Israeli specialty minerals company ICL (TASE: ICL: NYSE: ICL) has announced a $10 million investment in Israeli agritech company Evogene (TASE: EVGN; Nasdaq: EVGN) ag-biological startup Lavie Bio. The investment is part of a multi-year, strategic, collaboration agreement between ICL and Lavie Bio.
Lavie Bio seeks to improve food quality, sustainability and agriculture productivity through the introduction of microbiome-based products. The company uses Evogene’s applied computational predictive biology tech engine MicroBoost AI, leveraging big-data, advanced artificial intelligence (AI), in combination with a deep understanding of biology.
ICL's $10 million SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) investment in Lavie Bio will be made via ICL Planet Startup Hub, which is the platform ICL uses to invest in and collaborate with innovative companies in foodtech and agritech.
The collaboration will focus on developing novel bio-stimulant products to enrich fertilizer efficiency.
ICL Innovative Ag Solutions president Elad Aharonson said, "ICL is committed to creating impactful solutions for humanity’s sustainability challenges in the global food, agriculture and industrial markets, and this collaboration with Lavie Bio very much resonates with our sustainability goals and values. The collaboration demonstrates ICL’s commitment to bringing to market new, sustainable technologies for our customers. It also provides us with a strong platform to enter the ag-biologicals market, which we see as highly complementary to our existing agriculture business. Following an extensive evaluation of Lavie Bio’s technical capabilities, we enthusiastically look forward to collaborating with them to bring much needed novel ag-biological products to the global market."
Evogene president and CEO and Lavie Bio chairman Ofer Haviv added, "Together, we have significant potential to develop novel ag-biologicals, which are expected to allow for the improvement of global food quality, agricultural sustainability and productivity, especially in a time of food scarcity, high prices and macroeconomic uncertainty."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 17, 2022.
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