Wageningen University
University · NL
Series B · $84M for photosynthetic rewiring
Reprogramming plant biologyfrom chloroplastto canopy
We optimise photosynthetic efficiency and rewire stress genetics so staple crops keep yielding under heat, drought and salinity — while farmland becomes a durable carbon sink instead of a liability.
- USDA-APHIS permitted
- Cartagena Protocol compliant
- ISO 17025 phenotyping lab
Live confocal · plastid assay
4,812 edits validated
−38% irrigation water
128 replicated field trials · FY25
0
Active field trials
0
Validated chloroplast edits
0.00
Mt CO2e sequestered
Two continents
1401 Marina Way South, Richmond, CA 94804 · Wageningen Campus, Building 107, Netherlands
Backers & institutional partners
Built alongside the institutions that feed the world
Field trials, trait licensing and joint publications with 34 universities, public agencies and seed companies across 17 countries.
34Partner institutions
17Countries in trial network
9Crops in transformation pipeline
$84MSeries B committed capital
Trial collaboration, material transfer and co-development agreements are managed through the institutional pilot intake.
The planetary challenge
Farmland is hitting a hard physical ceiling
Yields stall while heat, salinity and water scarcity compound. Conventional breeding moves a few percent per decade; the climate moves faster. Four constraints define the problem we engineer against.
0%
of global topsoil degraded
FAO-aligned estimates place a third of arable land in moderate to severe degradation.
0%
yield volatility under +2 °C
Heat spikes during grain fill drive the largest losses in maize, wheat and rice belts.
0%
of freshwater goes to agriculture
Irrigation efficiency — not acreage — is now the binding constraint on food security.
0.0Gt
annual CO2e from farmland
Agriculture is simultaneously a major emitter and the largest reversible carbon sink.
Why the ceiling will not move on its own
Photosynthesis runs at 1–2% efficiency
RuBisCO fixes carbon slowly and squanders energy on photorespiration. Decades of breeding have not moved the ceiling.
Stress genetics are polygenic
Drought, salinity and heat tolerance are governed by hundreds of small-effect loci scattered across the nuclear genome.
Phenotyping cannot keep pace
Genotyping costs fell 100,000×; field phenotyping is still manual, seasonal and bottlenecked by human eyes.
“We are not trying to out-breed climate change. We are rewriting the photosynthetic and stress-signalling circuitry that sets the ceiling.”
Engineer the chloroplast, not just the nucleus
Plastid genomes are compact, polyploid and maternally inherited — high-expression, high-containment targets for photosynthetic rewiring.
Sense the canopy continuously
Spectral, thermal and LiDAR towers convert every field into a time series, so traits are measured thousands of times per season.
Treat the rhizosphere as infrastructure
Engineered microbial consortia unlock legacy soil phosphorus and fix nitrogen where synthetic fertiliser cannot reach.
Core platform
One platform, four engineered layers of plant biology
Chloroplast engineering supplies the high-expression chassis, computational phenotyping measures what actually happens in the field, and the rhizosphere and carbon layers turn those gains into durable agronomic and climate value.
Pillar 01 — Plastid genome
Precision chloroplast genome engineering
We place multi-gene photosynthetic cassettes directly into the plastid genome using our PhytoEdit™ homologous recombination stack, then select on spectinomycin-free markers to keep the pipeline clean.
- Multiplexed insertion of 4–9 gene operons in a single transformation event
- Homology-arm libraries computed against 1,240 sequenced plastomes
- Marker-free excision via inducible recombinase for regulatory simplicity
- Containment by design: maternal plastid inheritance limits transgene flow
validated edits in the PhytoEdit registry
Pillar 01 — Plastid genomeInteractive model · computational phenotyping
Run PhytoPheno on a trial site
Trial site
Trait
Climate stress · 35% Iowa, United States
- 01
Ingest sensor lattice
3.2M canopy observations · 214 spectral bands
- 02
Radiative transfer correction
Atmospheric + illumination normalisation
- 03
PhytoPheno transformer pass
Cross-species attention over the season timeline
- 04
Trait regression + uncertainty
Ensemble of 12 heads · conformal intervals
- 05
Agronomy recommendation
Matched to 128 sibling trial plots
Ready when you are
Choose a trial site, a trait and a stress level, then run the model to see the predicted trait value, its uncertainty band and the recommendation we would send a grower.
