October 25, 2022

photo credit: AgroSpheres

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Founded in 2016 by COO Payam Pourtaheri and CTO Ameer Shakeel, AgroSpheres’ mission is to dramatically improve the delivery of pesticides, making them more effective, cheaper, and more environmentally-friendly.

But, the company recognizes that biologicals are currently faced with three key bottlenecks: cost, performance, and stability. In support of the company’s work in directly addressing all three of these challenges, Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Ospraie Ag Science have co-led a $22 million Series B for the company that also included Bidra Innovation Ventures and existing investor Cavallo Ventures. 

Driven by its mission to transform agriculture through reliable and affordable biological solutions, AgroSpheres’ biomanufacturing platform has unlocked cost-effective production and successful field application of novel biological modalities.

“In this unprecedented bear market, food security, environmental footprint, and supply chain resilience are of paramount importance,” said Payam Pourtaheri, founder and CEO of AgroSpheres.

The company’s unprecedented success in the field of foliar-applied AgriCell-RNAi technologies has garnered sharp industry attention, including from Robb Fraley, PhD. Widely referred to as the “father of agriculture biotechnology”, who endorsed the company’s technology as being able to “deliver on the unfulfilled promise of RNAi in agriculture”, following AgroSpheres’ open technology demonstration day.

GAI News had the opportunity in 2019 to speak with Pourtaheri, a graduate of the University of Virginia with a background in nanomedicine, materials science, and chemistry, when he explained, “The AgriCell technology is a non-GMO bioparticle (approximately 400 nanometers), produced during the fermentation of bacterial cells, which can be loaded with synthetic chemicals and biologicals. It can protect the encapsulated active ingredients from extreme temperatures, pHs. and environmental degradation.”

“The AgriCell has the ability to control the release of the active ingredient and embed proteins on its membrane surface for improved targeting. Our transformative technology can be used to significantly improve the delivery efficiency of synthetic pesticides and enable the efficacious and scalable delivery of biological pesticides.”

The three pillars of AgroSpheres are: manufacturing, biorationals, and formulation-as-a-service (Faas). The biorationals division is heading the first commercial launch of the company’s biodegradable encapsulation technology applied to volatile organic small molecules. The FaaS division is overseeing major strategic collaborations between AgroSpheres and key agbiotech companies with the goal of enabling unique biological modalities and microplastic or solvent replacement from existing formulations.

“We are extremely impressed by the AgroSpheres’ founders and the cutting-edge biological manufacturing and delivery platform they have developed,” said Larry Page, Ph.D., managing director, Lewis and Clark AgriFood, who as part of this Series B has joined the AgroSpheres board of directors.

“As longtime agtech investors, we are aware of the challenges in bringing effective bio-based solutions to growers. AgroSpheres has the biomanufacturing capability and consistent, year-to-year field trial results validated by third parties across the globe to be an industry-changing company for the years to come.”

The capital secured through this round will be used to accelerate product commercialization, to expand manufacturing capacity, and to seed broader applications for the AgroSpheres AgriCell tech platform. 

“We are thankful for the support from our partners at Lewis & Clark, OAS, Bidra, and Cavallo, as we take significant strides towards our vision of a future built by nature’s technologies and bring our biobased technologies to partners globally,” said Pourtaheri.

“The results speak for themselves,” added Amar Singh, president, BIDRA Innovation Ventures. “Fall armyworm in Africa is a critical pest impacting millions of lives. We are particularly interested in how AgroSpheres’ technology can be used for Faw, especially considering resistance and toxicology issues with some of the incumbent chemistries today.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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