AgriTech company SOLASTA Bio has completed an oversubscribed 拢10.7 million Series A funding round to accelerate the development of its green insecticides.
Established in 2021, the Glasgow firm has developed the world’s first technology platform for creating insect control agents that are nature-inspired rather than selected from a synthetic chemistry library.聽
As well as meeting the efficacy standards of current chemicals on the market, these environmentally friendly agents address a growing global need for effective crop protection by selectively targeting insect pests while protecting beneficial pollinators such as bees.
SOLASTA Bio鈥檚 platform can be mobilised for any pest of interest, across both crop and non-crop applications such as stored grain.聽
The funding follows a successful 2023 trials season in which its insect control agents demonstrated efficacy on par or better than commercial standards across 20+ field trials on multiple crops in Europe, the UK and US.
The investment round was led by Forbion via its BioEconomy fund strategy, with co-lead investment from agricultural strategics FMC Ventures (FMC Corporation) and Corteva Inc., through its Corteva Catalyst platform.聽
Participation from existing investors included Cavallo Ventures (Wilbur-Ellis), Rubio Impact Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, UKi2S, SIS Ventures and University of Glasgow, bringing the total raised to date to $19m.聽
Joy Faucher from Forbion will join the company鈥檚 board of directors.
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The business will continue to build out its US operations, having already established a base in North Carolina, expand its real-world field trials across key geographies, scale-up its biomanufacturing capabilities and further develop strategic opportunities including applications beyond crop use.
The company is targeting market entry as early as 2027 鈥� at least half the time traditionally taken by synthetic pest control products.
鈥淪OLASTA Bio has come a long way since we set out on this journey three years ago,鈥� said Shireen Davies, CEO and co-founder.
鈥淗aving established operations in the UK and US, we鈥檝e now got an international team with outstanding competencies in technology and agribusiness and, importantly, we have developed our unique technology platform to address grower pain points.聽
鈥淭he results of our field trials have been hugely encouraging, demonstrating high efficacy of biopeptides against target insect pests, as effective or better than standard insecticides. With Series A now secured, it鈥檚 time for SOLASTA Bio to kick on to the next level and successfully hit our targets for commercialisation.鈥�
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