Metrovate

Agtech innovation is a balance of speed and patience as explored in this great article by Steve Sibulkin the CEO of BioLumic. This article is part of the "Cultivating Tomorrow" series by CropLife & AgTech PR. Biolumic develops "light signal recipes" that activate plant growth and are a great example of Agtech innovation coming out of New Zealand. It is great to learn from the Biolumic journey in terms of understanding the challenges of scaling an Agtech company from concept validation to deployment.

Thanks for the mention in State of the City 2024 report Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and Deloitte and we share your vision of making Auckland a global tech hub. "The innovation precinct around the University of Auckland’s Newmarket campus holds great promise drive industry co-location and stronger collaboration with academia. Successes already include scalable green economy winners like steelmaking waste firm Avertana, and fertiliser alternative start-up Metrovate." https://lnkd.in/gr92rBUf

🌱 Welcome to the Team: Ryan Whitford🌱 We are thrilled to have Professor Ryan Whitford as a Science Advisor at Metrovate. As an esteemed Australian professor and Inaugural ARC Industry Fellow Ryan brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in agricultural science, with a particular focus translational research. Ryan is currently a professor at Murdoch University and is an active cereal geneticist working in the field of wheat reproductive biology and stress response. Previously Ryan worked deeply with plant signalling molecules including extracellular application of synthetic molecules capable of modulating plant growth with Bayer. Professor Whitford's previous groundbreaking research University of Adelaide and dedication to advancing crop production techniques has already made a significant impact on the global agricultural community. He brings decades worth of knowledge in plant signalling molecules and in recent years has become well versed in research commercialisation. At Metrovate, we are excited to continue working closely with Ryan, leveraging his expertise to drive our mission forward. Ryan is internally regarded as the pragmatist and provides an essential layer of scientific speculation yet rigor to the science we undertake.

Thanks for sharing Biologicals Latam, its great to see Metrovate getting attention around the world!

🌱 Welcome to the Team: Edison Florez 🌱 Dr. Edison Florez is a Computational Physicist and Software Developer with a deep background in quantum mechanics, biophysics, and mathematics. As the Computational Modeling Lead at Metrovate, he applies his expertise to understand molecular functions within plant cells, driving innovation through the development of advanced computational models and their implementation as efficient software algorithms. Edison Florez and Nikolai Macnee have a history of collaboration, having previously worked together at the biotech start-up HELICO. Their previous work focused on computational models and plant molecular biology, and coincided with the release of the AlphaFold (protein structure prediction). Since then, they've significantly expanded their knowledge, integrating protein structures with molecular docking and molecular dynamics tools. This integrated approach allows for more accurate and dynamic modeling of biological processes, positioning them to rapidly deploy innovative solutions. At Metrovate, Edison leads the development of algorithms to assess bioactive molecule viability, providing vital insights into biostimulant modes of action at the atomic scale. His work bridges theoretical biophysics with practical software solutions, driving innovation in computational modeling for biological systems. We are thrilled to Edison on the team and look forward to sharing some of the simulations he produces.

🌱 Welcome to the team: Patrice Sellès 🌱 It is my pleasure to start introducing the team and to kick things off we start with our strategic advisor Patrice Sellès. Patrice has over 25 years of experience in the Ag and Food Tech Industry across various geographies, including the USA, Europe and Switzerland. Patrice was CEO of Biotalys from 2019 to 2023, leading the company growth from a local R&D startup to a publicly traded international renown technology leader. Prior to joining Biotalys, he held several leadership roles at Syngenta, including developing the science and technology strategy as well as deploying a technology acquisition team to establish strategic partnerships and licensing agreements in Crop Protection, Biologicals and Biotechnology. Patrice started his career in scientific management roles in various industries bringing chemical ingredients from early-stage discovery to development and scale-up. He is a chemical engineer and received his PhD in organic chemistry from the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. We are thankful to receive guidance from Patrice who helps to keep the company on track with expert market analysis and strategy.

