Howdy Mycopreneurs,

Happy Thursday and welcome to the Mycopreneur Newsletter. This is an indepndent newsletter covering the global mushroom innovation space and a community hub for accelerating mushroom entrepreneurship globally. And wouldn’t you know it, a bunch of our incubator attendees just made it onto the front page of High Times in this article I wrote earlier this week called ‘Above The Influencer: The Psychedelic Content Creators Pushing The Culture Forward’

No less than 15 of our previous Incubator participants were featured in the article. The innovation, education, and advocacy are strong with this group.

We’re hosting our free Mycopreneur Incubator today on Zoom (as we do every Thursday) at 3 pm East Coast U.S. / 12 PM West Coast. The Incubator provides support, networking opportuntiies, and resources for entrepreneurs and startups to develpp their business. We welcome mycopreneurs of all stripes and also encourage the myco curious to attend and plug in to the mushroom entrepreneurial community.

World’s Biggest Mushroom Boat Crosses Catalina Channel

Myco Materials artist Sam Shoemaker of Los Angeles just made history two days ago by paddling the world’s largest mushroom boat - which he grew and constructed himself out of the mycelium of a wild Ganoderma species - from Catalina Island to the coast of mainland Southern California. The passage was 26 miles and took Sam 12 hours.

Here’s a 60 second recap of Sam’s incredible voyage that he uploaded to his TikTok channel (@talktoanimals). You can also follow him on Instagram (@samkshoemaker)

Sam will be exhibiting his 14 foot mycelium boat in person in Pasadena, California in October at Fulcrum Arts and will have documentation of his passage. In this video he also mentions that he’ll be releasing a free compendium of step by step instructions and open source info on his process for working with mycelium composites. Let’s get Sam to an Incubator soon!

Indigenizing Fungal Biotechnology

Open Fung Co-Founder Dr. Rolando Perez and a team of collaborators just published an intriguing piece titled ‘Indigenizing Fungal Biotechnology For Planetary Health: An Opinion Paper’ which proposes an “Applied and Conservation Mycology Framework to align fungal biotechnology and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in support of planetary health” which outlines how fungal biotechnology can be leveraged to address all 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (“GBF") adopted at the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference.

The stated goal of the GBF is to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve a future where humans live in harmony with nature by 2050. 

The paper focuses on the mycophilic practices of the Kara & Kichwa indigenous peoples of Ecuador and the biocultural indigenous knowledge systems in which they are contained. Globally, it is estimated that fungi are responsible for a $54 Trillion economy. Yes, Trillion with a ‘T’. While this estimate may be an oversimplification of sorts, it is reasonable given the value tied to fungal applications in carbon trading, fermentation, etc.

The paper states that “Fungi can help grow food, fuels, medicines, and materials sustainably, and conserving fungi is best accomplished by preserving the ecosystems they inhabit, so-called ‘conservation of abundance.’ However, fungal biotechnologies require decentralized research, data sovereignty, and Indigenous governance to realize their full potential to support regenerative outcomes and planetary health.”

While far more scientifically and academically grounded, the overarching thesis of this piece has a similar bent to the piece I wrote for Mycostories last year that covers the way Mycopreneurs around the world are helping to address and support the achievement of the 17 United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Mycopreneurs, assemble!

Destination Spotlight

Wild Culture Mushrooms in Puerto Rico

Shoutout to Puerto Rican resident and patron of the visionary arts Ray Orraca for putting Wild Culture Mushrooms on my radar. They’re a brick and mortar storefront in San Juan, Puerto Rico that serves as a community hub for everything mushrooms. You can sup on a ‘myco-latte’ and munch on fresh mushroom-based snacks and dishes or pick up a turnkey grow kit to grow mushrooms yourself at home while chatting with the resident mycopreneurs. Mycocentric Retail hubs like Wild Culture are popping up all over the world from Long Beach, California to San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico the UK to India and beyond - you know we love to see it.

