Chemical and life sciences technology producer Bayer and microbe engineering company Ginkgo Bioworks have combined to launch a US-based plant microbiome technology startup with $100m of series A funding.
The capital was provided by Ginkgo, Bayer subsidiary Bayer LifeScience Centre and hedge fund Viking Global Investors.
The startup will research novel approaches to using plant-based microbes, with an initial focus on yielding nitrogen from the bacteria to satisfy deficiencies within many crops. Farmers often use ammonia-based nitrogen fertilisers at present but these typically emit greenhouse gases.
The company will operate at Ginkgo’s Boston Seaport headquarters and Bayer’s plant-based R&D centre in West Sacramento, California, while Ginkgo will provide its automated Bioworks 3 foundry for operations once its construction has been completed.
Mike Miilie, vice-president of strategy and business management biologics at Bayer’s Crop Science unit, will be CEO of the company. Its board of directors will include Ginkgo Bioworks co-founders Jason Kelly and Reshma Shetty, and Axel Bouchon and Juergen Eckhardt from Bayer.
Jason Kelly, Ginkgo’s chief executive, said: “Biology is changing industries as diverse as flavour and fragrance to consumer electronics.
“Agriculture is the original biological technology, and the more we can learn to work with the soil microbiome, the more we can discover new ways to add value to farmers and return to its biological, and more sustainable, roots.”