March 10, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan

Agragene, a startup focused on developing organic and conventional biological pest controls, has raised $1.2 million in Seed funding led by Ospraie Ag Science, the venture arm of New York-based Ospraie Management. 

Agragene has developed a novel CRISPR-based technology called Precision Guided Sterile Insect Technology™ (pgSIT) – a dominant genetic technique that “encodes female embryonic lethality and male sterility” via two pathways, according to the company website: the sexing and sterilization of insects, and facilitating the release of eggs into the environment ensuring that only sterile males emerge.

“Agragene’s pgSIT platform has enormous potential to disrupt the $19 billion pesticide market,” said Carl Casale, senior partner, Ospraie Ag Science.

“We see strong demand for targeted biological pest control to reduce costly chemical inputs for growers. It fits perfectly with our objective to invest in innovations that help farmers do more with less environmental impact. We are confident in Agragene’s team and look forward to supporting the commercialization of this groundbreaking technology.”

A shrinking base of arable farmland, tight supply of traditional agricultural inputs over the past five years, a higher level of willingness by farmers to adopt new systems that can result in higher yields while being environmentally safe, and consumer sentiment calling for cleaner supply chains and less agrochemical usage have increasingly brought the biologicals category onto the radar of investors resulting in more significant funding rounds.

“Chemical pesticides are dominant today, but the fastest growing category of crop inputs is “biologicals” and more specifically “biopesticides”, noted Pam Marrone, founder and CEO of Marrone Bio Innovations in her article, Growing Innovation in Biologicals published in GAI News in May 2019. “These are becoming essential tools in the growers’ toolboxes by promoting plant health and controlling unwanted pests and diseases, which leads to better yields with reduced environmental impact – as well as improving grower profits.”

With such drivers, biologicals startups secured more than $180 million in financial backing in 2019- a five-fold increase compared to the year before, and biopesticide sales are expected to double to $10 billion per year by 2025, reports Bloomberg. 

Agragene plans to use the capital from this round to advance the development and commercialization of its pgSIT technology that is applied via drone, is more affordable compared to traditional pest solutions, and is safe for bees, birds, and humans.

“We are honored and excited to be partnering with Ospraie Ag Science,” said Gordon Alton, CEO, Agragene.

“Ospraie’s broad industry knowledge and extensive connections will add enormous value as we commercially deploy our products. These funds will expand field trials of our sterile insect technology to protect crops. This paradigm shift in biological crop protection displaces chemical insecticides, reduces growers’ costs and is safer for the environment.”

For Ospraie, Agragene will be a new addition to a portfolio consisting of recently acquired holdings that will likely prove to be highly compatible.

In the final days of August, and into early September 2019, the firm led funding rounds for two separate crop protection startups – one that enhances the active ingredients in both synthetic and biological pesticides, and the second that improves their delivery.

First Ospraie led a $4 million Series A for AgroSpheres, a Virginia-based developer of a novel system for crop protection products.

The company’s core business is based around Minicell technology, a natural fermentation product that encapsulates and delivers both biological and synthetic pesticides. This process, which has particularly significant potential for the delivery of biologicals, shields active ingredients from heat, UV light, microbes, and enzymes that would have a negative impact.

One week after AgroSpheres, Ospraie Ag Science led a $45 million Series B as a new investor in Terramera, an emerging cleantech startup with the goal of reducing synthetic chemical usage in global agricultural production by 80 percent, and increasing productivity by 20 percent by 2030.

Only a matter of a few months later, it was announced that Ospraie invested $3 million in Raleigh, North Carolina-based Plant Health Care, a provider of patented biological products that improve the  health, vigor, and yield of major field crops such as corn, soybeans, cotton, and rice, as well as fruit and vegetable specialty crops.

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.