Mike Messersmith is CEO of Lasso, a food tech company revolutionizing food processing with its proprietary SpinTech fiber spinning technology. He joined Lasso in October 2024 to deploy the company's breakthrough platform across new applications in clean-label, protein-packed foods.

Mike served as President of Oatly North America from 2017, leading the U.S. launch and building the brand into a major plant-based milk leader. Prior to Oatly, he held marketing roles at The Nature's Bounty Co, Chobani, and PepsiCo, and served as a Navy officer managing nuclear engineering on aircraft carriers.

Mike holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a master's in engineering management from Old Dominion University, and an undergraduate degree from Duke University. His diverse background combines strategic marketing expertise with operational management skills from military service.

Under Mike's leadership, Lasso raised $6.5M in seed funding led by Rhapsody Venture Partners to expand its SpinTech platform beyond plant-based meat into snacks, pet food, and other high-growth categories. The company originated at Harvard University's Wyss Institute and has raised $37.65M total.

Lasso's commercial-scale SpinTech system produces hundreds of thousands of pounds of product annually using less energy than a toaster oven, with 1,000+ ingredient combinations possible. The company was selected as a Bezos Earth Fund Acceleration Initiative grantee and received a $5.4M DOE grant for low-carbon food innovation.