It can be hard to get the timing and growth right when starting a new business, but a group of entrepreneurs from Argentina have found that the St. Louis region provides fertile soil for their expansion efforts.
Seed Matriz, founded in 2018 in Río Cuarto, Argentina, is an agribusiness venture that aims to increase crop yields, reduce agricultural and environmental waste and deliver biostimulants and biopesticides at optimal levels to support responsible farming practices. The business, currently applying for patents in the United States and Argentina, uses an inert material as a form of seed encapsulation.
After much trial and error, Seed Matriz says it can layer the material around seeds to make them more uniform in size and shape, and to deliver needed stimulants and protectants to help the crop grow. It is also using technology so farmers can save and plant more seeds.
“The most positive thing is having better yields,” says Jorge Suino, co-founder and chief technology officer of Seed Matriz, which allows farmers to produce more food without an increase in their land or the size of their fields.
Forming key connections with St. Louis startups
The company explains its seed encapsulation approach is different from seed coatings, already widely in use in agribusiness. Suino says the addition of related technology and monitoring will also allow farmers using their existing planting equipment to have real-time data about their plantings, related to the depth, distance, germination and growth of crops, which could allow them to make adjustments during the growing season. Currently, Seed Matriz is exploring seed encapsulation related to sweet corn, popcorn and waxy corn, though the company believes the approach could be used on other seeds.
The company has done years of its own growing and testing, Suino explains, and acknowledges it has not yet published research that has been independently verified, but is currently working with outside plant scientists and farmers to advance its work.
Enter the St. Louis agtech and startup ecosystems, which have not only offered Seed Matriz support and investment, but also those very key plant science and agricultural connections and opportunities to advance its work in the cornfields of the Midwest.
Through an agreement with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Seed Matriz now conducts research and uses the center’s specialized plant science core facilities to better assist them in their research and development, giving the startup access to technology and facilities they likely wouldn’t have on their own.
In 2023, in an effort to expand that sort of work across the metro area, St. Louis formalized Cultivar STL, led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center along with BioSTL, The Yield Lab Latam, World Trade Center St. Louis, Greater St. Louis, Inc. and the 39 North Agtech Innovation District. The initiative is the culmination of six years of work building relationships in Latin America with organizations, including Seed Matriz, doing work in the agtech space, and it strengthens and sustains partnerships to contribute to economic growth in the metro area and abroad.
Working together for the good of St. Louis
Last year, Seed Matriz landed another key local connection when it was awarded funding by Arch Grants. The $75,000 grants provide some “seed” money to support growing and promising businesses like Seed Matriz, with an additional $25,000 awarded if businesses are headquartered in St. Louis for at least a year. The winning recipients get valuable introductions to an ecosystem of area businesses, nonprofits, entrepreneurs and subject matter experts.
“We found a strong ecosystem with all the people working together for the same (thing) and it's to make St. Louis greater,” Suino says. “We didn't (find) that in Silicon Valley, for example, or other ecosystems.”
Suino also makes it clear he’s part of a team. Seed Matriz was co-founded by Federico Cola, the chief executive officer, who has previous farming and agribusiness experience. The company raised $1.5 million and is currently talking to potential funders to raise another $2.5 million to $3 million. It has 16 full-time and four part-time employees, Suino says, and grows and tests its plants in fields right by its offices in Argentina.
Chasing dreams will keep a person busy. Suino calculated this spring he had just traveled about 1,500 miles visiting farms, universities and seed dealers in the Midwestern corn belt.
“We knew about St. Louis, and we found everything we (needed here),” Suino says. “We have here the science, the market and the capital. These are the three main things we need to develop our company.”
Explore more stories about inspiring St. Louis entrepreneurs who are contributing to the growth and success of the area's startup community.
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