1,850Transformation events / quarter
1,240Sequenced plastomes in reference library
2,760Trial plots instrumented
34Partner breeding programs
Crop development pipeline
From ranked target to regulated release, tracked trait by trait
Five gated stages, each with its own phenotype read-outs. Select a stage to inspect the traits and KPIs our field and lab teams are measured against.
40 monthsPipeline length
19Crops in program
2,760Instrumented plots
PGX-M412Lead candidate
Stage 03 · Months 9–16
Transformation, regeneration & selection
Biolistic and protoplast routes are run in parallel; regenerated plantlets pass through a high-throughput imaging gate that rejects off-phenotype events before they ever reach soil.
Phenotype read-outs
Regeneration rate68%
Homozygous lines214lines
Phenotype gate pass81%
1,850Events per quarter
9Species enabled
11 weeksCycle time
Impact benchmarks
Yield that holds, water that stays, carbon that persists
Every number below is drawn from instrumented trial plots and independently reviewed soil-carbon sampling — reported against a FY2023 baseline and audited annually.
0.0×
Yield stability uplift
Across 128 replicated trials in heat- and drought-stressed environments.
0%
Irrigation water saved
Transpiration-efficiency traits cut applied water without a yield penalty.
0.00Mt CO2e
Carbon sequestered to date
Verified soil-carbon flux across partner farms since the FY2023 baseline.
0%
Less synthetic fertiliser
Rhizosphere consortia unlock legacy phosphorus and fix nitrogen on-root.
0k ha
Under stewardship
Contracted hectares in 17 countries following PhytoGenix agronomy protocols.
0 crops
Active programs
From maize, wheat and rice to sorghum, cassava, soybean and cotton.
Verified soil-carbon trajectory
Mt CO2e sequestered across contracted hectares · GHG Protocol aligned MRV
FY30 target 6.8 Mt
0.04
FY21
0.19
FY22
0.46
FY23
0.88
FY24
1.42
FY25
3.10
FY27e
6.80
FY30e
AI verification · GHG Protocol aligned
MRV assurance run
Stratified soil sampling grid
412 cores · 0–30 cm and 30–100 cm fractions
Continuous flux reconciliation
Eddy-covariance towers cross-checked against chamber flux
Bayesian stock-change model
Conformal intervals carried into the registry submission
Registry + assurance sign-off
Independent verifier review against GHG Protocol
Run the verifier to see how a season of field data becomes an issuable carbon volume.
Maize
Iowa, United States+19% grain yield through a July heat dome
Two engineered photosynthetic cassettes raised electron-transport throughput and shortened the grain-fill penalty during three consecutive 38 °C days.
- Plots
- 420
- Yield delta
- +19%
- Season
- FY25
Rice
Mekong Delta, VietnamSalinity tolerance extended to 6.2 dS/m
A root-architecture and ion-transport edit pair kept panicle filling stable through an intrusion event that cost neighbouring fields 40% of their harvest.
- Salinity
- 6.2 dS/m
- Yield delta
- +26%
- Water saved
- 34%
Wheat
Punjab, IndiaSame yield with 41% less irrigation water
Stomatal conductance tuning plus a rhizosphere consortium let growers hold yield at 5.8 t/ha while cutting six irrigation passes down to four.
- Water saved
- 41%
- Yield held
- 5.8 t/ha
- Growers
- 1,240
Scientific advisory board & agronomists
Plastid biologists, modellers and field agronomists in one room
Six senior scientists hold our technical roadmap to account — from plastome stability and radiative-transfer modelling to regulatory dossiers and smallholder deployment.
Dr. Amara Osei-Bonsu
Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer
Formerly John Innes Centre
Chloroplast genome engineering
Pioneered multiplexed plastid transformation in cereals; 68 peer-reviewed papers on photosynthetic electron transport and plastome stability.
