Based on discoveries from MIT scientists, Agrivida has now raised more than $67m in total and will soon launch its flagship plant-based enzyme product.

Agrivida, a US-based animal feed developer exploiting Massachusetts Institute of Technology research, has secured $8m of a targeted $20m round from investors including venture capital firm Arch Venture Partners.
The initial close includes $3m from private equity fund Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund, along with contributions from pork supplier The Maschhoffs’ Agricultural Holdings division and Syngenta Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of agrochemical and seed supplier Syngenta.
Venture firms Cultivian Sandbox Ventures and Middleland Capital also took part in the round together with investment entity Batios Holdings.
Agrivida expects to add more investors to the consortium on its way to the round’s overall target. The Maschhoffs is part of chicken and food production holding company Maschhoff Family Foods.
Founded in 2003, Agrivida develops animal feed additives for poultry, swine and dairy livestock in addition to aquaculture such as fish.
The company is currently prioritising an additive called Grainzyme that delivers livestock beneficial plant-based enzymes, known as phytase, that cannot be sourced through the animals’ organic food chain.
In contrast to fermented animal feeds, Grainzyme’s nutrients are instead packed into corn kernels during production, allowing Agrivida to employ lower quantities of environmentally-damaging chemicals such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
The infusion of fresh capital will help Agrivida commercialise Grainzyme, having received approval to market the product in the US. Proceeds from the round will also be used to fund its research and development.
Agrivida last raised an undisclosed sum in February 2017 from TechAccel and Iowa Corn Opportunities, an equity investment fund launched by trade body Iowa Corn Growers Association, after a $20.4m series E round the year before led by University of Texas’s Investment Management Company.
Arch Venture Partners, Cultivian and Middleland joined the series E consortium alongside venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and investment firm Northgate Capital , after Agrivida closed a $23m series D in 2015 led by Cultivian.
The series D was backed by an unspecified Maschhoff subsidiary, Northgate, Middleland, Kleiner Perkins, Dag Ventures, Bright Capital Partners, Gentry Venture Partners, Prairie Gold, Sontage Family Fund and assorted angel investors.
Syngenta Ventures and Presidio Ventures, a corporate venturing arm of conglomerate Sumitomo, backed Agrivida’s $15m series C round three years previously, which was led by Bright Capital and also featured KPCB, DAG, Northgate, Prairie Gold, Gentry and life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Agrivida had already secured an undisclosed series B sum from Presidio, DAG, Northgate, Prairie Gold, KPCB and IncTank in 2009, after raising $600,000 in a 2006 series A round. Syngenta first bought interest in Agrivida in 2010 in conjunction with a licensing deal for some of the corporate’s technology.