Tübingen-based biotech company Computomics has raised €6.3 million in a Series B funding round. The company will use the funding to expand its climate-smart crop breeding platform as heat and drought continue to affect crops across Europe.
Computomics develops technology that helps researchers and breeders create crops that can better handle changing climate conditions. Its platform uses data and advanced technology to support faster and more efficient crop breeding.
The funding round was led by Convent Capital Agri Food Fund, which invested €5 million. Existing investors, including High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), MBG Baden-Württemberg, and Amathaon Capital, also took part in the round.
Computomics also received support from its founders and scientific advisors. The company is additionally supported by the European Union through the InvestEU Fund. With the new funding, Computomics plans to scale the commercial use of its platform and help develop crops that are better suited to a changing climate.
“We back companies whose environmental impact grows with their commercial success. Better breeding predictions mean fewer wasted seasons and varieties that hold up in the field, so the impact case and the business case point the same way. That alignment is why we led this round,” said Stephen McLoughlin, Partner at Convent Capital Agri Food Fund.
Computomics was founded in 2012 as a spin-off from the Max Planck Institute for Biology and the University of Tübingen. The company uses machine learning to predict how different crop varieties will perform under different environmental conditions.
Its technology combines genetic data with information about temperature, rainfall, soil conditions, and field measurements. This helps create more accurate predictions about how crops will grow in different climates.
The machine learning models help breeders answer important questions much faster than traditional field trials. They can predict which crops will perform better in hotter and drier weather, which varieties work well across different environments, and where each variety should be planted.
Computomics offers these predictions through its ×SeedScore® platform, which can support large commercial breeding programmes. The company works with breeders growing field crops, forage crops, vegetables, and specialty crops.
“Breeders have never lacked ambition about climate resilience. What they have lacked is a way to see it before the field tells them, which takes years they no longer have. This financing is about getting that capability into far more breeding programs, faster,” said Dr. Sebastian J. Schultheiss, co-founder and CEO of Computomics
Computomics will use the new funding to expand the commercial use of its climate-smart crop breeding platform. The company wants to make its technology available to more customers and breeding programmes.
The funding will also help Computomics deliver its platform more quickly, supporting breeders in developing crop varieties that can better handle changing climate conditions.
