Backed by a $25 million investment, a Triangle executive has launched a new company aimed at expediting innovation in agriculture.
Fayaz Khazi this month launched Traitology, a digital biology company focused on developing novel traits in soybeans that can be scaled up and commercialized by partner companies.
"The current issue with the industry is not about whether the technology isn't working; the technology is working," Khazi said. "But scaling the technology in specific, unique varieties, is the problem."
This isn't Khazi's first venture in the Triangle. In 2017, he joined Precision PlantSciences, a subsidiary of Durham-based Precision BioSciences (Nasdaq: DTIL). Khazi led the subsidiary, which was later renamed to Elo Life Systems, until it was spun out of the public company late last year.
The spin-out allowed Khazi to step away from Elo and decide on the next step in his career. He said he wanted to focus on making improvements in large acreage, or row crops, given their importance amid existing global food supply and security challenges, with an emphasis on soybeans.
"I looked into the space and realized that with major row crops, there's still a need for expedited improvement," Khazi said. "If there's all this technology, why aren't we seeing massive improvements in yield?"
After Khazi left Elo, he was contacted by GDM Holdings, a conglomerate based in South America that is essentially the investment arm of GDM Seeds, a company that has worked with soybeans for 40 years. Khazi has interacted with GDM for nearly a decade. The company reached out to discuss a venture aimed at innovating soybean trait discovery.
These conversations led to GDM Holdings investing a total of $25 million in Traitology over a three-year period. Part of what led the company to making this investment was Khazi's location and network in the Research Triangle area, he said.
"The talent, the network; it's the best place on earth to establish an ag and biotech company," Khazi said.
This capital will support the company as it builds out its infrastructure, which includes bringing on employees. Currently, the company is made up of a team of five individuals, but the number will grow to 20 in the coming months and could reach 30 over the next two years.
Traitology is leasing about 3,800 square feet of office and lab space at 7020 Kit Creek Road in Morrisville and plans to expand to 8,000 to 10,000 square feet in the coming months. Khazi said Traitology is in discussions with Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE: ARE) – a major player in Research Triangle Park – about renting greenhouse space, although the company's need for the space will be minimal in its first year.
Khazi said Traitology will combine different areas of innovation that are often siloed, beginning with genetic material available to the startup through its partnership with GDM. Traitology will mine data from this material and then use new breeding technologies to develop novel traits. There are multiple numerous traits the startup could pursue as it works toward the larger goal of improving soybean yield. For example, this includes developing traits that enable crops to better withstand colder or hotter temperatures.
Traitology's approach opens up two different commercial avenues. The startup could license out the genetics or traits to other companies. Traitology could also develop a product, meaning a crop that demonstrates improvement with a specific trait, and partner with a larger company that could commercialize the product by selling seeds to farmers.
This approach of relying on partnerships for commercialization makes sense for a startup like Traitology, which is aiming to make a difference in a massive industry, Khazi said.
"Any small group is not going to be able to handle the scale and the magnitude of the opportunity in soybeans," Khazi said. "Strategic partnerships will be a foundation, critical aspect of this business model."
