UK-based SugaROx raises additional funding to accelerate the development of its plant-enhancing product. The company leverages scientific research to improve crop growth, resilience, and sustainability.

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UK-based SugaROx has raised £1M (nearly €1.15M) in a seed round extension. The company is developing biostimulants designed to enhance plant metabolism and support food production through sustainable practices.

The Mosaic Company invested £400K, while existing UK-based angel investors and funds, including the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (managed by Future Planet Capital) and Regenerate Ventures, provided £600K.

Developing a new crop-boosting product

SugaROx raised an additional £1M in its seed round after receiving a £2.4M grant from Innovate UK. The funding will support the production of Trehalose-6-Phosphate (T6P), the company’s first active ingredient.

T6P is a biostimulant that functions as a signaling molecule involved in plant growth, development, and metabolism. Biostimulants are substances or microorganisms that stimulate plant processes to improve nutrient uptake, yield, and stress tolerance. They are different from fertilisers and pesticides. Biostimulants are one of the fastest-growing crop input sectors, with an estimated 11 per cent CAGR.

SugaROx’s T6P biostimulant improves crop yield and resilience by inhibiting the SnRK1 enzyme, which signals energy scarcity in plants. Safety tests completed in early 2024 supported a positive regulatory outlook and led potential partners to request samples for field trials. 

SugaROx aims to launch its wheat biostimulant in the UK in 2027 and in the EU in 2028, with soybean and maize trials underway to support later entry into the US and Brazilian markets.

Mark Robbins, CEO of SugaROx, says, “In response to increasing demand for product samples, we decided to accelerate our manufacturing timeline, fast‑tracking the shift from in‑house lab production to a pilot facility. The Innovate UK grant and additional investment allows us to do that.”

“Our existing investors were quick to subscribe to the seed round extension, which we are delighted to complete with Mosaic as a strategic partner. We have the ambition to transform the biostimulants industry with science-based solutions – something that is only achievable in collaboration with other players.”

Dr Cara Griffiths, CTO and co-founder, adds, “With Mosaic, we gain access to an established network of trial sites for validation of our first product in the US at scale. Mosaic will also provide us with access to TruResponse, a digital platform to visualise field results, which will be extremely valuable for our research.”

Brief about SugaROx

Founded in 2021, SugaROx is a spin-out from the University of Oxford and Rothamsted Research, developing crop biostimulants. The company is working on precision biostimulants that act on plant metabolism to support farming productivity, efficiency, resilience, sustainability, and profitability.

Its approach is based on molecules that regulate plant metabolism but are normally difficult to deliver because they are highly charged, localised, and immobile. Using technology developed at the University of Oxford and Rothamsted Research, SugaROx designs and synthesises plant-permeable versions of these molecules. Once applied, the molecules are absorbed through the leaf, transported into plant cells, and activated at the site of action. 

The company’s active ingredients are based on over two decades of research into trehalose-6-phosphate, a natural plant molecule that regulates carbon use and allocation. The first product in the pipeline is a biostimulant to increase wheat yields. 

SugaROx is partnering with companies that have routes to market to develop this and other applications.