Crop Enhancement Inc., a developer of environmentally safe, sustainable agrochemical formulations designed to improve crop yields while minimizing or eliminating the need for pesticides, has closed on an $8.5 million Series B.
The round was led by MLS Capital Fund II, which is co-managed by Spruce Capital Partners and Xeraya Capital, and also by 1955 Capital. Additional investors in the round include Bandgap Ventures and Phoenix Venture Partners.
Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2011 by David Soane, Ph.D., Crop Enhancement was launched out of Soane Labs, an incubator started by the company’s founder and chief technology officer who told Xconomy that his companies are all connected through the use of “green chemistry” to address challenges.
“Crop Enhancement offers an innovative and eco-friendly approach to farming that has applications in many crops around the world — particularly in Southeast Asia,” said Greg Young, managing partner at Spruce Capital Partners.
With the goal of improving crop yields throughout the $60 billion market across North America, Southeast Asia, China, Latin America, and Africa, Crop Enhancements is developing agrichemical formulations under the brand, CropCoat, which coat plants and boost their resistance to pests and diseases. These coatings, which are a combination of organic and inorganic compounds found in nature, can also be applied to inputs including fertilizers and nutrients for better control. The elastic nature of the film allows it to expand with a plant’s growth, and the film resists being washed off by rain or irrigation.
“Crop Enhancement is a great example of a company that can address two key challenges in the developing world: increasing food production and fostering the development of sustainable agricultural practices,” said Andrew Chung, founder and managing partner at 1955 Capital.
Crop Enhancement is currently conducting global field trials in partnership with companies, growers, non-governmental organizations and universities, during which teams will compare fields sprayed with CropCoat with fields that are treated with traditional pesticides and ones left untreated in order to gauge the effectiveness of Crop Enhancement’s technology.
The capital from the Series B will be used in part to expand and advance these trials, Kevin Chen, CEO of Crop Enhancement told Xconomy, as well as fund the company’s efforts to gain regulatory approval in Asia, Latin America, and the U.S.
“This Series B funding is an important milestone for us: we are now well positioned to ramp up development and commercial efforts to capture sizable market opportunities,” said Chen in a company statement. “We are currently field-trialing our products globally, and actively seeking market-entry and distribution partners to introduce us to growers of high-value permanent crops.”
Crop Enhancement is also currently developing a similar second technology that uses encapsulation to enclose particles of crop treatments with time released medication. Such technology would be able to reduce or eliminate run-off of chemicals into rivers while lowering demand for traditional potash and phosphate.
“Fertilizers are used in pretty much every crop,” Chen told Xconomy. “If we can help farmers manage their nutrient delivery, this would be a major advantage.”
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Lynda Kiernan