UK-based Tropic Biosciences raises $28.5 million Series B financing to transform the tropical agriculture industry

Tropic Biosciences, a UK-based biotech company, has successfully completed a $28.5 million Series B round of equity funding.

The funding round was led by Temasek, a Singapore-headquartered global investment company.

Other new investors to come on board included:
• Sumitomo Corporation (Japan)
• Genoa Ventures (US)
• Agronomics (UK)
• Skyviews Life Science (Switzerland)

Tropic’s existing backers:
• Five Seasons Ventures
• Pontifax AgTech
• Tekfen Ventures
• Emerald Technology Ventures
• Bits x Bites,
• The UK Science & Innovation Seed Fund also participated in the Series B funding round.

“We are honoured to welcome a new group of leading investors to our existing investor base, who continue to back our team and ambition through our Series B,” said Gilad Gershon, CEO of Tropic Biosciences.

“Together we are taking another major step forward in building a leading seed business that addresses the unique needs of growers in tropical nations. Humanity’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly accelerating the need for technological solutions that promote food security on a global scale. We look forward to working with the public and our commercial partners, to deliver agricultural innovation where it is most needed, and to the people who would most benefit from it,” he added.

Founded in 2016 by a team of entrepreneurs and researchers including Gilad Gershon, Tropic has been playing a vital role in developing novel banana varieties that are resistant to Panama Disease.

Tropic is also developing varieties of banana with longer shelf lives, alongside lines of coffee with increased solubility in order to reduce chemical processing requirements.

It is to be noted here that Tropic is focused on a crop portfolio of bananas and coffee, having a combined annual market value of more than $50 billion.