“BioLumic Has Expanded its Finistere-Led Series A to Include Investment by Canopy Rivers” - Global Aginvesting
Finistere portfolio company, BioLumic, a developer of a sustainable ultraviolet yield enhancement platform, has extended its Series A led by Finistere Ventures to include an investment of $1.5 million from Canopy Rivers. The additional capital brings the oversubscribed funding round to $6.7 million.
Other investors in the round include Rabo Food & Agri Innovation Fund and Radicle Growth Acceleration Fund.
Headquartered in New Zealand, and actively expanding within the U.S. market, BioLumic harnesses ultraviolet light to activate natural mechanisms in seeds and seedlings that increase growth, vigor, drought tolerance, and a crop’s natural defenses, thus resulting in larger harvest volumes and greater consistency.
Through its platform, BioLumic is aiming to engage with the global legal cannabis market, which is expected to be valued at $146 billion by the end of 2025, according to the company. And with “game-changing” results already being produced in crop trials, BioLumic is positioning to help commercial producers cultivate stronger and healthier plants to meet growing demand.
“Growers need more sustainable ways to meet global crop demands, and precision UV light treatments can safely activate important characteristics in seeds and seedlings that make them more productive as they mature,” said Warren Bebb, CEO, BioLumic.
Toward this end, Canopy Rivers is uniquely situated to support BioLumic in reaching its goals. As an investment and operating platform designed to seek out investment opportunities in the emerging global cannabis sector, Canopy Rivers has built an ecosystem and portfolio of complementary cannabis companies from the length of the supply chain. And with the continued development of Canopy’s portfolio, comes greater opportunity for collaboration to foster an environment of innovation, synergy, and value creation.
As Canopy River’s first investment in agtech, and a technology focused on plant physiology and UV photobiology, BioLumic will use Canopy’s investment to expand its team, and accelerate the initiatives and applications for its UV light crop technology.
“Canopy Rivers’ mission is to build and support a thriving global cannabis economy, and we are dedicated to identifying and investing in strategic technology players throughout the legal cannabis value chain,” said Mary Dimou, director, Business Development, Canopy Rivers. “Led by an exceptional management team, BioLumic’s groundbreaking, proprietary UV technology has the potential to significantly improve cannabis growth, vigor and yield – promising an environmentally friendly, GM-free cannabis crop through the power of light.”
“Canopy Rivers’ extensive network in the cannabis industry and its ecosystem of companies will open a new, strategic market for BioLumic. Given our results with other flowering crops, the cannabis plant is a natural fit for our technology,” said Bebb.
Similarly, BioLumic’s relationship with Finistere Ventures, which itself is backed by industry leaders Bayer and Nutrien, offers BioLumic the ability to work closely with an extensive network in the ag and food space toward the accelerated commercialization of its technology on a global scale.
As part of the round, Finistere’s recently appointed chief technology officer Dr. Adrian Percy has joined the BioLumic Board of Directors as Chairman, while Finistere’s Arama Kukutai will remain in place as a Board Observer.
Others joining the Board include Dean TIlyard, CEO of The Factory, and Mary Dimou of Canopy Rivers, who will join as an Observer.
“The opportunity to combine my background with a market-leading agribusiness company and one of the most experienced ag and foodtech venture firms really felt like something that I could not pass up,” Percy told GAI News in an interview last month. “I intend to put my experience to good use helping Finistere’s current and future portfolio companies develop their business, technology and regulatory strategies.”
“It is exciting to consider the broad range of benefits that BioLumic technology can offer to both seed producers and growers across a range of crops – from improved yield and consistency to reduction, and potentially replacement, of certain chemical and biological inputs,” added Percy in a statement.
-Lynda Kiernan - GAI Media