Solasta Bio states that it develops environmentally-friendly Insect Control Agents that “meet a global need” for new and effective crop protection, and protects beneficial insects such as bees.

The latest capital injection, a pre-Series A funding round, saw investment led by Yield Lab Europe, with other investors including SIS Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, Cavallo Ventures, Rubio Impact Ventures, UKI2S, and several private agritech investors. The round also included grant support from Innovate UK’s Transforming Food Production competition, and brings the total raised by Solasta Bio to date to £5.5m.

The agritech firm says it is now aiming to scale up its UK and US operations, expand its technical and commercial teams, creating 25 jobs, accelerate the development of its technology platform, and target new markets.

CEO Shireen Davies says the agritech firm believes it has 'the potential to make a huge impact'. Picture: contributed.

Chief executive Shireen Davies said: “We’ve spent the past 18 months developing our platform and validating peptide candidates with expert third parties and commercial partners. We’re really excited by the results and feel that we’re ready to take the next step towards commercialising our technology.”

Kerry Sharp of Scottish Enterprise, said: “We’ve supported [Solasta Bio] since its very earliest stages and continue to be impressed by its product-development; expanding, diverse team; and the strong cadre of investors it’s attracted.”

Also commenting was Harry Howarth, investment manager at SIS Ventures, who praised Solasta Bio as a “superb example of how business can effectively balance people, planet and profit… we’re looking forward to continuing our work with Shireen and the team”.

Glasgow-based agritech firm Solasta Bio secures seven-funding boost to scale eco-friendly pesticides

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