SOLASTA Bio, a Glasgow University spin-out that specialises in the next generation of green insecticides, announced that it has secured further funding in its pre-Series A round totalling £4M (approximately €4.56M).
The company has now raised a total funding of £5.5M (approximately €6.27M).
The agritech startup says that the capital will help scale the development of its nature-inspired pesticides, the first of their kind to be developed worldwide.
Investors in this round
The round was led by Yield Lab Europe, an Agtech impact VC fund which backs early-stage European agrifoodtech companies to make the global food and agriculture production system more sustainable and efficient while improving profitability. It also runs an accelerator for earlier-stage companies.
The round also saw participation from Rubio Impact Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, Cavallo Ventures, SIS Ventures, UKI2S, and several private agritech investors.
The funding also includes grant support from Innovate UK’s Transforming Food Production competition and Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency and a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government.
Innovate UK works to expand the market for UK companies by creating and launching innovative products, processes, and services. It does this with the assistance of an innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive and easy to navigate.
Peptide-based solutions for crop protection
In order to address the need for efficient crop protection on a worldwide scale, SOLASTA Bio creates environmentally friendly insect control agents (ICAs). These ICAs protect the ecology by defending helpful insects like bees.
The company claims to have created the first technological platform in the world for making neuropeptide-based pest control solutions that are drawn from nature rather than chosen from a library of synthetic chemicals.
Neuropeptide-based ICAs disrupt the target physiological processes, which reduces the number of pest species. Any pest of interest can be mobilised with SOLASTA Bio’s platform.
SOLASTA Bio is led by co-founding management team that comprises of CEO Shireen Davies, PhD, CSO Professor Julian Dow and former BASF senior executive Dr Paul Bernasconi, alongside Chair, Dr Rob Wylie, CFO David Armour, and Chief Commercial Officer, Dr Daphne Preuss.
The company currently employs a team of 25 R&D, commercial staff and consultants.
Capital utilisation
SOLASTA Bio says it will use the funds to scale up its UK and US operations, expand its technical and commercial teams by creating 25 jobs, accelerate the development of its technology platform, and target new markets.
After completing many successful early-stage R&D trials with business partners, the company says it is on track to release its first ICAs in 2027, which is at least half the time traditionally taken by synthetic pest control products.
The technology of SOLASTA Bio is already covered by a patent, and an additional patent application is now pending.
Shireen Davies says, “We’ve spent the past 18 months developing our platform and validating peptide candidates with expert third parties and commercial partners. We’re really excited by the results and feel that we’re ready to take the next step towards commercialising our technology.”
“With the issue of food security, and effective crop protection becoming an increasingly pressing issue for the agriculture industry and governments worldwide, there is an urgent need for sustainable environmentally-friendly alternatives to current synthetic pesticides. We’re confident that our technology provides the solution and has the potential to make a huge impact.”
Solasta Bio aims to discover new, more selective, “greener” insect control agents that are valuable for modern pest management approaches.
01
From port to startup fort: How Lars Crama is ‘Making it Happen’ in Rotterdam