A Cincinnati-based agtech startup is shaking up its board of directors following a multimillion-dollar fundraise late last year, and the refresh, officials said, will give its team access to a deeper pool of industry veterans.
Hyde Park-based BioWish, which provides biotech solutions for the agriculture, aquaculture and environmental management industries, added two executives, Doug Cameron and Richard Warren, to its board, while jointly announcing the exit of a long-time director, Geoff Rosenhain. The appointments were confirmed in November and went into effect Jan. 1.
The moves closely follow a $5 million capital investment from SABIC Ventures, an affiliate of Saudi Arabia’s SABIC Agri-Nutrients Co., announced in September.
Following the raise the company said it “set an objective to refresh” the board, with a focus on adding people with “relevant industry experience, contacts and technical knowledge” in the space. In a release, Nabil Sakkab, BioWish board chairman, called both Cameron and Warren "incredibly knowledgeable and well-connected.”
Cameron is a former head of biotechnology at agribusiness giant Cargill, the largest privately held firm in the U.S. He also has extensive experience with venture capital chemical companies.
Warren, meanwhile, is an investment manager for SABIC Ventures in the Americas. He has more than 27 years of international experience in operational, business development and investment roles with large engineering companies such as Schlumberger, Weatherford and McDermott. Warren also has worked in the energy practice of the Boston Consulting Group and in the corporate finance and private equity offices of Simmons & Company International, an energy investment bank where he established the firm’s first U.K.-based private equity fund.
Rosenhain, as he steps down as a board director, will move into an advisory role. He’s been a BioWish director since 2012, representing Creata Ventures, one of BioWish's foundation investors.
With the changes, the BioWish board now includes six members, including new CEO Graham Beesley.
Beesley, also effective Jan. 1, succeeded Ian Edwards, a former vice president and general manager of P&G Chemicals, who retired as the company’s lead executive after a more than nine-year stint.
BioWish Technologies was founded in 2007 and moved from Chicago to Cincinnati in 2012. The company began commercializing its products in 2016.
BioWish currently works with more than 60 agronomy partners around the globe: Its flagship crop liquid can be coated onto dry fertilizer or mixed with liquid fertilizer to help farmers improve crop production and more.
The company ranks as one of the region’s best-funded startups with $44 million raised to date.
