September 18, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Founded in 2013 within Flagship’s in-house incubator VentureLabs, Indigo Ag is a leader in sustainable agriculture that leverages science and technology to transform sustainability into value through its integrated business platform that allows each user to adopt and profit from their sustainability initiatives. 

In support of its work to decarbonize the planet, Indigo Ag announced it has raised another $250 million through a round led by Flagship Pioneering, which includes new investors the State of Michigan Retirement System – one of the largest pension funds in the U.S., and Lingotto Investment Management, a $3 billion fund owned by Exor N.V., one of Europe’s largest diversified holding companies.

This funding follows very successful rounds in 2018 when the company raised $250 million, and again in 2020 when it raised $200 million, which brought total funding to $850 million at that time. 

As the company’s funding continued to grow, it evolved and expanded beyond its work developing microbial products that increase crop yields, to add services making it a full-service digital platform for farmers and agricultural businesses. 

This capital, which Indigo Ag stated, signals market validation of its strategy and reflects a level of investor confidence in its novel ability to drive success at scale for farmers and agribusinesses, the company plans to use to scale its unique platform and to drive innovation and growth for its sustainable ag programs. 

Specifically, the company stated that farmers working with its platform can maximize their profits through sustainability practices on every field and throughout every year of their rotation, while improving the soil, adding that the company is the only one offering corporations high-quality agricultural carbon credits and scope 3 emissions reductions at scale. 

“Farmers and agribusinesses need strong, innovative partners that create value,” said Jed Miller, chief strategy officer, Ag Partners Coop. “This fundraise is not only a win for Indigo, but a major win for market access. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Indigo to drive farmer success.”

Indigo Ag explained that it has entered a period of acceleration across its integrated platform, outlining a number of achievements including:

~ Achieving a year-on-year 40 percent jump in net revenues in 2022. 

~ Revenues for the first seven months of 2023 reflect a 90 percent increase compared to 2022. 

~ Through its Market+ Source program, the company has been successfully working with multi-billion dollar companies to reduce their Scope 3 emissions, and is on track to deliver 30 million bushels of sustainably grown grains this year. 

~ To-date, the company has produced 133,000 registry issued agricultural carbon credits; is currently working on its third carbon crop; and enrollment figures for its fourth carbon harvest continue to show growth in both farmer and acreage participation. 

~ The company continues to expand its Market+ Source sustainable crop program, and has a product pipeline of 30 new biological products set to see global launches over the next 30 months. 

“This important fundraise signals Indigo Ag’s successful transition from a startup to a trusted partner that is delivering critical sustainability solutions,” said Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO, Indigo Ag. 

“We have the science, business momentum and sufficient resources to continue to deliver on our promises to our partners and customers. We are well positioned for growth and profitability as we work with the agricultural value chain to turn sustainability into real value.”

~ 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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