3rd Annual African Rising Mushroom Festival in Uganda 

Africa’s first mushroom festival is back for their 3rd consecutive year! The African Rising Mushroom Festival is scheduled to take place in Hoima City, Uganda 🇺🇬 from November 13-15, 2025. This extraordinary event is being hosted by Josephine Nakakande , a powerhouse in the African mycopreneurial world. She’s also a two-time guest on Mycopreneur Podcast ( :

This festival is a great example of how mushroom innovation and entrepreneurship can be deployed to address critical environmental and social challenges facing the most abjectly impoverished and vulnerable communities on the planet. Josephine and her community have tapped into the potential of fungi to help mitigate economic and resource scarcity by bootstrapping their way to a prolific mushroom cultivation operation and introducing novel products like dehydrated oyster mushroom porridge among many other applications.

Who wants to go Uganda with me for this 👀?

Get SPUN

The Society for Protection of Underground Networks has created the first high-resolution maps to predict mycorrhizal fungal biodiversity across the planet by using more than 2.8 billion fungal DNA sequences derived from soil samples collected across 130 countries. Check out their interactive map here

Maybe we can talk about this at the Mycopreneur Incubator today?! Here’s a video about the initiative embedded here for your viewing convenience.

Psilosoma Project

Who is bringing the world up to speed on the distribution and use of magic mushroom species in the Mediterranean region? You better believe that Psilosoma Project in Italy 🇮🇹 is!

The project, spearheaded by Dr. Fabio Mao Valletta, is described as such:

“This project want contribute to fulfill the lack into knowledge of magic mushrooms species distribution, local strains and uses known around the mediterranean area. Mushrooms can save the world, and thanks to recent studies, we are discovering that magic mushrooms are much more widespread than we knew…”

I just so happen to be headed to Italy in October, hmmm…

Nuvedo in The Economic Times 

Our friends at India’s 🇮🇳 leading mushroom startup Nuvedo were featured in The Economic Times this week.

Nuvedo has been killing it on the mycopreneurial front in their homeland of 1.5 billion people - maybe it’s time we get them back on the Mycopreneur podcast for the third time..

“Our mission has been clear from the beginning: to weave fungi into the fabric of everyday life in India, for their unmatched health benefits, their role in ecological restoration, and their capacity to inspire new ways of living and seeing. Through research‑driven products, immersive education, and community‑building experiences, we’ve witnessed firsthand how fungi can transform lives.” - Nuvedo

Mycelium Composite Acoustic Panels at Glastonbury

The first large scale use of mycelium composites in a live music setting took place over the summer at Glastonbury festival in England. Mycelium has exceptional sound absorption properties when used in acoustic environments - these types of panels are very high on my bucket list for building out the dream Mycopreneur recording studio, in case anyone has a few extra lying around.

Magical Mushroom Company based in the UK 🇬🇧 / Bulgaria 🇧🇬 designed the panels.

Mycopreneur Incubator

Today’s Mycopreneur Incubator offers a chance to connect with the global mushroom entrepreneur community and discuss the projects outlined in this newsletter as well as the ongoing ventures of the various entrepreneurs and startups in attendance

Time: Today at 3 PM East Coast U.S. / 12 PM West Coast U.S.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88380628079?pwd=ARM2dln7lnOgQ40Hz6MRHkXPJGOTDO.1

Meeting ID: 883 8062 8079 Passcode: 990517

The Incubator is free to attend for everyone but if you’re in a position to offer financial support then please consider making a monetary contribution in the amount of your choice - My Venmo and PayPal are below.

If you’d like to sponsor an Incubator for the group, please respond to this email.

Paypa: [email protected]

Last thing: Our Go Fund Me for the upcoming Moní Festival and documentary in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico 🇲🇽 is live and 35% funded within the first 2 weeks. The funds are 100% directed to the local production team for the documentary and festival, who have asked me to manage this crowd raise. The campaign is targeted at protecting the traditional mushroom knowledge and ecosystem in one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, which is under threat by the accelerating forces of globalization and monolithic urban acculturation.

Thanks for reading today’s Mycopreneur Newsletter, and please hit me up with a reply with your thoughts or share it with a friend if you think they might benefit from this free public information service.

Cheers,

DW