Utimco returned to reinvest in AgBiome, having previously backed a $34.5m series B round for the UNC spinout in 2015.
AgBiome, a US-based agricultural technology spinout from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, raised $65m on Tuesday in a series C round that included University of Texas Investment Management Company (Utimco).
Utimco, the investment vehicle for University of Texas System, was joined Monsanto Growth Ventures, the corporate venturing division of agrochemical producer Monsanto, and financial services group Fidelity Management and Research.
The round was filled out by Polaris Partners, Arch Venture Partners, Innotech Advisers, Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Technology Fund.
Founded in 2013, AgBiome has created a platform known as Genesis that screens microbes, gene sequences and strains to identify genetic traits that can make crops more resistant to pests.
The series C money will go toward the commercialisation of a fungicide called Howler and a second product, Connate, about which the company has not revealed additional details, as well as the development of additional products.
AgBiome secured $34.5m in a 2015 series B round featuring Utimco, Monsanto Growth Ventures and agribusiness Syngenta’s investment arm, Syngenta Ventures, as well as Arch, Pontifax, Polaris, Innotech, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Harris & Harris Group.
Polaris had already led the company’s $14.5m series A round, which included Monsanto, Syngenta, Arch, Harris & Harris and Innotech, in 2013.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
