Oxford-based EnviroTech SugaROx has landed a £1m funding boost to scale up its next-generation crop treatment technology, with £400,000 of that coming from global fertiliser giant The Mosaic Company.
The raise marks an extension of the company’s original seed round and brings total investment up to £1m, with the remaining £600,000 coming from returning backers, including angel investors and impact-led funds Future Planet Capital and Regenerate Ventures.
A spinout from Rothamsted Research and the University of Oxford, SugaROx is developing precision biostimulants – products that improve crop yield and resilience by enhancing natural plant processes – rather than relying on traditional fertilisers or chemicals.
This fresh funding comes on the heels of a £2.4m grant from Innovate UK, aimed at helping the business scale manufacturing of its lead active ingredient, Trehalose-6-Phosphate (T6P).
T6P works by targeting a key enzyme in plants called SnRK1, which tells crops when to conserve energy. By suppressing that signal, T6P helps crops grow more efficiently, even under stress conditions.
The early signs are promising, with safety tests completed earlier this year showing strong results and potential partners are already requesting field trial samples.
SugaROx plans to launch its first T6P product in UK wheat fields by 2027, with an EU launch in 2028 and US and Brazil markets not far behind, following new soybean and maize trials that kicked off this year.
“In response to increasing demand for product samples, we decided to accelerate our manufacturing timeline, fast‑tracking the shift from in‑house lab production to a pilot facility,” said CEO of SugaROx, Mark Robbins.
“The Innovate UK grant and additional investment allows us to do that.
“Our existing investors were quick to subscribe to the seed round extension, which we are delighted to complete with Mosaic as a strategic partner.
“We have the ambition to transform the biostimulants industry with science-based solutions – something that is only achievable in collaboration with other players.”
SugaROx also gains more than just capital from Mosaic’s involvement, with the company able to tap into Mosaic’s network of US trial sites to validate the product at scale.
It will also be able to access TruResponse – a platform that visualises field performance in real-time.
Dr Cara Griffiths, co-founder and CTO of SugaROx, added: “With Mosaic we gain access to an established network of trial sites for validation of our first product in the US at scale.
“Mosaic will also provide us with access to TruResponse, a digital platform to visualise field results, which will be extremely valuable for our research.”