Robigo, a biomanufacturing company, has secured $6.85 million in seed funding to revolutionize crop protection solutions through its platform technology. The funding round was led by Congruent Ventures, a climate tech fund that specializes in supporting early-stage companies with promising sustainable solutions. Other deep technology investors also participated in the funding round, such as Good Growth Capital and First Star Ventures.
Robigo’s technology precisely targets agricultural diseases and ensures that it is safe for beneficial microbes, insect pollinators, human consumers, and the environment. The company focuses on developing solutions to address devastating diseases that affect high-value specialty crops for which few effective commercial treatments are available. In addition, the investment will be utilized to demonstrate product efficacy in outdoor field environments and expand the platform’s capabilities to address a broader range of crops and diseases.
“Today, the most widely used pesticides are toxic to the soil, broader environment, and human consumers in large part because they kill indiscriminately,” said Robigo’s CEO, Dr. Andee Wallace. “We’ve developed a way to give naturally-occurring microbes a boost that enables them to protect crops from disease. The next step is showing growers that it works reliably in the field, season after season.”
With its innovative technology, Robigo has the potential to significantly transform the way growers treat their crops by eliminating the use of toxic chemical products and replacing them with safer biological solutions. Agriculture has a massive impact on the planet, and the potential of Robigo’s platform technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and loss in biodiversity is enormous. Over the past two years, the biomanufacturing industry in agriculture has seen notable highlights, with significant funding rounds and acquisitions of companies such as Pivot Bio and Greenlight Biosciences.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
