Life Scientific, an agriculture spin-out of University College Dublin (UCD), is now 50% owned by France-based InVivo, an agricultural co-operative.
Headquartered at NovaUCD, the university’s incubator, Life Scientific is commercialising off-patent crop protection products. The 50% stake in the spin-out has been acquired for an undisclosed sum.
Incorporated in 1995, the spin-out has grown to 20 staff and an annual revenue of €11m ($13.7m). InVivo meanwhile has a revenue of €6bn ($7.51bn) and counts 223 members. The co-op’s aim is to enable sustainable and profitable farming for those members.
Life Scientific founder Nicola Mitchell will stay on as chief executive, while Laurent Martel, director at InVivo, will join the spin-out as chairperson.
Laurent Martel, director at InVivo, said: “Our ambition is to forge upstream partnerships with suppliers able to meet our specifications so we can bring selected off-patent products to market. Our stake in Life Scientific, which was unanimously approved by our board of directors, is part of that strategy.” [translated from French by Global University Venturing]
