Biotechnology firm Pivot Bio, Berkeley, Calif., reported on April 30 that it has closed on a $100 million Series C funding round co-led by return investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures and global investment company Singapore-based Temasek (GM Oct. 5, 2018).
Pivot Bio sees its nitrogen-producing microbial product as replacing synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. The company said the technology will decrease greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and global energy use.
The company said its Pivot Bio Proven™ inaugural product for corn consistently delivers more nitrogen into the crop than synthetic nitrogen, translating to an average 5.8 bushels/acre advantage when compared to fields using only synthetic nitrogen in 2019.
The company said Pivot Bio Proven™, in its second year of commercialization, has again sold out and is used on hundreds of thousands of acres of U.S. corn. The new capital is to allow the company to expand internationally, with the company saying the product will soon be available to Argentinian market.
Earlier this spring, the company launched its inaugural product for U.S. wheat crops, Pivot Bio Return™, through a limited, early-adopter program.
Pivot Bio said its model eliminates costly infrastructure of factories, pipelines, barges, and storage at brick-and-mortar retail locations. Instead, local agronomic advisors can leverage a simplified mobile app to order and schedule on-demand delivery as they help farmers plan their nutrient management strategy. Pivot’s microbes are applied with seeds during planting and create a symbiotic relationship with the corn to make nitrogen. The microbial technology can be mailed to farmers.
While Series C is co-led by return Series B investors and Temasek, they are joined by DCVC, who led Pivot Bio’s seed and Series A rounds Prelude Ventures, Spruce Capital Partners; Codon Capital, Bunge Ventures; Continental Grain Co., Tekfen Ventures, Pavilion Capital, and individual investors Alan Cohen and Roger Underwood. To date, the company has raised $186 million in capital.