US-based crop design software provider Benson Hill Biosystems completed a $60m series C round led by GV, the corporate venturing subsidiary of internet technology group Alphabet formerly known as Google Ventures.
Alexandria Venture Investments, the venture capital arm of real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, also took part, as did Activant Capital, Tao Capital Partners, Fall Line Capital, iSelect Fund, Lewis & Clark Ventures, Mercury Fund, Prelude Ventures, and S2G Ventures.
Benson Hill’s CropOS platform helps customers across the food and agriculture chain combine data with breeding and genome editing tools to create new crops and food products tailored to their needs. It will use the funding to enhance CropOS and boost product development.
The round grew Benson Hill’s overall funding to approximately $94m and followed a $25m series B round co-led by Lewis & Clark Ventures and Prelude Ventures in March 2017.
Alexandria Venture Investments, Fall Line Capital, S2G Ventures, Cultivation Capital, iSelect Fund, Mercury Fund, Middleland Capital, Missouri Technology Corporation, Prolog Ventures and TechAccel also participated in the series B round.
Benson Hill had already secured $7.3m in a 2015 series A round led by Middleland Capital that included Alexandria Venture Investments, Mercury Fund, Prelude Ventures, Prolog Ventures, Cultivation Capital, TechAccel, Missouri Technology Corporation and Biogenerator.
The latter two took part in the series A round as existing investors, and regulatory filings indicate Benson Hill had previously raised $1.9m in debt and equity financing in 2013 and 2014.
GV general partner Andy Wheeler said: “With its data-driven approach to crop improvement, Benson Hill has significant potential to impact the next wave of productivity gains across food and agriculture.
“The broad applicability of Benson Hill’s technology platform – combined with the executive team’s expertise in photosynthesis and genomic selection – creates new opportunities for farmers and the food production industry at large.”