Pairwise gets new investment to accelerate crop breeding with gene editing
The round was led by Deerfield Management. Multiple returning investors, including Aliment Capital and Leaps by Bayer, are joined by new investor Corteva through its Corteva Catalyst platform.
Investments from the funding round will be used to scale Pairwise’s product pipeline, including seedless berries and pitless cherries, as well as advance its innovation platform called Fulcrum.
Pairwise’s new seedless blackberry variety, announced in June, will deliver an improved eating experience for consumers and, in concert with compact architecture and thornless traits, bring added benefits to farm workers, growers, and the environment as well.
“We started Pairwise in the early days of CRISPR to accelerate innovation across agriculture, enabling the cultivation of crops that are more adaptive to climate change, and more nutritious and convenient for consumers, all while bolstering grower economics,” said Tom Adams, Pairwise Co-Founder and CEO.
“This new investment will enable us to expand the impact of our proprietary Fulcrum Platform as we continue to lead this transformation with our proven ability to deliver novel solutions that address the most pressing challenges in agriculture today.”
“Using their novel tools, Pairwise has delivered game-changing edits in plant varieties across consumer and big-acre crops in just a few short years,” said Cam Wheeler, Partner at Deerfield Management and Pairwise Chairman of the Board. “We believe that the precision, speed, and safety of gene editing is poised to transform agriculture, and our ongoing investment reflects our confidence in Pairwise as the clear leader in this space.”
Corteva Chief Technology and Digital Officer Sam Eathington said, “We view gene editing as a critical solution to drive climate resilience across agriculture and global food systems. Pairwise is an obvious choice for our investment to help accelerate innovation through gene editing in fruit, vegetables, and specialty crops. And as leaders in gene editing ourselves, Corteva’s ultimate aim is to work with Pairwise to unlock the impact of this technology to help solve climate challenges and produce the food, fiber and fuel required to meet the needs of a growing global population.”
In parallel to Corteva’s equity investment in Pairwise, the two companies have entered into a five-year joint venture collaboration that will focus on accelerating the pace of gene edited technologies and developing improved products that are more resilient to future climate conditions.
Corteva’s investment in Pairwise is being made through Corteva Catalyst, the company’s new investment and partnership platform launched to boost agricultural R&D and sustainable food production innovations.
The company recently entered into an exclusive product licensing agreement with Bayer to further develop and sell 10 varieties of Pairwise-edited greens at scale, and to develop and breed for new varieties with the technology.
Additionally, after delivering 27 novel traits to Bayer’s pipeline under an initial five-year partnership, the two companies entered a second, multi-year collaboration to focus on developing a gene-edited version of short-stature corn to offer farmers better protection for their crops given improved sustainability in high winds and challenging weather conditions, better access during the season, and higher yields.
"Our technology licensing agreements provide secured IP and increase shareholder value. And our proprietary suite of technologies – our Fulcrum Platform – is enabling us to unlock transformative improvements in global agriculture,” added Adams. “Our product-development partnerships with global agriculture leaders, Corteva and Bayer, underscored by investments from both Corteva Catalyst and Leaps by Bayer, are an incredible validation of our technology and an important signal that gene editing will play a major role in improving agriculture innovation moving forward.”
