Business Development
Improve Abiotic Stress in Plants with ATI.
Our business model involves licensing or co-development. Preferred partners are innovative seed companies who are dissatisfied with current approaches to yield improvement, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance or extended shelf life.
Accomplishments to Date
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Filed and published new IP for genome editing targets
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In-licensed "CRISPR 3.0" from Benson Hill Biosystems: ATI is 1-stop shopping
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Recruited very experienced management team and advisors
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Defined Seed Round Milestones and Use of Proceeds
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Portfolio company of, and received investments from The Yield Lab (see video below), Plug and Play and Lateral Capital.
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Finalist in the THRIVE Accelerator and Hacker Unit programs
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Top 100 Finalist for Katerva Award and Foodtech 500.
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Won the Nikkei AG/SUM AGTech Summit Pitch Run in Tokyo
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Closed our $1.5 Mil Convertible Note Seed round of funding
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Won The Big Pitch competition organized by LaunchBio in San Diego
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Received revenues from 9 seed companies
Investors
Revenues achieved through:
Licensing
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Upfront technology & research maintenance fees
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Benchmark payments for proof of concept / commercial development
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Recurring revenues from trailing royalties on commercialized products
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Co-Development
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Co-funding research, then sharing income on trait added value from sales of yield-enhanced, stress-tolerant seeds, and longer shelf life crops
We seek licensees and co-development opportunities with innovative seed companies in alfalfa, banana, beans, camelina, cannabis, canola, corn, cotton, flowers, grapes, lettuce, peanut, potatoes, rice, sorghum, soy, strawberries, sugarbeet, tomato, wheat and other crops.
For crop-specific Licensing, we seek:
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Technology Access & Research Maintenance Fees
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Benchmark Payments
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Royalties on product sales
Co-development
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Lab / Greenhouse / Field Testing / Regulatory Services
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Trait value added sales of yield-enhanced, stress-tolerant seeds
Licensing and Co-development terms are negotiated by crop.
Criteria for target crop selection for genome editing:
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Fully sequenced genome of a reference variety in the target species; and
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Genetic transformation protocol with routine tissue culture permitting high efficiency plant transformation.
Strategic Partnering
We boast a significant competitive advantage with domain technical, licensing and co-development experience, have dominant IP in plant yield genes with 16 issued US patents and foreign counterparts, and new applications for genome editing of our validated targets.
We are not aware of any direct competitors expressing commercially relevant yield genes in transgenic or genome edited plants with similar field trial data.
Most importantly, there are convincing laboratory, greenhouse and field trial demonstrations of broad applications to significantly improving crop yields with our technology, as well as secondary benefits in abiotic stress resistance, disease tolerance, and improved shelf life.
Co-development terms are negotiated by crop
Market Overview
With wide farmer adoption of genetically engineered crop plants, 457 million acres of all croplands have been planted to GM varieties in 26 countries (2016). In the US, over 93% of soy, cotton and corn are genetically modified. Additionally, over 18 million farmers in developing countries are growing 54% of worldwide GM crops. Over 20 major crop plants have been genetically engineered with improved traits, boosting worldwide commercial sales to exceed $15.7 Billion.
Agribody's genome editing via small and targeted mutations avoids concerns associated with GMOs, which reduces risk & costs, and speeds up commercialization
Market Stats:
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Serviceable Available Market: $13 Bil.
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Simply increasing alfalfa yields by 20% can boost seed value at a minimum of $50 million per year
Ref: ISAAA.org
Funding Goals
Closed $1.6 Mil Note Seed Round, followed by a $2 Mil Pre-Series A priced Round
Competitive Advantages:
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Only field-demonstrated, broadly applicable transgenic technology to significantly improve crop yields
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Domain technical & licensing expertise
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Dominant IP in plant yield genes: 15 issued US Patents, foreign counterparts, and Genome Editing applications
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Secondary benefits in stress tolerance, disease resistance & improved shelf life
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Extremely low operating costs
Use of Proceeds (Pre-Series A Benchmarks):
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File, maintain & prosecute IP
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Support research in collaborator labs
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Establish small lab to breed/introgress long-shelf life products into partners' elite germplasm
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Form co-development partnerships or license technology to seed companies in multiple Genome Edited crops
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Working Capital