Key Takeaways:
- InnerPlant raises $30 million in Series B funding led by Coutts Agro and joined by Systemiq Capital, Deere & Company, and Bison Ventures.
- InnerPlant’s technology enables crops to signal stress, detectable from space, providing early warnings for nutrient deficiencies, fungal pressure, and pest attacks.
- The company’s first commercial product, InnerSoy, is piloting in Southern Illinois with plans to expand across the Midwest.
- The funding will support the development of integrated precision platforms in partnership with John Deere and Syngenta.
InnerPlant, a seed technology company focused on enhancing farming efficiency and sustainability, announced a $30 million Series B funding round. The round is led by a coalition of large North American farmers headed by Coutts Agro, with participation from Systemiq Capital, and previous investors Deere & Company and Bison Ventures.
Farmer-Centric Innovation
Shely Aronov, CEO and co-founder of InnerPlant, emphasized the importance of farmer involvement in the funding round. “We’re very proud that this round is being led by the people who best understand what’s needed on the farm and what innovation in agriculture actually looks like,” Aronov said. “We’ve always put farmers at the center of everything we do and this investment validates that farmer-centric culture and our technology.”
Advanced Crop Stress Signaling
InnerPlant’s technology involves genetically engineering plants to emit distinct optical signals when under stress due to nutrient deficiencies, fungal pressure, or pest attacks. These signals, detectable from as far as space, can indicate stress up to three weeks earlier than current technologies, offering farmers the earliest possible warnings to take action and protect their crops.
InnerSoy Pilot Program
The company’s first commercial product, InnerSoy, is a soybean variety that signals fungal pressure. InnerSoy is currently being piloted in Southern Illinois fields in partnership with GROWMARK. The program, which began this spring, has established plots of InnerSoy throughout the Midwest, with plans to expand the number of plots over the next three years. These plots provide county-level early warnings of fungal infestations and are expected to improve in resolution as the technology becomes available in more seeds in subsequent years.
Strategic Insights from Industry Leaders
Matt Coutts, Chief Investment Officer of Coutts Agro and InnerPlant board member, highlighted the transformative potential of InnerPlant’s technology. “Our family and our partners have been farming for several generations and this is the first time in decades that we’ve seen a technology that has the opportunity to increase agricultural GDP and not merely redistributing the value,” Coutts said. “The ability of farmers to receive data about stress that’s tied directly to plant physiology fundamentally changes how farmers can manage crops, resulting in more durable profitability.”
Future Developments and Partnerships
This funding announcement follows InnerPlant’s collaboration with John Deere and Syngenta to develop an integrated precision platform to combat fungal diseases in soybeans. This platform will connect plants that emit early stress signals with optimized crop protection treatments, delivered using John Deere’s See & Spray technology.
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