Vancouver-based cleantech startup Terramera has raised a $59.5 million CAD Series B round, led by Ospraie Ag Science and Seed2Growth Ventures.
The new investment will be used to scale Terramera’s Actigate technology, which was designed to improve the performance of active ingredients used in crop protection products. Following the round’s close, the company announced Ospraie Ag Science’s lead investor Carl Casale will join Terramera’s board of directors, and Creative Destruction Lab fellow Jeff Booth will join as board chair.
“We are on the path to reduce global synthetic chemical loads in agriculture by 80 percent by 2030.”
“We are on the path to reduce global synthetic chemical loads in agriculture by 80 percent by 2030 with Actigate,” said Karn Manhas, Terramera’s founder and CEO. “We are grateful for the support of Ospraie Ag Science and S2G Ventures, as they will be instrumental to fulfilling our mission of using technology to unlock the intelligence in nature, ensuring an Earth that thrives and provides for everyone.”
Founded in 2009, Terramera specializes in technology for clean food by developing natural alternatives to chemical pesticides and fertilizers, while aiming to increase agriculture yield. It claims to use artificial intelligence to transform how food is grown, and one of its core goals is to reduce global synthetic chemical loads in agriculture by 80 percent while increasing global farm productivity by 20 percent by 2030.
Terramera was one of 12 Canadian firms named in the 2019 Global Cleantech 100 list in January, and in February, received $13 million CAD in growth capital financing from BDC. Ospraie Ag Science is a new investor, while Seed2Growth Ventures has previously invested in the startup.
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“Terramera has the people, purpose and now the capital in place to transform the industry as a whole and truly impact the world,” said Casale. “Terramera’s Actigate platform shifts the paradigm, making biopesticides more effective and competitive. There is also a huge opportunity to create value and reinvent conventional inputs to have greater impact, while reducing cost, waste, and effects on the environment.”
The funding also follows Terramera’s acquisition of Exosect Limited’s technology and IP portfolio, comprising of various technologies for delivering agricultural crop protection active ingredients to intended targets.
“Terramera’s technology fuses AI, science, and nature to create game-changing solutions for agriculture and pest control that will better our lives and ensure the sustainable future of our planet,” said Manhas. “We can’t do it alone. We want to work with others who share our vision to accomplish our 2030 goals and accelerate the impact we can have on our Earth.”
Image courtesy Terramera via Facebook