A Berkeley-based startup that has raised hundreds of millions from investors to develop microbial-based alternatives to synthetic nitrogen fertilizers has hired a new chief executive as its co-founder steps into a new role.
Pivot Bio named Chris Abbott as its new CEO, and co-founder Karsten Temme has transitioned into the role of chief innovation officer.
"There is a ton more innovation still possible. We're just getting started on what it means to be able to change how nitrogen works in agriculture, and then agriculture's role within society," Temme told me. "It's more than just one person's job, and the job I can do best is to make sure I have just that innovation officer's hat on. And then on top of that, Chris is a phenomenal leader. Chris is somebody who can help us get to where that puck is going to be in a way that can clearly give people a vision of what we need to focus on and how to get there and help carry us forward as a team to have that impact with growers all around the world."
Abbott is based in Minnesota and has been on Pivot Bio's board since 2018. He also led Conti Ventures, an affiliate of grain trading giant Continental Grain Company, for the past five years. The firm invested in Pivot Bio's Series C and Series D rounds, according to PitchBook.
"I live in the Midwest. I'm an investor in farms. I've got friends that are farmers. I've got friends that, frankly, sell Pivot's product, and I've seen it firsthand. I've seen the impact that Pivot's products have on growers and on the ag value chain," Abbot told me. "My skills are around strategic partners, financial discipline, capital markets and leaning into my years of relationships, which I can bring to bear and help Pivot continue to scale."
Pivot Bio raised $100 million in 2020 through the Series C, and then a little over a year later the D round raised a $430 million, valuing the company at $1.7 billion, according to PitchBook. Its total funding now stands at nearly $700 million.
Its other investors include Bill Gates' climate technology venture firm Breakthrough Energy Partners, Bunge Ventures, Temasek Holdings, Prelude Ventures, QB3, Spruce Capital Partners. Monsanto also invested in Pivot Bio prior to its own acquisition by Bayer in 2018. Bayer subsequently renamed Monsanto's venture arm from Monsanto Growth Ventures to Bayer Growth Ventures, which is now managed by Leaps by Bayer.
The company also received a couple of grants. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Pivot Bio a $100,000 grant in 2011, and in 2012 it received a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, for an undisclosed amount.
On Tuesday, the company also said that it had crossed $100 million in revenue but declined to comment on whether it had reached profitability.
Temme co-founded Pivot Bio in 2010 with chief scientific officer Alvin Tamsir after they met as graduate students at UC San Francisco. They developed a microbial solution that can be used as an alternative to synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and launched their first product in 2019.
Pivot Bio now has two products called "Return" and "Proven 40" that can be used for crops such as corn, barley, millet, oats, sorghum, sunflower and spring wheat.
More than 5 million acres of farmland in the U.S. use Pivot Bio's products, which is up from 3 million acres last year, the company said. Its customers are primarily concentrated in Midwestern and Great Plains states such as Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas, according to the company's website.
A five-year-old Alameda startup called Andes Ag is also developing a microbial alternative to synthetic nitrogen for farmers, in addition to using microbial products to capture carbon from the atmosphere and sink it into soil.
Two Boston-based startups, Ginko Bioworks and Indigo Ag, are also using microbes to develop agricultural products.
