The financing will enable the company to strengthen its teams, increase its production capacity, and support its international commercial expansion, while intensifying its R&D efforts, notably on new biomolecules derived from its enzymatic synthesis platform.
Fyteko develops, produces and markets biosolutions for agriculture, using innovative enzymatic synthesis to generate new biomolecules. Thanks to the support from Horizon 2020, the European Union’s largest research and innovation programme, and strategic partnerships with the universities of Mons, Ghent and Brussels, it has transformed its research into innovative solutions that are now available on the market.
Since 2022, the company has been marketing its biostimulants to major seed companies and plant health and nutrition manufacturers. These products, based on a signal molecule with a well-defined mode of action and effects confirmed by several hundred field trials, help various crops such as corn and vines to better resist water stress in Europe.
The products developed by Fyteko enable farmers to secure their production in the face of increasingly severe climatic hazards and fewer crop protection options. The solutions are designed to support an effective ecological transition and to be simple to integrate into farmers' daily lives including being reliable, effective and economically viable.
The Series B was led by Crédit Mutuel Impact, with participation from SFPIM, Supernova Invest, IMBC and support from finance&invest.brussels, EIT Food, Innovation Fund and other existing shareholders.
The company called it a major step is enabling it to scale-up and transform agriculture with our science-driven biosolutions.
“We are entering a new phase in our development, with reinforced international ambitions and key innovations in the pipeline, says Fyteko’s chairman Guillaume Wegria. “This step will enable us to consolidate our industrial capacity, accelerate our commercial expansion, and pursue our mission of developing biological and sustainable solutions to meet the challenges of climate change. What matters to me is that all the investors in this fund-raising share a common vision: to provide farmers with concrete tools to build a more resilient and environmentally friendly agriculture.”
Sabine Schimel, managing director of Crédit Mutuel Impact, said: “The technology developed by Fyteko is a highly promising and effective solution for adapting agriculture to climate change, but also for mitigating climate change. It enables crops to better withstand drought and preserve yields, thereby helping to reduce the need for agricultural land.”
Water stress now a critical issue
Water stress in Europe has become a critical issue. In 2022, the region experienced its worst drought in 500 years, affecting one-third of the continent.
According to Alexandre Biau, investment director at Supernova Invest, 70% of irrigated land already suffers a water shortage one month a year. “By using enzymatic synthesis on the large family of phenolic compounds naturally present in plants, Fyteko’s founders have pioneered an original and robust technology. Beyond the issues of water stress, this approach reveals promising agronomic functionalities, particularly with regard to plant health issues.”