ImpactAlpha, May 31 — Biotech companies are promising to help farmers cut down on synthetic, and expensive, nitrogen fertilizer. San Carlos, Calif.-based Switch Bioworks has raised $4.3 million to offer farmers a more sustainable and cheaper alternative.
Switch Bioworks builds microbes that are formulated into a powder farmers can rehydrate to produce their own biofertilizer. “Our approach gives us precise control over microbial fertilizer production,” said Switch Bioworks’ Tim Schnabel. Other fertilizer plays: Kula Bio, Pivot Bio and Ginkgo Bioworks.
Climate finance
The pre-seed funding round was backed by Acre Venture Partners, Anthos Capital and Emerson Collective.
Switch Bioworks’ technology “is a huge opportunity for the biofertilizer space because of the unparalleled precision and tunability it enables,” said Anthos’ Emily White. “With the clock ticking on climate change, we need innovations, now!”
Regenerative agriculture
Regrow scored $38 million to take its regenerative ag platform global. The Series B funding was backed by Rethink Impact and Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures. Regrow was formed last year when the crop science company FluroSat acquired the soil health startup Dagan.
