Invaio Sciences Raises $88.9 Million to Accelerate the Transition to Biological Agriculture

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May 25, 2021, 06:00 ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Invaio Sciences, Inc., a Flagship Pioneering company focused on unlocking the potential of the planet's interdependent natural systems to solve pressing agriculture, nutrition and environmental challenges, today announced the closing of a Series C financing round totaling $88.9 million. Joining founder and principal backer Flagship Pioneering is Stage 1 Ventures, Bluwave Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, and others. With this financing, Invaio has raised more than $142 million since its founding in 2018.

"Our ambition is to build the most impactful and valuable crop health company on the planet," said Ignacio Martinez, Co-Founder and CEO of Invaio. "The world is changing quickly, and food production practices must adapt to keep pace with evolving consumer demands, changing environmental conditions and increased stress on ecological resources."

"This commitment by new and existing investors enables Invaio to accelerate the expansion of our integrated technology platforms that will solve performance and delivery challenges facing the agriculture industry. Our approach to reducing the use of fertilizers and chemicals will revolutionize the industry and guide the production of food to biological practices in less than a decade," explained Martinez.

Teeming with pioneering technologies, extraordinary talent, and an insurgent mindset, Invaio Sciences has focused research and development in large addressable perennial, row crop and vegetable marketplaces. With this most recent financing, Invaio will continue to delve deep into diverse areas of discovery including tree nutritional health, insect management, vector and disease control, transformative herbicides and fungicides replacements, advanced seed technologies, carbon cycling, and more.

"This is an exciting time to be in agricultural science. Within the next decade, a new playbook for producing food will evolve and take root, and Invaio is at the forefront of this discovery, actively contributing to developing the model for agricultural production of the future," said Gerardo Ramos, Chief Science Officer, Invaio Sciences. "At Invaio, we take a systems approach: controlling the disease with minimal environmental impact by reducing the use of pesticides by more than 90 percent and increasing carbon capture while improving the health of the system as a whole. This is just the beginning."

Already addressing some of the biggest concerns plaguing crop health throughout the planet, Invaio Sciences is gaining a foothold within perennial production. Resources from the Series C capital raise will immediately be used to roll out solutions for problems including HLB in the citrus industry, Xylella in Olive production, and to institute more refined practices in managing vineyards and orchards. Invaio is also advancing a new carbon offering for perennial producers and is working with the USDA to bolster the vitality of beehives through ensuring pollinator health and the longevity of flowering real food trees in the future.

"Invaio is transitioning from an R&D-focused organization to a fully commercial enterprise," commented Peleg Chevion, President and Chief Commercial Officer of Invaio. "We're building an economically attractive approach to institute sustainable agriculture at scale for diverse growers around the world."

Chevion continued, "We are deeply committed to delivering the right solutions for producers now, as well as taking a generational view of their operations and the entire value chain. Our use of precision delivery offers a cleaner, safer and more mindful approach to manage the need for healthier crops and more nutritious and efficient food production in the future."

About Invaio Sciences:
Invaio Sciences is a multi-platform technology company that unlocks the potential of the planet's interdependent systems to address pressing agricultural, nutritional, and environmental challenges. Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2018, Invaio leverages discoveries from diverse fields including human therapeutics, agriculture, environmental science, and advanced manufacturing. The company's deep understanding of the physiology of insects, plants and trees, together with its novel integrated solutions approach, promises to refine agricultural practices and reduce the need for pesticides globally. Invaio Sciences is dedicated to developing solutions that are mindful of beneficial insects, bad for pests, and safer for us all. For more information, please visit www.invaio.com

About Flagship Pioneering:
Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category life science platform companies to transform human health and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has, through its Flagship Labs unit, applied its unique hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in over $80 billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $2.3 billion in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $19 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 41 transformative companies, including Axcella Health (NASDAQ: AXLA), Codiak BioSciences (NASDAQ: CDAK) Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Evelo Biosciences (NASDAQ: EVLO), Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Indigo Ag, Inari Agriculture, Kaleido Biosciences (NASDAQ: KLDO), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Rubius Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RUBY), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), and Sigilon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SGTX).