By Lynda Kiernan

Biological crop protection startup Provivi announced the completion of an $85 million Series C co-led by Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Fund, and an unnamed global investment fund. 

Tybourne Capital Management joined the round as a new investor, and Kairos Ventures, Spruce Capital, Lanx Capital, and BASF Venture Capital all returned as existing investors.

Founded in Santa Monica, California, in 2013 by Dr. Pedro Coelho, Dr. Peter Meinhold, and 2018 Nobel laureate Dr. Frances Arnold, Provivi is developing a class of safer, effective, and cost-effective crop protection solutions based on the science of pheromones, naturally produced substances used by insects of the same species to influence behavior and facilitate mating.

Currently being applied on approximately 2 million acres of permanent crops including apples, grapes, and nuts, the benefits of pheromone-based pest control are well-documented and include allowing the control of harmful pests while preserving beneficial insects, biodiversity, and human health.

In connection with this new class of products, Provivi’s patented production methods enable a downward shift in manufacturing costs, opening the possibility for farmers and managers to use these proven products on large-scale crops, like corn, rice, and soy.

“We look forward to partnering with Provivi’s world-class team to create an industry leader in high-efficacy, sustainable crop protection,” said Dr. Philip Erlanger, co-managing partner, Pontifax AgTech.

“Regulatory and consumer-driven pressures, coupled with growing pest resistance, necessitate alternatives to traditional chemical applications in crop protection markets. Provivi’s pheromone technology provides growers with a disruptive crop protection technology that directly addresses these needs.”

The capital from this Series C will be used to fund the launch of Provivi’s products after a year of scaling up production of its key pheromone ingredients, and working toward greater farmer adoption.

“The Series C financing is a significant milestone in the growth of our company and builds upon an exciting year where we scaled the production of key pheromone active ingredients, continued to demonstrate the efficacy of our products in row crops, and worked closely with farmers to demonstrate the value being created by our pheromones in field trials,” said Dr. Pedro Coelho, co-founder and CEO of Provivi. “The extraordinary conditions facing growers all over the world caused by invasive pests renews our sense of urgency to scale our solutions.”

A New Approach

Plant Health and Nutrition (including biologicals) have raised the most equity capital of all segments, totaling $2.1 billion since 2014, according to John Campbell, managing director of Ocean Park, a boutique investment bank, and speaker at this year’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…”

As the broad benefits and promising results of biologicals become more known, as well as their potential role as an impact investment, the sub-segment of pheromone-based solutions is gaining traction and capital.

In September 2018, Danish biotechnology company BioPhero ApS announced the completion of a $3 million Seed Round backed by Syngenta Ventures, Novo Seeds, and Syddansk Innovation.

And one year later, in September 2019, ADM Capital Europe led a EUR60 million (US$66 million) funding round for M2i Life Sciences, a biological crop protection startup based in France that is producing pheromones to effectively, sustainably, and economically replace chemical usage in agricultural production. Eurazeo Growth, Tethys Invest, Creadev, and France 2i, which is managed by Raise Impact, also participated in the round. 

As part of the terms framing Provivi’s $85 million Series C, Dr. Phil Erlanger, co-managing partner of Pontifax AgTech and globally recognized plant biology expert, will serve as a Provivi board observer, as will Bosun Hau, managing director and co-head of private equity at Tybourne Capital Management.

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