About Us

Agriculture provides the food we eat, sustains millions of people worldwide, and manages a large share of the landscape. With a growing population there is an increase in the demand for food and therefore crops. Since the beginning of the green revolution in the 1950s, agricultural production has steadily increased yields and became more reliable, contributing to the reduction of poverty & hunger. However, this came at a high sustainability cost: today, more than 2.5 million tons of pesticides and 200 million tons of fertilizers are applied every year. The majority being of synthetic origin and causing significant environmental damage such as biodiversity loss, depleting soils and the disruption of many other important ecosystem services.

Aphea.Bio is a research-driven company dedicated to offer alternative, more sustainable solutions for achieving food security without environmental damage. Our solutions are well suited for the conventional crop protection and fertilizer markets, offering versatility across a broad spectrum of application types, from seed treatments to foliar applications, making food systems fair, healthy and environmentally friendly.

Today, we have a diverse, passionate and highly skilled team of scientists and technical experts from across the industry and academia dedicated to achieving our goal.

Meet our Team

Leadership Team Strategic Advisory Board Board of Directors

Our History

  1. 65 employees

    • Submission of first biocontrol regulatory dossier for VALORIA™ and VIRTUOSA™ in the US and EU
    • Silver medal awarded in first Ecovadis assessment

  2. 55 employees

    • registration and launch of first biostimulant, ACTIV by Aphea.Bio™
    • B-Corp certification
    • inauguration of pilot-scale production facility
    • closed Series C founding round with €70 million

  3. 43 employees

    • submission of first biostimulant dossier for market authorization
    • first commercial agreement signed

  4. 36 employees

    • full product development team established, ranging from Mode of Action, field trials, production & formulation to regulatory affairs
    • nomination of first commercial product candidates, proof of concept under field conditions

  5. 30 employees

    • field validated leads ready for product development track
    • established pipelines for bioinsecticides and bioherbicides
    • closed Series B founding round with €19.8 million

  6. 21 employees

    • exceeded 10k unique strains in the proprietary collection
    • first biofungicide field trials run
    • Facility expansion at Bioaccelerator

  7. 17 employees

    • biostimulant and biocontrol programs established with discovery pipelines (screening platforms) for wheat, climate chambers as well as automated phenotyping in greenhouse
    • first initial field trials for biostimulants
    • first IP filings submitted

  8. 10 employees

    • founded as VIB spin-off in July 2017
    • established greenhouse and lab facilities at Bioaccelerator in the Technologiepark Gent
    • closed Series A founding with €7.7 million