to work alongside founders who are advancing a more equitable, climate-aligned economy—leaders like Alex Heilman and Phil Taylor, co-founders of Mad Markets. Building on the success of the Mad Cap spin-off from their parent company Mad Agriculture, which has supported over 100 farmers transition to regenerative practices across 30,000 acres, Mad Markets represents an innovative evolution in sustainable agriculture financing.
Mad Markets is pioneering a novel approach to scaling regenerative organic agriculture through strategic acquisitions of mission-aligned food companies. Their pilot acquisition of Timeless Seeds, a Montana-based pioneer in organic lentils and legumes with over $5 million in annual reoccurring revenue, marks the launch of their innovative “buy-to-scale” strategy—designed to expand regenerative farming while preserving the authentic values of heritage food brands.
Founded in 1987, Timeless Seeds has been a pioneer in organic farming, working with over 50 Montana farmers to grow specialty crops like Purple Prairie Barley and Black Beluga Lentils. By bringing Timeless into the Mad Markets ecosystem, Alex and Phil are scaling a proven model of farmer support while creating new market opportunities through an innovative agriculture impact fund structure that aims to acquire and grow multiple heritage food brands.
What makes this project particularly noteworthy is the timing in which it developed. Following the contraction in capital markets in 2021-2022, and growing inflationary pressures, many venture and funds struggled to raise limited partner or investor commitments. Mad Markets persisted in its investor outreach and successfully secured and closed on financing during the summer of 2024, a time of unpredictability in capital and M&A markets.
Our team played a central role in this groundbreaking project by designing the fund structure, establishing the management entity, and facilitating the acquisition of Timeless Seeds. We led the complex fund design and formation work, helping close on $5 million in initial capital commitments, ensuring a smooth leadership transition from Timeless’ cofounder and former CEO, David Oien. Our legal expertise was instrumental in creating a scalable framework that will support Mad Markets’ vision of acquiring multiple heritage food brands while maintaining their authentic missions and expanding regenerative farming practices.
