EDBI joins US-based Inari’s US$89M Series C to bring its plant-breeding tech into Asia
Singapore’s VC firm EDBI said on Tuesday that it has co-invested with other investors in the US-based agritech startup Inari’s US$89-million Series C funding round.
State-owned Investment Corporation of Dubai and US-based Acre Venture Partners, besides several unnamed investors, also participated in this round.
The funding will expand investment in Inari’s computational and genomic tools, which allow plant scientists to identify and develop deep knowledge of a seed’s potential to achieve top field performance.
In addition, the funds will be used to accelerate the commercial introduction of the company’s high-performance corn and soybean seeds in the US market. Inari directly partners with independent seed producers to introduce plant varieties that address local farming challenges. These relationships assist the company in understanding farmers’ needs while offering seed companies and growers an opportunity to help shape the innovation.
Founded in 2016 by Flagship Pioneering, Inari partners with independent seed producers, using its unique computational and genetic toolbox to introduce high-performing plant varieties that improve the economic and environmental realities of production agriculture. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with additional sites in West Lafayette, Indiana, and Ghent, Belgium, Inari has a growing team of over 120 employees.
“Stagnating innovation in the seed industry has led to industry consolidation and more limited choice for growers,”‘ said Robert Berendes, Ph.D. Executive Partner at Flagship Pioneering. ”This makes it ripe for disruption from both a technology and business standpoint.
“Inari is at the forefront of a new wave of innovation that has the potential to completely reshape agriculture. The company has developed leading-edge technologies and a fresh approach to plant breeding. Its products will substantially improve crop productivity, reduce environmental impact and make farming more profitable for everyone in the value chain,” Berendes added.
Inari CEO Ponsi Trivisvavet said: “We have the ability to rapidly enhance nature’s genetic diversity and provide ways to increase yields, save water and reduce agriculture’s impact on our land and climate. Our technologies address not only the needs of growers, but those of the environment as well.”
Chu Swee Yeok, EDBI CEO and President, said Inari captured their interest because of its unique potential to revolutionise global agriculture. “Their cutting-edge technology in gene editing for a variety of common agricultural crops could yield high-productivity crops in Singapore, across Asia and worldwide. EDBI looks forward to helping Inari harness their technology to capture opportunities in Asia.”