Gothenburg-based agtech company OlsAro has raised €5 million in a seed round led by Industrifonden, with Nordic Foodtech VC as co-lead and participation from existing investors Future Food Fund, PINC, AgFunder and GU Ventures. The company develops climate-resilient cereal genetics through its proprietary SeedAX platform, which combines genetics, data and AI-driven trait discovery to help seed companies develop crop varieties that can withstand environmental stresses. The funding will support international field trials and the commercialisation of OlsAro’s first salt-tolerant wheat product, as well as further platform development and research into drought tolerance and nitrogen-use efficiency.
OlsAro develops cereal varieties designed to maintain performance under environmental stresses such as soil salinity, heat and drought. Its SeedAX platform combines proprietary genetics and data with AI-driven trait discovery and genetic technologies to identify and validate useful traits, which can then be incorporated into elite crop varieties for commercial seed programmes.
The company’s initial focus is wheat, with a particular emphasis on salt tolerance. According to OlsAro, its salt-resilient wheat has achieved up to 41% higher yields than a moderately salt-tolerant variety under saline conditions in Bangladesh. The variety is currently undergoing field trials in several international markets.
Soil salinity is a significant agricultural challenge, affecting around a tenth of the world’s cropland, while rising temperatures and drought are adding pressure to cereal production. Developing crops that can better withstand these conditions could help farmers maintain yields in increasingly challenging growing environments.
Elén Faxö, CEO, OlsAro said: “We have spent years proving that we can identify and develop genetics that perform under some of the conditions putting the greatest pressure on agriculture. This round is about turning that capability into a platform seed companies can use repeatedly. By expanding SeedAX across more traits and markets, we can help our partners bring climate-resilient cereals to farmers faster and at much greater scale.”
The €5 million round follows OlsAro’s €2.5 million pre-seed financing in April 2024, bringing the company’s total funding to approximately €7.5 million.
Sara Frykstrand Ångström, Investment Manager and Head of Intelligence, Industrifonden said: “What convinced us about OlsAro was the scientific work behind the company, together with its field-trial results and existing seed-company partnerships. With SeedAX, OlsAro has the opportunity to turn this into a scalable platform for seed companies looking to develop climate-resilient varieties across multiple traits and markets.”
The new capital will support international field trials and commercial activities with seed-company partners as OlsAro prepares to bring its first product to market. The company will also invest in further development of SeedAX, AI-driven trait discovery and the expansion of its intellectual property portfolio.
Beyond salinity and heat tolerance, OlsAro plans to develop new programmes targeting drought tolerance and nitrogen-use efficiency. It also intends to expand its work into other cereal crops, including rice.
The company’s strategy is to make its technology available to seed companies that can incorporate climate-resilient traits into commercial varieties, potentially helping those companies develop and deliver improved seeds to farmers across different markets.
Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/olsaro-raises-e5m-seed/
