For Nanomnia, the future of crop protection is not just about discovering new biological modes of action. It is about whether those molecules can survive long enough, and perform consistently enough, to work outside controlled environments.
That conviction is shaping the Verona‑based start‑up’s growth strategy, with co‑founder and CEO Marta Bonaconsa expecting a significant share of future demand to come from next‑generation biologicals developers, rather than traditional agrochemical reformulation alone.
Born out of a shared belief in delivery science
Founded in 2017, Nanomnia emerged from a collaboration between Bonaconsa, Michele Bovi and Pietro Vaccari while working at the University of Verona. Each brought a different scientific background, but shared a common frustration.
“We came from different paths, but we were bonded by a common belief: that delivery science – namely, getting molecules to the right biological target, in the right way – was far more than a technical detail,” Bonaconsa said. “For sensitive actives, it was often the crucial step between biological promise and performance beyond controlled conditions.”
That belief led to the creation of a company focused on plastic‑free, biodegradable encapsulation technologies, designed to help active ingredients perform under real agricultural conditions rather than idealised laboratory settings.
Encapsulation as an enabling technology, not a formulation tweak
Nanomnia’s technology creates a functional delivery layer around actives that are particularly vulnerable to environmental stress. Depending on the molecule and application, its systems can protect against UV degradation, oxidation, hydrolysis and temperature stress, while improving stability, adhesion, persistence and release profile.
“We do not see encapsulation as a simple formulation add‑on,” Bonaconsa said. “We see it as an enabling technology that helps promising actives become reliable products.”
That framing is becoming increasingly relevant as regulation tightens, sustainability expectations rise, and the industry shifts toward more fragile, biologically derived inputs.
Why biologicals are becoming mission‑critical
Bonaconsa is clear that traditional agrochemical companies remain part of Nanomnia’s growth strategy, particularly as reformulation pressures rise. But she sees the strongest long‑term pull coming from developers of next‑generation biological actives.
“We expect a significant share of our future growth to come from next‑generation biologicals developers, because that is where delivery is becoming mission‑critical rather than incremental,” she said.
New classes of actives – including peptides, double‑stranded RNA, metabolites and microbial products – promise high specificity and lower environmental impact. Yet they also introduce severe constraints around stability, persistence and field performance.
“In many cases, the real bottleneck is not discovery, but the ability to protect and deliver these molecules in a way that makes them commercially viable,” Bonaconsa said. “That is exactly where we believe Nanomnia can play a strategic role.”
Fragility is the hidden constraint
The market signal Nanomnia is seeing most clearly comes from companies struggling with degradation and loss of efficacy once biological products leave controlled environments.
“Many biological actives show strong promise in controlled conditions, but then struggle once exposed to real agricultural environments,” Bonaconsa said. “UV light, oxidation, hydrolysis, temperature stress and limited persistence can significantly reduce performance.”
As a result, conversations are shifting. “The question is no longer only whether a molecule works,” she said. “It’s whether it can be protected and delivered well enough to work consistently in the field.”
Peptides and dsRNA: powerful, precise – and vulnerable
Bonaconsa is particularly enthusiastic about peptides and RNA‑based approaches, which she sees as emblematic of where crop protection is heading.
“Peptides can offer targeted activity against specific pathogens while remaining biodegradable and environmentally compatible,” she said, noting their potential both as direct actives and as elicitors that stimulate plant defence mechanisms.
dsRNA, meanwhile, enables highly sequence‑specific gene silencing through RNA interference. “It opens the door to very precise interventions with limited impact on non‑target organisms,” she said, while also reducing resistance risk through genetically targeted design.
But their sophistication is also their weakness.
“The challenge with peptides and dsRNA is that their sophistication is also their vulnerability,” Bonaconsa said. “They can lose performance very quickly once exposed to UV, enzymatic degradation, wash‑off or temperature stress.”
Encapsulation, in this context, is not optional. “It is essential to protect the active, improve persistence, and translate biological potential into real field performance.”
Early collaborations validate the model
Nanomnia is already working with companies developing peptides and RNA‑related solutions. While details remain confidential, Bonaconsa says the signal is consistent.
“Delivery is not a secondary optimisation step,” she said. “It is often a decisive factor in whether the active can translate into a robust, usable and commercially relevant product.”
The more advanced the mode of action, she added, the more central delivery becomes.
Building toward licensing at scale
Rather than selling finished products to growers, Nanomnia embeds its technology upstream, partnering with formulators and input manufacturers. While today’s revenues come largely from R&D and co‑development projects, the company is not aiming to remain a bespoke service provider indefinitely.
“We operate through co‑development partnerships, but with a clear trajectory toward licensing fully developed solutions,” Bonaconsa said.
Those collaborations serve as both validation and industrialisation pathways for a broader delivery platform that Nanomnia expects to license across multiple products and categories in the future.
Fundraising to fuel the next phase
Over the next 12-18 months, Nanomnia plans to launch its next fundraising round to accelerate that transition from platform validation to wider industrial traction.
That includes deepening its position with next‑generation biologicals developers, particularly around peptides and dsRNA, while strengthening IP, regulatory positioning and scalable licensing pathways.
“The milestone,” Bonaconsa said, “is demonstrating that Nanomnia can become a trusted delivery platform for the next generation of crop protection products.”
