Pivot Bio raises $430 million to replace synthetic fertilizers in agriculture

Pivot Bio Monday (July 19, 2021) announced the close of a $430 million Series D funding, bringing the total equity raised to more than $600 million.

In venture capital terminology, the term Series D Funding refers to the fourth stage of a financing cycle of new business growth. The funding will fuel the company’s release of products focused on replacing the $60 billion of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer sold each year to sustain corn, wheat, and rice.

Pivot Bio says synthetic nitrogen fertilizer supports the demands of today’s global food system. However, the company calls synthetic nitrogen fertilizer inefficient, expensive for farmers, and it contributes to seven percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, depletes soils, and harms water supplies and fisheries. Since the company introduced the industry’s first commercially available microbial nitrogen in 2019, Pivot Bio has replaced synthetic nitrogen on more than one million crop acres in 2021 alone, representing more than 300 percent growth year-over-year and unprecedented agricultural product adoption.