Switch Bioworks, a biotechnology company focused on creating sustainable and cost-effective fertilizers, has announced the successful closing of $17 million in Series Seed financing. This round was led by Change Forces Capital and saw participation from prominent investors including the Grantham Foundation, Astanor Ventures, Acre Venture Partners, Anthos Capital, Thia Ventures, Emerson Collective, the farmer-led Ag Ventures Alliance, and others.

Addressing the Environmental Impact of Nitrogen Fertilizer

Nitrogen fertilizer is a crucial component in agriculture, supporting the food supply for half of the world’s population. However , traditional nitrogen fertilizers are primarily produced using fossil fuels, resulting in over a gigaton of CO2 equivalent emissions annually, along with harmful environmental consequences such as runoff and eutrophication. Switch Bioworks aims to revolutionize this industry by developing symbiotic, nitrogen-fixing microbes that live on plant roots, offering a carbon-neutral alternative to conventional fertilizers.

“Not many people realize that their food is grown with fossil-fuel-based fertilizer. If we want to decarbonize our economy, we must find new ways to provide crops with nutrients,” said Kartick Kumar, Managing Partner and CEO at Change Forces Capital, a new climate-focused spinout fund from King Philanthropies. “The team of talented biotechnology experts at Switch has assembled from around the world to develop an innovative approach that dramatically improves the performance and cost-effectiveness of biofertilizers, tackling a significant climate challenge.”

Innovative ‘Switchable’ Engineering Approach

Switch Bioworks is pioneering a novel ‘switchable’ engineering approach that addresses a key challenge in the field of biofertilizers: the energy-intensive nature of fertilizer-producing microbes, which often results in their inability to compete with native soil microbes. This competition limits their efficacy in nitrogen production. Dr. Tim Schnabel, founder and CEO of Switch Bioworks, explained, “Making nitrogen fertilizer with biology is something that scientists have tried to do for 50 years. What’s been limiting the efficacy of biofertilizers is that as soon as microbes are engineered to make fertilizer, it’s so energy intensive that they are no longer able to compete with native microbes in soil and on plant roots.”

Switch’s breakthrough solution involves engineering microbes that can first establish themselves on plant roots before activating fertilizer production. The company’s first product, a consortium of diverse symbiotic microbes, will release nitrogen fertilizer under precise genetic control. Applied at planting using existing farmer practices, this product is expected to be more cost-effective than conventional fertilizers, providing significant savings for farmers, for whom fertilizer is a major operating expense.

Expanding Beyond Nitrogen

Switch Bioworks has developed a modular platform of switches that can enhance the performance of various precision-engineered biological products beyond nitrogen. The company is actively seeking R&D and product development collaborations within the agriculture and biotech industries.

Funding and Future Plans

The latest funding will be utilized to complete the product development of Switch Bioworks’ first carbon-neutral biological nitrogen fertilizer, including initial scale-up fermentation, formulation, and both greenhouse and field trials in the U.S. and internationally. With the addition of a pre-Seed round in 2022 and grants from organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Switch Bioworks has raised over $25 million to support its mission of sustainable food production.

About Switch Bioworks

Founded in 2022 as a spinout from Stanford University and headquartered in San Carlos, CA, Switch Bioworks is dedicated to developing sustainable nitrogen fertilizers powered by cutting-edge synthetic biology. As a key player in the global bioeconomy, the company is committed to enhancing planetary health while reducing fertilizer costs for farmers.

Switch Bioworks is not only poised to transform the fertilizer industry but also to make a significant impact on global efforts to decarbonize agriculture and combat climate change.

Source –Switchbioworks