Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Continental Grain Company have backed the first close of the Syngenta-backed agricultural bioprocessing platform's latest round.

US-based bioprocessing technology developer GreenLight Biosciences received $50m from investors including food producer Continental Grain Company on Tuesday to close the first tranche of its latest funding round.

Life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities took part in the round, through its Alexandria Venture Investments unit. S2G Ventures, Baird Capital, Blue I/O and Tao Capital Partners also invested, with what and the company described as the majority of its existing backers.

Founded in 2008, GreenLight has created…