Indigo Ag, the Boston-based agtech unicorn that uses microbiology research to help farmers replace chemicals and fertilizers and increase crop yield, has switched up its C-suite.
David Perry, who had served as CEO since December 2014, has stepped down. Taking his place in the chief executive role is Ron Hovsepian, who has worked as acting COO for the last eight months and has spent a year and a half on Indigo Ag's board. Hovsepian is also an executive partner at Flagship Pioneering, the life sciences firm that founded Indigo Ag back in 2013.
This isn't the first time Hovsepian is stepping into a CEO position. He headed up both Novell and Intralinks after a 16-year career at IBM.
“Ron Hovsepian is a seasoned operational leader rightly suited to lead the business at this critical stage of maturation," Robert Berendes, chairman of Indigo Ag's board of directors, said in a statement. "In his capacity as acting Chief Operating Officer for the last eight months, Ron has been in front of, and engaged directly with, customers extensively. He has reshaped the organization with greater customer-centric discipline, focusing resources on four core offerings that will advance Indigo Ag’s mission and place it on a path for accelerated growth and profitability.”
Indigo Ag is on a fast track right now. It kicked off the year by closing a $200 million funding round, with plans to generate positive operating cash flow near the end of the year and for the full year 2021.
Last month, the startup raised $360 million in additional financing for its Series F round from Alaska Permanent Fund and Flagship Pioneering. The new cash made it the world's most highly valued agtech startup, with a $3.5 billion post-money valuation.
