Sustainable soil analysis company Biome Makers Inc. is settling into its new headquarters and testing center in Davis, having recently taken occupancy of 4,200 square feet of space in the Mace Ranch Corporate Centre at 202 Cousteau Place.
The company's goals have always been to decrease the use of chemicals in the soil and preserve the fertility of the soil, said CEO and co-founder Adrian Ferrero, at an opening event Wednesday.
“We are grateful for the support of the Davis community, which has been integral to the growth and success of Biome Makers since its founding," he said.
The work Biome Makers does for farmers is akin to what a blood test can tell a doctor about a patient's health, said Sarah Basiri, head of global marketing with the company, which operates in 45 countries.
The company has grown to 75 employees, many of whom work remotely all over the world.
By analyzing a soil sample of less than a gram, Biome Makers can tell a farmer whether they are over-tilling, over-fertilizing or in some other way hurting the biological health of their soil.
The company started in San Francisco in 2015, when co-founders Alberto Acedo and Ferrero arrived from Spain with backpacks and raised seed money to start the company.
In 2018, Biome Makers became the first tenant of the Bayer Crop Science CoLaborator research and wet lab space in West Sacramento. Biome Makers outgrew that space after a few years. Bayer has since sold that whole building to Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DNA).
"This is a big win. We keep losing people to West Sacramento," said Davis Council Member Gloria Partida.
Many Davis companies outgrow their spaces in the college town and end up finding expansion space in places like West Sacramento or Sacramento.
Biome Makers analyzes soil from all over the world, and it has built a taxonomy database of 14 million microorganisms that live in the soil, and in many cases, are what make up the soil.
The company's BeCrop Technology sequences DNA from soil to discern its microbiome and analyze the function of the microbes in the soil to give farmers a recipe to get back to soil health.
Biome Makers offers soil health intelligence and recommendations for more than 170 crops. The planet has lost a third of its arable soil, largely due to poor farming practices.
Mace Ranch Corporate Centre is owned by Buzz Oates, which completed tenant improvements for Biome Makers this year.
“We are honored to help a global and growing biotech company, which is our leading and top industry in the greater Sacramento region,” said Buzz Oates CEO Larry Allbaugh, in a news release.
"Attracting, retaining and growing life sciences companies is a primary goal of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council," said Michelle Willard, spokeswoman with GSEC.
“We want to continue to support world-class biotech companies that are working diligently on developing and producing the best food for the world,” said Allbaugh, who is also the chairman of GSEC's board of directors.
Since its inception, Biome Makers has raised more than $25 million in investments, according to tracking site Crunchbase.
