SOLASTA Bio, a Glasgow University spin-out that specializes in the next generation of green insecticides, announced that it has secured further funding in its pre-Series A round totaling £4M.
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.
The round was led by Yield Lab Europe, an Agtech impact VC fund that backs early-stage European agrifood tech 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 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 mobilized with SOLASTA Bio’s platform.
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.
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