- SugaROx, a UK-based venture leading the development of precision biostimulants, has today announced a £400,000 strategic investment from a global player in the fertiliser industry, The Mosaic Company, as part of a £1 million seed round extension.
Existing backers, including UK-based angel investors and sustainable growth-focused investment funds UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (managed by Future Planet Capital) and Regenerate Ventures, contributed the remaining £600,000.
Biostimulants are one of the fastest growing crop input sectors, with an estimated 11% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). The £1 million extension follows a £2.4 million grant awarded from the UK’s national innovation agency, Innovate UK, to upscale manufacturing of SugaROx’s first active ingredient Trehalose-6-Phosphate (T6P).
SugaROx’s T6P biostimulant boosts the yields and resilience of crops by inhibiting SnRK1, an enzyme that signals energy scarcity in the plant. Safety tests completed in early 2024 confirmed a promising regulatory outlook for the proprietary T6P and led potential go-to-market partners to request samples for field trials.
SugaROx is working to launch its T6P wheat biostimulant in the UK market in 2027 and in the EU in 2028. This year the venture launched trials in soybean and maize with a view to enter the US and Brazilian markets shortly after.
“In response to increasing demand for product samples, we decided to accelerate our manufacturing timeline, fast‑tracking the shift from in‑house lab production to a pilot facility. The Innovate UK grant and additional investment allows us to do that”.
“Our existing investors were quick to subscribe to the seed round extension, which we are delighted to complete with Mosaic as a strategic partner. We have the ambition to transform the biostimulants industry with science-based solutions – something that is only achievable in collaboration with other players”.
“With Mosaic we gain access to an established network of trial sites for validation of our first product in the US at scale. Mosaic will also provide us with access to TruResponse®, a digital platform to visualise field results, which will be extremely valuable for our research.”
“SugaROx is a brilliant example of how world-class UK science can translate into globally relevant innovation. SugaROx’s technology is grounded in real agronomic impact – increasing crop resilience and productivity in the face of climate and economic pressures. We’re proud to have supported SugaRox early on their journey pushing the boundaries of crop science, but doing so with the potential to transform global agriculture.”
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