February 25, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan

This round follows upon a $24 million Series C co-led by Monsanto Growth Ventures and Otter Capital, and including Lewis & Clark Ventures, Rockport Capital, Pangaea Ventures, and Open Prairie Ventures in July 2017. 

Since its launch in 2013 through the Bio Research & Development Growth Park at the Danforth Plant Science Center, NewLeaf has developed a new class of biological products containing proprietary M-trophs, a unique class of microbes that can increase crop yield, protect crops against pests and diseases, enhance the quality of grain and fruit, and improve plant nutrition.

These ubiquitous pink microbes naturally colonize the roots and leaves of all plants, and surpass the benefits of currently available biological inputs as the deliver benefits throughout the growing season.

This breakthrough development has been recognized by The Silicon Review, which listed New Leaf as one of the few agriculture-focused companies in its list of “50 Smartest Companies of the Year 2019”,  along with leaders in higher education, software and IT, consulting, and healthcare.

NewLeaf also made news in July of last year, when it and Joyn Bio together announced a new $75 million partnership at Global AgInvesting AgTech Nexus USA in Chicago that gave ag biotech company Joyn Bio access to the extensive library of proprietary, highly-characterized strains of plant colonizing microbes developed by NewLeaf. 

It’s Only [Bio]Logical

Expectations are that the biofertilizer market will grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.08 percent reaching an estimated market value of $2.3 billion by this year, while the agricultural biologicals testing market is expected to grow at a rate of 10.4 percent, reaching a value of $1.1 billion by 2021, according to Markets and Markets.

In addition, the biostiumlants market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.4 percent, reaching a value of $2.9 billion by 2021, with the area of application expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.7 percent, reaching 24.9 million hectares by 2021.

Combined with consumer sentiment calling for cleaner supply chains and less agrochemical usage, numbers such as these speak to the nascent potential for return on investment in the biologicals space.

Branded under the name Terrasym®, NewLeaf’s technology has had success this year across several hundred thousand acres, positioning the company to move into the field, and setting the company in place for sustained success in 2021 and beyond.

“We invested in NewLeaf Symbiotics because we believe biologicals are becoming an increasingly important part of agricultural crop solutions. With Terrasym®, its M-troph based technology for bio- stimulants and bio-control, and its bio-engineering partnership with Joyn, NewLeaf is well positioned to lead the way,” said Ken Wabel, Koch’s representative for NewLeaf.

As the company ventures into this new stage focused on commercialization, a new, streamlined management team has been established consisting of company co-founder Steve Kahn, who will lead the company as CEO, and co-founder and former CEO Tom Laurita, who will continue with the company as a senior consultant.

“As we move toward the next stage of growth, our efforts are clearly focused on ramping commercialization,” said Kahn. “We are also expanding our technology to focus on specialty and vegetable crops in addition to corn, soybeans, and peanuts. Consumers expect their food to be grown with minimal impact on the environment. NewLeaf gives growers an option that is not only effective, but also sustainable.”

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.