Enko, a Mystic, Conn.-based crop health company, raised $70m in Series C funding.
The round, which brought the total funding raised to date to $140m, was led by Nufarm with participation from Anterra Capital, Taher Gozal, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Eight Roads Ventures, Finistere Ventures, Novalis LifeSciences, Germin8 Ventures, TO Ventures Food, Endeavor8, Alumni Ventures Group and Rabo Food & Agri Innovation Fund.
The company intends to use the funds to advance its product pipeline of crop protection chemistries that target critical pests and weeds through novel pathways, and expand its ENKOMPASSTM technology platform, which combines DNA-encoded library screening with machine learning and structure-based design to quickly find new, targeted chemistries.
Led by CEO and founder Jacqueline Heard, Enko designs safe and sustainable solutions to crop threats, from pest resistance to new diseases, by applying the latest drug discovery and development approaches from pharma to agriculture. Since its start in 2017, the company has generated hundreds of leading molecules across all categories of crop protection. Enko’s product pipeline is currently led by a range of herbicides that are demonstrating breakthrough performance compared to industry standards like glyphosate.
The company is collaborating with Syngenta and Bayer on promising new chemistries.