Catch up on the latest FoodTech Funding Rounds and Fund Announcements: 💸 Agrifoodtech VC PeakBridge closed its PeakBridge Growth Fund II with $187 million to support startups working in the future of food. It has made eight investments so far, including animal-free dairy company Standing Ovation, cultivated meat producer Vow, and cacao replacement maker Win-Win 🧮 Restaurant365 raised $175 million, at a valuation of over $1 billion, to further scale its all-in-one, cloud-based accounting, inventory, scheduling, payroll, and HR solution developed specifically for restaurants. 🫑 Pepper secured $30 million in a Series B funding round led by ICONIQ Growth. It will use the funds to leverage advanced technology, like generative AI, to expand its e-commerce platform for food distributors. 🌾 Singapore-based Rize raised $14 million, in a Series A funding round co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GenZero, Temasek, and Wavemaker Impact, to decarbonise rice cultivation in Asia. Its digital platform is designed to help farmers understand their carbon footprint, and define and finance their climate action plan. 🇰🇷 South Korea’s Simple Planet received a grant of ₩11 billion ($8.1 million) for a government project to boost the country’s food security through cultivated ingredient development, and is working towards regulatory approval for its cultivated meat ingredients in 2025. 🇦🇺 Australian startup AgriWebb raised $7.2 million for its beef cattle management platform, designed to give meat packers and retailers access to data to reduce emissions in their supply chain, and which is currently being used to manage more than 23 million livestock across more than 150 million acres in 18 countries. 🇨🇦 Relocalize, based in Canada, raised CAD 5.8 million seed funding to expand its autonomous micro-factory platform, designed to decentralise food and beverage production, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and costs. 🧈 British dairy brand All Things Butter secured £2.2 million seed funding following a successful launch into national retailers. The brand is aiming to disrupt the traditional, heritage-led dairy industry with a chef-led butter range that is churned twice to be ‘fresh and creamy’. 💡 German agtech hexafarms secured €1.3 million pre-seed funding for its AI-powered greenhouse optimisation technology, which helps increase crop productivity while reducing preventable losses. 🇳🇿 Metrovate, based in New Zealand, raised $1 million in a funding round led by Sprout Agritech. 🐟 Canadian plant-based seafood startup Save Da Sea raised CAD 650,000 in a seed II funding round. Congratulations Nadav Berger, Erich Sieber, Nadim El Khazen, Aki Kaltenbach, Nikolai Macnee, David Ahmed, Thomas Straker, Dhruv Sawhney, Steve Melhuish, Mel Mayol, Justin Webb, Dominic Jeong, https://lnkd.in/eYSta-EH

🇳🇿🌾💰 Agtech startup from New Zealand gets hefty funding boost. Metrovate, a New Zealand-based company, has raised $1M from Sprout Agritech LP to develop the nation’s first precision biostimulant for agriculture. Through molecular biology, the company develops precision-targeted biostimulants designed to specifically enhance the growth of target crops without adverse off-target effects, thereby minimizing environmental harm. Metrovate is backed by New Zealand’s Deep Tech Incubator program and supported by prominent partners like: 👉🏻 Finistere Ventures 👉🏻 Fonterra 👉🏻 OurCrowd The company's proprietary formulations can improve: 🌱 Nutrient efficiency 🌩️ Stress tolerance 🌽 Crop quality traits The precision biostimulants can reduce dependency on: 👉🏻 Traditional plant growth regulators 👉🏻 Herbicides 👉🏻 Pesticides Metrovate is currently collaborating with growers and agricultural product suppliers in New Zealand, validating its technology with industry experts and academic partners in Europe Initial funding and a grant from the Agricultural and Marketing Research and Development Trust will support further field trials and R&D efforts, paving the way for scalable commercial solutions. Read the full Scoop Independent News article here: https://lnkd.in/gXedP8Sy #ForwardFooding #agtech #agriculture #farming #biotech #foodtech #innovation

Metrovate Is Developing Precision Biostimulants For More Effective And Sustainable Farming Outcomes. We are stoked to announced the completion of our pre-seed capital raise with Sprout Agritech! Read our story via this link (no paywall).

Metrovate founder & Chief Scientific Officer Nikolai Macnee caught up with Fiona from NBR - National Business Review to discuss the recent capital raise of 1 Million dollars with Sprout Agritech. We are excited to share our story and get moving with our platform for precision biostimulants!