Sound Agriculture Secured $45 Million Investment to Fund Two Novel Tech Platforms

The company offers a paradigm shift with its on-demand breeding program, Sound Officials said.

Sustainable farming offers a solution to the problems caused by how most of our food is grown today. The new generation of farmers support the health and well-being of the community alongside profitable businesses. Fortunately, venture capital continues to flow into new agricultural companies. Sound Agriculture, for instance, has announced that they obtained a $45 million investment led by Leaps by Bayer, the science and technology investment arm of Bayer.

Northpond Ventures, a science and technology-driven venture capital firm, also contributed with current investors Cavallo Ventures, Fall Line Capital, Syngenta Group Ventures, and S2G Ventures.  

Two Novel Technology Platforms

Sound Agriculture is advancing two technology platforms that use plant and soil biology to enhance food production.

Nutrient Efficiency Platform

Nitrogen and phosphorus are vital elements to plant health. The nutrient efficiency platform is being prepared to replace 30% of global nitrogen fertilizer use. It has a patented technology that allows crops to access more nutrients from the existing microbiome.

On-Demand Breeding Platform

This technology platform provides a new paradigm in breeding. The technology accelerated plant trait development ten times faster than existing technologies by using genetically modified organisms or GMOs.

This rapid development study helps Sound Agriculture to unleash how plant traits can be inherited without changing the DNA. By tuning the gene expression, they can improve appearance, taste, and nutritional characteristics.

The firm will use the funding to advance both technology platforms to solve critical challenges in the food and agriculture industry. Agriculture contributes 25% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and declining water quality and soil health. Due to the global impact of climate change and changing demands of consumers, there is a need to promote a more resilient food system, Sound officials said.

In a press release, Jürgen Eckhardt, head of Leaps by Bayer, said that the agency focuses on developing breakthroughs based on biotech science. These innovations will provide long-lasting solutions to today’s food production issues. Eckhardt emphasized that Sound Agriculture suggests they are the pioneer in the industry, bringing two exceptional platform technologies to market. 

According to Sound Agriculture officials, On-Demand Breeding is the first breeding technology that harnesses epigenetics to allow natural plant differentiation faster and more economical. This technology enables a more agile food system by targeting to improve taste, nutrition, sustainability, and appearance.

The new approach allows for more biodiversity with lesser chemical inputs and a more reliable, healthy, and affordable food supply. Today, it usually takes seven to ten years to bring new crops to market. Sound technology can break that timeline in half.

SOURCE

Sound Agriculture’s first product was SOURCE and sold out in 2020 and 2021. It is a bio-inspired alternative to artificial fertilizers for corn and soybean, with additional tests. By activating the existing soil biome, SOURCE provides plants access to more phosphorus and nitrogen. Through SOURCE, corn yields can improve to an average of 7.5 bushels per acre and give an option for farmers to reduce nitrogen fertilizer by a maximum of 50 pounds per acre.

The data collected from trials provide inputs to allow accurate application based on soil type through the Performance Optimizer tool.

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