DURHAM – Plant technology firm PlantResponse, under the business name Delta PRB, has raised a whopping $75.9 million in equity and debt.
Two investors contributed to the round, according to the SEC filing.
The round is capped at $88.189 million with $11,289,300 remaining to be sold.
The firm disclosed that funds would go towards the payments of salary “in the ordinary course of business.”
PlantResponse Biotech is a plant biotechnology company specializing in plant innate immunity, drought and stress tolerance, and nutrient use efficiency. It has developed several product candidates, which are approaching commercial launch status in the areas of drought tolerance and plant health.
It launched in March 2008 as a Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) spin-off.
Back in 2017, the firm picked RTP for its North American headquarters.
Earlier this month, the firm announced that Response Biotech and Koch Biological Solutions, LLC. combined operations to form Plant Response™ Biotech, Inc.
It said the new venture would leverage both companies’ “complementary capabilities, assets and product offerings.”
Koch Biological Solutions focuses on developing science-based, live microbial and biologically derived chemistries that improve plant performance at every stage of growth.
Tom Warner, chairman of the board for the new Plant Response Biotech, said both entities recognized the opportunity to combine their core capabilities.
“These companies are naturally complementary, and it made tremendous sense to bring the two together and create real synergy,” Warner said in a statement. “For example, both companies’ screening and validation platforms are complementary, with the ability to define mode of action and identify the resulting cellular response.”
He added Plant Response Biotech has a commercial team focused solely on biologicals, which will help advance Koch Biological Solutions’ product pipeline.
“Plant Response Biotech, being a Spanish company, has a strong presence in Europe, and Koch Biological Solutions is well established in the U.S. Together, this new company has global potential,” Warner explained.
Justin Hoppas, executive vice president for Koch Agronomic Services, said the formation of the new company supports Koch’s commitment to create value for customers and meet their evolving needs.
“We are pleased to combine our world-class R&D capability into a new entity with focused commercial capabilities and a globally recognized investor group,” he said.
Tom Snipes, chief executive officer of Plant Response Biotech, said, “We are excited to offer the marketplace 12 science-based products designed to mitigate abiotic stress, provide intrinsic yield improvement, enhance plant innate immunity and increase nutrient use efficiency.”
Snipes said the new company will be headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. and will have multi-site operations with R&D in Hayward, Calif., as well as EMEA R&D and commercial operations headquartered in Madrid, Spain.
Plant technology firm PlantResponse picks Triangle for North America headquarters
