By Janet Kanters

Robigo has raised Series A financing led by Leaps by Bayer to advance engineered microbial products for fungal disease control in soybeans and specialty crops.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company said the financing will support development and commercial launches of its first products in the United States, as well as expansion into additional soil-borne pathogens in broadacre crops.

Robigo’s lead program targets sudden death syndrome (SDS) in soybeans, a disease the company estimates costs U.S. soybean growers $200 million to $500 million annually. The company says its engineered microbes have matched the performance of commercially available chemical treatments at half the cost, with a launch targeted for 2028.

Its second product is aimed at fusarium wilt, identified by the company as the leading fungal disease problem for lettuce and berry growers. In development trials, the product increased yields threefold compared with untreated controls. Robigo is targeting a 2029 launch.

The Series A round also includes Illumina Ventures, SVG Thrive, Congruent Ventures and Endeavor8.

Robigo uses synthetic biology to modify living microbes so they can produce compounds designed to target specific plant pathogens. Its ARGO platform is intended to accelerate development by combining computational design, microbial engineering, lead testing and field trials.

The company says ARGO can reduce development time from the typical three-to-five-year industry timeline to less than 20 months. That speed is central to Robigo’s strategy of using the platform across multiple crop diseases rather than developing individual products through conventional approaches.

“The scalability of the ARGO platform is what sets Robigo apart,” said Dr. Juergen Eckhardt, EVP and Head of Leaps by Bayer. He said the company is building an engine capable of addressing diverse soil-borne pathogens across broadacre crops, rather than focusing on a single product.

Eckhardt added that Robigo’s crop protection programs target “urgent, devastating diseases” and could complement Bayer’s existing crop protection portfolio. He said the technology could help farmers protect crops while reducing environmental impacts and improving resilience.

Robigo’s products are designed as one-time microbial treatments. Once applied, the engineered microbes continuously produce and deliver the ARGO-designed active ingredients at the plant, providing season-long disease protection without requiring changes to growers’ existing practices.

“At Robigo, we believe in building on nature’s foundation to engineer biological products that match or exceed the performance of today’s chemistries,” said Dr. Andee Wallace, founder and CEO of Robigo. “Growers shouldn’t have to choose between a product that works and one that’s affordable or sustainable.”

The company plans to use the new financing to expand its pipeline beyond its initial soybean and specialty-crop programs. Robigo estimates the broader market for soil-borne pathogen solutions in broadacre crops at $10 billion.