Setting the scene
"Agricultural biologicals" is a broad term for naturally occurring substances such as microorganisms and natural extracts that have the potential to improve the health status and yield of crops. Biologicals can complement or substitute agricultural chemical products and lead to an urgently needed, more sustainable agriculture. According to the latest analyses, the market for agricultural biologicals is growing and will continue to grow at a CAGR of 14.6%. The agricultural biologicals market was valued at around USD 7.00 Billion in 2017, and is projected to reach close to 13 Billion by 2022.
The Company
Aphea.Bio's mission is "Applied Nature for better Agriculture" and develops new and superior agricultural biologicals. We concentrate on products that help reduce fertilizer application (biostimulants) and control fungal diseases (biocontrol agents) sustainably in maize and wheat. Aphea.Bio was founded in 2017 as a spin-off of the VIB and its partner universities UGent and KU Leuven and has raised about USD 10 million in funding. The company can count on a solid scientific team and strong leadership team with many years of experience in science and business. The company is led by Dr. Isabel Vercauteren as CEO (ex-Bayer, ex-DevGen) and Dr. Steven Vandenabeele (ex-CropDesign/BASF) as CSO.
Technology Platform
Aphea.Bio is in a unique position to deliver novel and powerful solutions to the market because of its innovative research and development platform. The R&D platform bundles several proprietary technologies which make up a high-throughput pipeline for discovery of new biocontrol and biostimulant products for wheat and maize.