Utimco and Arch Venture Partners were part of a consortium that also featured corporates Monsanto and Syngenta, as well as other backers.
AgBiome, a US-based developer of agricultural products to improve crop productivity, secured $34.5m for a series B round yesterday from investors including University of Texas Investment Management Company (Utimco).
Utimco, the investment vehicle of University of Texas System, invested alongside Arch Venture Partners, the venture capital firm spun out University of Chicago’s tech transfer office, as well as Monsanto Growth Ventures and Syngenta Ventures, the respective corporate venturing arms of agrochemical company Monsanto and agribusiness Syngenta.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Technology Fund, Polaris Partners, Harris & Harris Group and Innotech Advisers also took part in the round.
AgBiome is currently awaiting regulatory approval for its first product, a fungicide, and expects to launch sales in 2016. The series B funding will support the commercial launch, as well as research and development of further products.
In 2013, Arch, Monsanto, Syngenta, Harris & Harris, and Innotech contributed to a $14.5m series A round, led by Polaris.
Andrew Graham, chief financial officer of AgBiome, said: “We could not be happier about adding these great new investors to the AgBiome family. The combination of marquee investors, our R&D partnerships, and the terrific team we are continuing to build puts us in a unique position to be the most successful agricultural innovator ever.”