Funding for green insecticides

Modern agriculture relies heavily on pesticides to ensure large-scale crop production needed to meet global demand and protect plants from pests, diseases, and weeds. However, synthetic pesticides can pose significant risks to ecosystems, human health, and biodiversity. Glasgow-based SOLASTA Bio has developed technology platform for creating bio-insecticides that are based on naturally occurring peptides. These bio-insecticides are insect-specific, making them non-toxic to other species. In 2023, SOLASTA Bio demonstrating comparable efficacy to chemical insecticides in more than 20 field trials. Now, with strong investor backing, the company has secured an oversubscribed Series A funding round, led by Forbion via its BioEconomy fund strategy, with co-lead investment from agricultural strategics FMC Ventures (FMC Corporation) and Corteva Inc., through its Corteva Catalyst platform, brought in US$14m (€12.7m).

With its latest funding secured, SOLASTA Bio will advance its insect control technology targeting a US$27bn market. The company plans to expand US operations, increase field trials, scale up biomanufacturing, and explore new applications beyond crop protection. “The results of our field trials have been hugely encouraging, demonstrating high efficacy of biopeptides against target insect pests, as effective or better than standard insecticides,” commented co-founder and CEO Shireen Davies. “With Series A now secured, it’s time for SOLASTA Bio to kick on to the next level and successfully hit our targets for commercialisation.”

Joy Faucher, Partner at Forbion BioEconomy, who will join the company’s board of directors, added: “As traditional insect control agents struggle with resistance and impact to biodiversity, SOLASTA is poised to revolutionise the crop protection market at a critical time, with a cost-effective, sustainable and high-efficacy alternative that can be adopted seamlessly by farmers.”

SOLASTA Bio aims for market entry by 2027.