Founded in 2018, AgroSustain conceives natural solutions to protect crops, fruits and vegetables and thereby reduce food waste and induced greenhouse gas emissions. The Tech Growth loan from the Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT) completes the startup’s Series A of CHF 4.8 Million and funds the market launch of its first product.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that approximately one-third of global food production – worth around USD 1.66 trillion – goes to waste annually. Food waste occurring during storage and transportation of fast perishable crops, has thus become a key challenge in the food industry. To reduce food waste and support sustainable food production, AgroSustain comes up with biological & natural farm-to-fork solutions for sustainable plant protection. Its 100% natural innovative coating extends the freshness of crops by more than 20 days, while its biological fungicides protect a broad number of agronomically important crops from moulds that damage them in the field and down the supply chain.
To date, AgroSustain has fully developed and certified its natural coating and has filed four patents. Besides, the team has signed over 15 pilot trials with some of the largest European and Swiss retailers and wholesalers, and setup its production facilities. The commercial launch of AgroSustain’s natural coating is expected in March 2022, with two well-established wholesalers and retailers. The second product of AgroSustain –a natural fungicide– is currently undergoing efficacy studies at the field scale.
Over the past three years, AgroSustain’s team grew from 2 co-founders to 11 employees. The startup received numerous support from e.g. BRIDGE, Venture Kick, Horizon2020 – EIC grant, for a total amount of CHF 4,8 Million. In addition to non-dilutive funding, AgroSustain secured over CHF 5 Million through three rounds of investments, including a FIT Tech Seed loan in 2019, that helped the company to strengthen its product development, hire top-class researchers and build its unique, highly effective natural coating.
The funds from this new FIT Tech Growth loan complete the startup’s Series A of CHF 4.8 Million closed in July 2021 and will enable AgroSustain to bootstrap the commercial rollout of its natural coating and continue work on its biological and natural fungicides. In addition, the company plans on hiring the head of sales and two field technicians to strengthen the client traction and attract new customers.
https://www.startupticker.ch/en/news/fit-growth-funding-to-take-agrosustain-to-market