Corteva Continues to Invest in Biologicals
Corteva has invested in Lavie Bio, an agricultural biologicals subsidiary of Eveogene. The deal includes an exchange of all shares of Taxon Biosciences, which since 2015 has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Corteva and is based in Tiburon, Cali., for an equity investment in Lavie.
The microbial collection and product pipeline of Taxon are said to be synergetic with Lavie’s “biology driven design” product development. Lavie uses a proprietary Computational Predictive Biology (CPB) platform, developed by Evogene, leveraging big data and advanced informatics through discovery, optimization and development stages in order to create next generation microbiome-based products. Its parent company is Isreali agtech company Evogene that has partnerships with BASF, Bayer, Corteva, and ICL.
As part of this investment, Corteva will have rights to Lavie’s corn and soybean product pipelines.
In a news release, Susanne Wasson, Crop Protection Business Platform President for Corteva Agriscience said, “This transaction demonstrates Corteva’s ongoing commitment to bringing to market new and differentiated technologies for our customers. We are pleased to collaborate with Lavie Bio – a leader in the field of agriculture biologicals – as we continue to focus on accelerating commercialization of customer-centered innovation in this high-growth sector.”
Ofer Haviv, President & CEO of Evogene and Chairman of the Board of Lavie Bio stated in the news release, “We are extremely pleased with the combined Taxon acquisition and equity investment by Corteva, a world leader in the agricultural market, following close to two years of a co-development collaboration. By providing both additional complementary technologies along with potential go-to-market pathways, we believe this transaction will significantly enhance Lavie’s capabilities for the development and commercialization of next generation agriculture biological products.”
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