Swedish agtech startup OlsAro, which develops climate-resilient cereal genetics, has raised €5 million in a seed round co-led by Industrifonden and Nordic Foodtech VC, with participation from existing investors Future Food Fund, PINC, AgFunder, and GU Ventures, as Vestbee was told.
- Founded by Elén Faxö and her team, OlsAro develops cereal varieties designed to withstand environmental stresses such as salinity, heat, and drought.
- Its SeedAX platform combines proprietary genetics, data, and AI-driven trait discovery to identify resilience traits and integrate them into commercial seed programmes.
- The company’s salinity-resilient wheat has demonstrated up to 41% higher yields than a moderately salt-tolerant variety under saline conditions in Bangladesh. The variety is currently undergoing field trials in several markets.
Details of the deal
- The funding will support further field trials, the commercialisation of OlsAro’s first wheat product, and research into drought tolerance and nitrogen-use efficiency. The company also plans to expand its platform to other cereal crops, including rice.
"We have spent years proving that we can identify and develop genetics that perform under some of the conditions putting the greatest pressure on agriculture. This round is about turning that capability into a platform seed companies can use repeatedly. By expanding SeedAX across more traits and markets, we can help our partners bring climate-resilient cereals to farmers faster and at much greater scale," explains Elén Faxö, CEO at OlsAro.
- The latest investment follows a €2.5 million pre-seed round in April 2024, bringing OlsAro’s total funding to approximately €7.5 million.
