Asilomar Bio Raises $12m Series B for Chemical Yield Enhancer
Summary
The round was led by Syngenta Ventures, with participation from ag retailer Wilbur Ellis’s Cavallo Ventures, biotech VC Mission Bay Capital and follow-on investors from the company’s $3 million Series A in 2015 Cultivian Sandbox, and Fall Line Capital. Asilomar now has three seasons growing hundreds of field trials in both hemispheres and several more products in the pipeline today, according to Meeusen. Asilomar will use the new funds to expand its team and get its first compound to market —as a foliar spray through the Koch partnership. “Yield enhancement and abiotic stress management are tough areas for companies to be differentiated. Also in this category of agriculture biotechnology is Plant Impact, which makes crop enhancement inputs using synthetic chemistry and raised $5.1 million in equity financing on the London Stock Exchange in August.