Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator selects five agtech companies

The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) is funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

$250,000 in non-dilutive funding

The selected companies will receive up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding to conduct technical assistance projects at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, a program partner, and the world’s largest independent plant science research institute.

The companies will also benefit from a IN² cleantech ecosystem that includes industry experts, investors, and a nationwide Channel Partner network of more than 60 business incubators, accelerators, and university programs.

The selected startups are:

• Cytophage Technologies, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, aims to overcome the problem with evolving bacteria that becomes increasingly resistant to antibiotics by using synthetic biology to generate bacteriophage.
• Edison Agrosciences, based in St. Louis, MO, tackles the problem of the endangered natural rubber supply by increasing the amount of rubber already produced by the sunflower plant.
• Peptyde Bio, based in St. Louis, MO, strives to provide a safe alternative to combat fungal diseases even as resistance to current solutions accelerates.
• Robigo, based in Cambridge, MA, is shaping microbial communities to create a more sustainable food system.
• Synthetic Vector Design, LLC, based in St. Louis, MO, is developing novel methods to facilitate the site-specific transposition of large DNA fragments into selectable target sequences in plant cells to boost disease control.

With the addition of these five companies, IN2’s total portfolio now includes 66 startups, including 20 sustainable agriculture startups. Since joining the IN2 program, portfolio companies have raised more than $1.28 billion in external follow-on funding.