NC Biotech Center forum to focus on startup capital

Executives from two ag biotech companies that raised north of $20 million in capital recently will offer their insights on “Secrets for Raising Capital to Build Startups” at the Ag Biotech Professional Forum on Sept. 27 at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

Nandini Mendu, Ph.D., AgBiotech enterprise and technology development director for the Biotech Center, says the executives will discuss how their companies were formed, how they navigated the peaks and valleys of funding, if they made executive changes and why, and how all of that played into their success at raising money.

Mendu said, “This is a relevant topic for company founders, CEOs and management of entrepreneurial companies as they try to navigate their own path to success.”

Steven Tuttle, CEO and president of AgriMetis, a Baltimore company developing agricultural crop protection products, and Jason Rosenbalt, CFO of Cambridge-based CiBO Technologies, which makes data analytics software to improve agriculture decision making, will address the forum.

AgriMetis, founded in 2014 with a $10 million Series A round, closed a $23.5 million Series B raise in January 2017.

“Having mapped out the competitive dynamics of key segments of the ag biotech space, we believe that AgriMetis is uniquely positioned to address important unmet needs in the development of herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides” said Peter Kolchinsky, managing director of RA Capital Management, an investor at the time of the B round financing.

Syngenta Ventures led the first round raise.

The company says on its web site that its “entrepreneurial spirit drives us to become a leader in delivering sustainable crop protection products globally.”

CiBo Technologies, incubated in Cambridge-based Flagship Pioneering Venture Labs, raised a $30.25 million round of equity in March 2017.

Founded in 2014, CiBo says its data analytics software helps farmers increase crop yields while reducing environmental impact, predict commodity price fluctuations, value farm land and more.