July 22, 2019

By Michelle Pelletier Marshall, GAI Media

A new $75 million partnership, announced this week at Global AgInvesting AgTech Nexus USA in Chicago, will bring innovation and sustainability to modern agriculture with a new class of microbes that benefit crop health and protection. Through the deal, Joyn Bio, an ag biotech company, will gain access to the extensive library of proprietary, highly-characterized strains of plant colonizing microbes provided by NewLeaf Symbiotics.

With locations in Boston, Massachusetts, and Woodland, California, Joyn Bio is an independent company backed by agriculture and synthetic biology leaders Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks. Bayer and Gingko Bioworks founded Joyn Bio with the goal of applying advanced techniques in synthetic biology to agriculture to reduce the environmental impact of nitrogen fertilizer. The original deal provided a Series A investment of $100 million by the parent companies and Viking Global Investors LP.

For its part, NewLeaf Symbiotics, launched in 2013 through the Bio Research & Development Growth Park at the Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis County, Missouri, successfully closed a $24 million Series C in 2017. The company has conducted cutting-edge research and product development centered around pink pigmented facultative methylotrophs (PPFMs) – a naturally occurring family of beneficial bacteria that consumes the methanol produced as a waste product of plant metabolism, and secretes critical plant nutrients that provide critical energy to support plant growth, vigor, and extend the window of crop protection, according to the company website.

Based on this science, NewLeaf Symbiotics has developed its Prescriptive Biologics™ technologies that include breakthrough seed treatments, in-furrow applications, and foliar sprays that can complement traditional inputs to reduce the need for traditional agri-chemicals.

“Partnering with NewLeaf’s team of experts and technology is game-changing for Joyn Bio and our efforts to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in the agriculture industry. Our team at Joyn will now be better equipped to take these microbes to the next level of performance and ultimately into the field,” said Mike Miille, CEO of Joyn Bio. “The potential to pair our platform for microbial engineering with NewLeaf’s microbes will bring unprecedented performance to biological agriculture solutions.”

Plant Health and Nutrition: An Agtech Sector to Watch

Plant Health and Nutrition (including biologicals) have raised the most equity capital of all the segments, totaling $2.1 billion since 2014, according to John Campbell, managing director of Ocean Park, a boutique investment bank, and speaker at this week’s AgTech Nexus USA.  In his recent GAI Gazette article: AgTech: Investment Trends to Watch in a Blooming Industry, Campbell highlights biologicals, including biopesticides, bioherbicides, and soil biostimulants, with particular interest. “In this class, we see fewer seed-stage rounds and increasing size of later-stage rounds,” he said. “Fully 40 percent of the Plant Health and Nutrition investment category have been for biologicals. Significant capital raises include Indigo, Pivot Bio, Concentric Ag (formerly known as Inocucor), Marrone Bio Innovations, and NewLeaf Symbiotics.”

Campbell pointed to the rapid expansion in the U.S. agtech sector in the last five years, both in terms of the number and diversity of companies, and as a growing source of investment for venture capital, private equity, and strategic players. The Joyn Bio/NewLeaf Symbiotics partnership is an example of this, but more importantly, combines resources to develop the next best technology to elevate farming to a new level.

“The challenges farmers face daily require bold and novel solutions, and the community is eager for the next wave of agriculture innovation – and microbes are powerful engines for helping crops and farming businesses thrive,” said Tom Laurita, CEO and co-founder of NewLeaf Symbiotics. “This collaboration with Joyn is a significant milestone for us and can lead to revolutionary advancements in sustainable agriculture.”

Miille and Laurita provided more details on this new partnership to the AgTech Nexus audience today during their AgTech Investment Review with a Focus on Biologicals — Fringe Players or Disruptive Force? presentation.

-Michelle Pelletier Marshall is managing editor for Global AgInvesting’s quarterly GAI Gazette magazine and a regular contributor to GAI News. She can be reached at mmarshall@globalaginvesting.com.