Prof. Kenji Tanaka
Scientific Advisory Board Chair
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology
Photosynthesis modelling
Built the radiative-transfer framework the field uses to compare photosynthetic efficiency across canopies; advises three national food-security programs.
Dr. Camille Delacroix
VP, Computational Phenotyping
Formerly INRAE
Remote sensing & trait models
Led the hyperspectral pipeline behind two commercial seed-selection platforms; now heads the PhytoPheno foundation-model team.
Dr. Chidi Nwosu
Director of Agronomy & Field Operations
Formerly IITA
Smallholder deployment
Ran multi-country trial networks across West Africa for 12 years; specialist in translating lab traits into farmer-usable agronomy packages.
Dr. Renata Silva
Head of Regulatory & Biosafety
Formerly CTNBio advisor
Global biosafety dossiers
Has filed 40+ regulatory dossiers across APHIS, EFSA and Latin American authorities; architect of our Cartagena Protocol compliance program.
Dr. Harpreet Kaur
Head of Soil Carbon Science
Formerly CSIRO Agriculture & Food
MRV & soil carbon
Designed the sampling protocol behind two soil-carbon registries; works with growers to turn sequestration into contracted revenue.
Advisory members are independent and receive no equity compensation. Conflicts are disclosed annually in the governance appendix of our ESG report.
Publications & patents
Our science is published, filed and independently reviewed
Collaborators, regulators and licensees can download the underlying papers, patent families and technical standards behind the platform.
Peer-reviewed
2025Nature PlantsMultiplexed plastid transformation unlocks four-gene photosynthetic cassettes in Zea mays
Osei-Bonsu A., Vasquez L., Tanaka K., et al.
DOI 10.1038/s41477-025-01234-x
Peer-reviewed
2025Plant MethodsPhytoPheno: a foundation model for cross-species canopy trait estimation from hyperspectral time series
Delacroix C., Nwosu C., Chen Y., et al.
DOI 10.1186/s13007-025-01188-4
Peer-reviewed
2024ISME JournalCross-feeding dependency as a biocontainment strategy in seven-member rhizosphere consortia
Nwosu C., Lindqvist E., Osei-Bonsu A.
DOI 10.1038/s41396-024-01542-0
Patent
2024USPTO / EPOCompositions and methods for marker-free multiplexed plastid genome editing
PhytoGenix Biosystems
US 12,345,678 B2 · EP 4 512 889 A1
Patent
2023USPTOSensor lattice and soil-flux modelling pipeline for agricultural carbon verification
PhytoGenix Biosystems
US 11,987,654 B1
Preprint
2025bioRxivStomatal conductance tuning preserves wheat yield under a 41% irrigation reduction
Kaur H., Delacroix C., Rahman S., et al.
bioRxiv 2025.04.11.612884
Standard
2024Crop Ontology ConsortiumOpen trait ontology for field-scale phenotyping (PTO 1.2)
PhytoGenix Biosystems, CIMMYT, IRRI
PTO-1.2
Partner onboarding
Run an instrumented trial with us next season
We co-design multi-site trials with universities, public agencies and seed companies — including instrumentation, MRV and joint publication rights.
- Instrumentation includedHyperspectral, thermal and LiDAR towers installed and maintained by our field team.
- Joint publicationPre-agreed authorship and data-sharing terms before the first seed is sown.
- Regulatory supportConfined-release permit drafting, containment protocols and biosafety training.
- Carbon revenue modellingMRV-grade sampling so trials can be priced into voluntary carbon contracts.
Scoping call
45 minutes with the science lead covering objectives, sites and timeline.
MTA & protocol
Material transfer and trial protocol signed within two weeks.
Instrumented trial
Sensor lattice installed, baseline sampling completed, dashboards live.
AI trial-fit assistant
Scores your intake live · runs in the browser
Start with your institution name — the assistant scores the fit against our 128 live trial sites and suggests a design as you type.
Direct line to the field team
trials@phytogenix.bio+1 (415) 555-01321401 Marina Way South, Richmond, CA 94804