ITHACA, N.Y. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Ascribe Bio (“Ascribe”), an innovator in natural crop protection, today announced the closing of a successful $12 million Ascribe Bio Series A financing round. The round was co-led by Corteva, through its Corteva Catalyst platform, and Acre Venture Partners. In addition, the financing included participation from new and existing investors. These include Syngenta Group Ventures, Trailhead Capital, Silver Blue LLC, Cultivation Capital, and The Yield Lab.

Ascribe Bio Series A Financing to Advance Phytalix®

This milestone advances Ascribe’s small-molecule technology platform. It also supports the upcoming commercial launch of Phytalix®. Phytalix is a new ‘biofungicide without compromise.’ It provides the health and sustainability benefits of biologicals. At the same time, it offers the ease of use and affordability of traditional chemical crop protection products.

Support from Industry Leaders

“Ascribe’s approach to biological solutions provides farmers with smart and sustainable choices for disease control,” said Tom Greene, senior director at Corteva. “This investment illustrates our ongoing commitment. Specifically, we aim to advance next-generation biological products for growers around the world.”

Alex Bondar, Partner at Acre, commented, “Ascribe’s lean team has been strategic and disciplined. They advanced Phytalix from the lab to the field and have demonstrated dramatic yield gains versus other biologicals. Therefore, you see the progress reflected in the quality of this investment group.”

“We’re excited to secure these resources to fund the global launch of Ascribe’s technologies. We are also delighted to earn the support of renowned global agriculture leaders like Corteva and Syngenta Group Ventures,” said Jay Farmer, CEO of Ascribe. “This investment accelerates our mission to bring highly effective and sustainable crop protection to farmers worldwide.”

Commercialization Path After Series A Financing

With this financing, Ascribe will increase manufacturing and support early sales and marketing activities. This comes ahead of Phytalix’s first regulatory approval, expected later this year in Brazil. The USA and other markets are set to follow.

About Ascribe

Ascribe is an Ithaca, NY-based agricultural technology company developing natural crop protection solutions. Founded in 2017 based on research from the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University, Ascribe’s flagship biofungicide, Phytalix®, uses small molecules from the soil microbiome. It creates effective, eco-friendly disease control solutions that help farmers grow more resilient crops and harvest higher yields.

Source: Business Wire