Pharmaceutical firm Novo Holdings led a $40m series B round for US-based peptide-based biopesticide developer Vestaron yesterday.
Private equity firm Open Prairie Ventures, food and agriculture-focused venture capital fund Anterra Capital and VC firms Cultivian Sandbox Ventures and Pangaea Ventures also took part in the round.
Founded in 2005 as Venomix, Vestaron has built a platform that is used to create a class of biological peptides intended to kill pests and protect crops, while being safe for humans, wildlife, pollinators and the wider environment.
The company recently launched Spear-T, which was developed to control thrips, whiteflies, aphids and mites in greenhouses, and Spear-Lep, which is intended to control lepidopteran pests.
Proceeds from the round will be used for the commercialisation of Vestaron’s Spear products in addition to funding expansion into new countries and the development of a pipeline of additional products.
Vestaron closed an oversubscribed series D round on $18m in 2016 following commitments from Pangaea Ventures, Open Prairie Ventures, Charter Capital Partners, Anterra Capital and Cultivian Sandbox.
The company had previously raised $14m in a 2014 round described at the time as a series C, which was backed by Anterra Capital, Pangaea Ventures, Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, Southwest Michigan First Life Science Venture Fund and Michigan Accelerator Fund.
The series C round came after a $10.2m series B in 2012 that included Pangaea Ventures, Open Prairie Ventures, Southwest Michigan First and Michigan Accelerator Fund. It followed a $2.4m round that closed in 2008 and a $250,000 investment by an unnamed backer in 2010, according to securities filings.