BetterSeeds (formerly CanBreed), Smart Agro's Fund first portfolio company (Smart Agro specializes in Agritech investments and the growth of Agritech companies), has closed a $2 million investment led by A-Labs Advisory & Finance investment bank via their “12.64 Fund” that primarily invests in upcoming unicorns, as part of a $7 million round of funding. The company's value reflects an increase of over 300% in under a year of the value from the company’s previous investment round. The present funding affirms, again, the trust of the company’s investors in BetterSeeds’ technology, management, and vision.
BetterSeeds applies and improves the CRISPR-cas9 gene-editing technology to develop new, improved varieties of selected crops. The improvement is achieved by embedding essential game-changing traits, which are currently not available due to the limitations of conventional breeding and enhancement method, using BetterSeeds’ gene platform applied by gene editing.
Gene editing enables precise and rapid breeding by introducing pre-selected, controlled, and specific changes into the plant’s genome. BetterSeeds also develops novel technologies designed to make CRISPR technology accessible generically to all crops thus resolving a significant bottleneck in CRISPR adoption for agricultural applications.
The genetic traits that BetterSeeds develops aim to enable, among others, automated harvesting, significantly better nutritional values, higher resistance to the changing global climate conditions, transforming multi-seasonal crops to single-seasons, and bigger yields.
For more information:
BetterSeeds
www.betterseeds.com