Syngenta Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of US crop company Syngenta, has licensed some of its technology in return for a stake in Agrivida.
Agrivida is developing a crop technology, called Intein Trait, to provide low-cost sugars for industrial applications. Syngenta licenses crop technology and intellectual property so Agrivida can develop new traits for crops, including corn, sorghum, switchgrass and miscanthus.
Mark Wong, chief executive of Agrivida, said: "The combination of Agrivida’s proprietary Intein platform with Syngenta’s technology will allow us to provide an integrated solution for feedstock and enzyme delivery to a wide range of industrial customers."
In August 2006, Agrivida hired Mike Lanahan from Syngenta, where he did business development, new business strategy, investment selection and product development.
In January 2009, Agrivida, closed its series B round at an undisclosed size from venture capital firms DAG Ventures, Northgate Capital Group, Presidio (backed by Japan’s Sumitomo industrial conglomerate), PrairieGold Venture Partners, incTank, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield, & Byers.