Press Release – Thursday July 28, 2022
UM6P Ventures invests in Climate Crop, an IndieBio company, to enhance the yield and survival of crops in Africa and across the globe
Counteracts the impact of climate change and contributes to food security worldwide
July 28, 2022 – Today, UM6P Ventures announced it has made an investment in Climate Crop Ltd. that specializes in the use of gene editing technology to enhance the potential of plants to harness more energy, store more carbon, produce higher yields.
The global warming and the current climate crisis are impacting plant growth and crop output throughout the world. Climate change imposes a severe threat to agricultural systems, food security, and human nutrition. The goal of gene editing technology is to develop high yielding crops with increased adaptability, survival, and growth rates. Climate crop’s solution will enhance food production, increase the grain and industrial material supply, while enhancing their carbon sequestration, and help to mitigate the effect of climate change on agriculture.
Specifically, they will be leveraging the investment to focus their gene editing technology on potato and tomato crops that dominate the Moroccan landscape and are critical to the food supply across the African continent. In fact, potatoes are now the world’s third most important food crop in terms of human consumption, after wheat and rice. Climate Crop will now have access to Africa’s enormous agtech ecosystem and the African market.
“We are actively seeking investments in startups that address an important topic such as climate change and its impact on the global food supply, security, and sustainability. UM6P Ventures’ network of scientific experts and our partners’ state of the art infrastructure will work hand in hand to accelerate the technology maturity of Climate Crop’s solution and its entrance into the commercial market,” said Othman Chraibi, Chief Investment & Operations Officer, UM6P Ventures
In order to capitalize on this extraordinary opportunity, UM6P Ventures will provide Climate Crop with both capital funding and scientific support. Climate Crop will have access to the UM6P University infrastructure including Research and Development facilities available at the experimental farm and scientific experts. In addition, they will be connected to our vast ecosystem of partners and investors including VC funds, acceleration partners, agtech corporations, and agtech stalwarts throughout Morocco and worldwide.
As part of the scientific support system provided by UM6P Ventures, Climate Crop will take advantage of our subject matter support offer that includes scientific collaboration between both organizations to devise the R&D roadmap for gene editing and plant transformation projects. By securing green house space and facilities, Climate Crop will be able to advance their technology maturity from the lab to a large-scale prototype. UM6P Ventures will also strategize with Climate Crop to expand their presence in the US market, initially with a US subsidiary in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
“The extensive scientific support system available from UM6P Ventures, coupled with capital investment, will help Climate Crop maintain its foot hold in the gene editing food market and positively impact crop production and the world’s food supply,” Yehuda Borenstein, CEO & Founder, Climate Crop, Ltd.
About UM6P Ventures
UM6P Ventures is the investment arm of UM6P, founded as a vehicle for the university to advance entrepreneurship and accelerate scientific innovation in Morocco and Africa, backed by the OCP Group. It is a seed-stage ventures firm that caters to innovators and entrepreneurs in the fields of science and technology and invests in startups from their creation to Series A funding.
UM6P Ventures provides early ventures with advanced infrastructure, platforms, talent, and programs native to UM6P. It builds explicit pathways to transition incubated or demonstrator projects to investable assets and brokers subsequent funding in capital markets.
In partnership with its ecosystem network of programs including incubators, accelerators, and investors such as business angels and venture capital firms, UM6P Ventures provides an unmatched ability to fund, build and accelerate assets out of projects. UM6P Ventures has a robust ecosystem and an investment portfolio actively invested in Agrobioscience, HealthTech, Energy, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Industry 4.0.
About Climate Crop
ClimateCrop Ltd. is a company that specializes in genetic editing to unlock the potential of the plants (row crops, produce/fruits, and trees) and enhance their capability to harness more energy, store more carbon, and produce higher yields with enhanced survival rate. Climate Crop is aiming to increase food security and harness the power of gene editing to mitigate our climate challenges.
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