Crop improvement start-up Evogene Ltd. has signed a cooperation agreement with Biogemma, a subsidiary of Limagrain, to jointly develop drought-resistant strains of corn. Evogene is a spin-off Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN). Limagrain is a leading supplier of crop varieties to European farmers.
Evogene said, “Corn, one of the three global crops which feed the world, matures during the peak summer months and requires significant amounts of water for optimum yield. Summer heat waves and drought spells are a major concern, often significantly reducing corn yield and creating billions of dollars in lost revenues for the growers. With the threat of global warming, scientists are facing a major hurdle: creating a more sustainable agriculture which will produce enough food with less water in order to feed a constantly growing population.”
Evogene seeks genetic traits that help crops cope with less than optimal growing conditions. Under the joint project, genetically improved corn varieties developed by Evogene will be combined with Biogemma’s corn varieties.
Evogene president and CEO Ofer Haviv said, “The combination of our drought-resistant genes with commercial lines is a qualitative jump in linking-up Evogene’s technology with the global seed industry.”
Evogene recently held a $7 million financing round. The main investors in the round were Coronis Greenberg (a group of private investors headed by Haim-Arik Messica), Kadima High Tech (headed by Yossi Ben-Yosef), and GlenRock Israel, the private equity company of Leon Recanati. According to IVC Research, Evogene has raised $13 million to date.
Evogene was initially a division of Compugen, before becoming a subsidiary. Compugen is now involved in Evogene only as an investor, although it did not participate in the company’s latest financing round. The two companies have the same technology platform. They both created a genetic database and proprietary laboratory techniques for obtaining genetic data from the human genome in the case of Compugen and crop varieties in the case of Evogene. Compugen uses this data to develop treatments for genetic diseases in people, while Evogene works directly on the genes themselves.
Evogene has several projects for changing crop features. It is developing crops that need half the quantity of fertilizers to produce the same yield, drought and saline-resistant crop varieties, cotton with longer and higher quality fibers, and last and most interesting a project for growing crops with human proteins for the pharmaceutical industry.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 26, 2006
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