Peptyde Bio, a St. Louis-based agriculture technology startup developing natural fungicides, has been acquired by a firm located just outside Boston.
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Invaio Sciences said Thursday it has acquired Peptyde Bio, which was spun out of research at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition marks the first startup exit for the Danforth Technology Co. (DTC), a subsidiary of the Danforth Center focused on helping Danforth Center scientists commercialize their research and technology. DTC launched in 2022, and Peptyde Bio was the first startup it established.
“This is a really strong validation of the model,” said Tom Laurita, who is CEO of DTC and has served as CEO of Peptyde Bio.
Peptyde Bio, co-founded by Danforth Center scientists Dilip Shah and Kirk Czymmek, is developing natural fungicides to protect crops from disease. It is focused on discovering and designing novel antimicrobial peptides, which are proteins that plants naturally produce and protect them from diseases. It has sought to create artificial intelligence technology aimed at speeding up its process of identifying and designing peptides.
Peptyde in November 2022 closed on a $1.2 million pre-seed financing in 2022, with investors including DTC, St. Louis Arch Angels, BioSTL’s BioGenerator Ventures and QRM Capital. The startup was named in February to St. Louis Inno's 2023 Startups to Watch list. Peptyde has nine Danforth Center scientists who work for the company under a contract research agreement, which will continue as the startup transitions to its new ownership, it said.
Peptyde, by joining forces with Invaio, becomes part of a company also focused on using technology to develop new “nature-positive” products that can be used in agriculture. Invaio says it has developed AI technology designed to find sustainable ingredients that can be used to manage crop health.
“This acquisition adds Peptyde Bio’s portfolio of confirmed peptide lead candidates for use in crop protection to our existing pipeline. When combined with our innovative biological delivery systems, we are uniquely positioned to offer growers more natural, efficient and effective solutions to protect their crops,” Ignacio Martinez, founding CEO of Invaio, said in a news release.
Invaio launched in 2018 and was founded by Flagship Pioneering, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, firm that creates and spins out biotechnology companies. Invaio has raised significant sums, announcing in May 2021 that it raised $88.9 million in Series C funding, bringing its total capital raised to $142 million. Later in 2021, it announced raising $50 million in debt financing.
Laurita said Peptyde's acquisition comes after it has received interest from a “large number of companies.”
“The reason the company was acquired is because the technology and approach have been recognized as very valuable,” he said.
Laurita said Peptyde decided to move forward with the Invaio deal because of the firms' similarities.
"Our strengths and their strengths sit well," he said. "They’re approach and ours are similar, both in terms of the science, technology and also on the people side with respect for people and treating people right. It became clear that this was a really interesting opportunity for both sides."
The acquisition marks a quick exit for Peptyde, which publicly launched in 2022 and is still a pre-revenue startup. While it was open to the idea of eventually pursuing an exit through acquisition, Laurita said the interest from outside parties accelerated that process. He said the company has also considered raising more capital and growing Peptyde organically, but that its board of directors felt the sale to Invaio was the best path forward for the company and its shareholders.
