Tropic, a Norwich-based AgTech startup specialising in gene‑edited tropical crops, has announced the close of its oversubscribed €91.3 million ($105 million) Series C financing to accelerate the global scale-up of its banana and rice portfolios and advance its climate-resilient crop pipeline.
The round was co-led by Forbion through its Bioeconomy Fund and Corteva via its Corteva Catalyst investment platform, with significant participation from Just Climate and IQ Capital. The round also received support from new investors ABN Amro and Invest International, along with existing investors Temasek, Five Seasons Ventures, Sucden Ventures, Genoa Ventures, and Polaris Partners, who participated in the round.
As part of the financing, Joy Faucher, General Partner at Forbion, Tom Greene, Senior Director at Corteva, and Siddarth Shrikanth, Director at Just Climate, will join Tropic’s Board of Directors. Gustavo Bassetti, Rob Scott, Onno van de Stolpe, and Alex Wilson will join as Board observers.
Gilad Gershon, CEO of Tropic, said, “This funding is a powerful endorsement of our team’s ability to bring breakthrough products to the hands of growers, exporters and consumers around the world. We are entering a new era, one where gene‑edited crops will significantly enhance food security and sustainability.
“2025 proved that our technology delivers – not in the distant future, but right now. With two banana varieties already on the market and demand outstripping supply, this investment enables us to scale global production and expand into new crops faster than ever before. We are excited to be partnering with our new investors as we progress our mission to build a world leading tropical seeds company.”
Founded in late 2016 by Eyal Maori and Gilad Gershon, Tropic is a tropical seeds company dedicated to the development of healthier, more robust, high-performing varieties of tropical crops.
It utilises its proprietary GEiGS® platform and other gene editing technologies, such as CRISPR gene editing, to develop improved crops with increased disease resistance, higher yields, and environmentally sustainable traits. The company’s current core crop portfolio focuses on banana and rice.
Tropic developed GEiGS® to aid its internal product development efforts, such as generating banana varieties resistant to Panama Disease, a destructive fungal threat impacting global production.
GEiGS® marries elements of gene editing with gene silencing, a naturally occurring mechanism that promotes defence against diseases and regulation of genes.
“The GEiGS® platform combines the benefits of both gene editing and RNA interference (RNAi) to enable the development of non-transgenic yet hereditary gene silencing applications. In this platform, instead of editing coding genes, we make minimal edits to specific non-coding genes of a host organism using available molecular tools (e.g. CRISPR, TALENs) so that the natural gene silencing machinery of the host is redirected towards selected targets,” explained Tropic.
These new gene targets may include endogenous genes that are silenced, such as in crop improvement efforts, or exogenous genes from pathogens or pests that are targeted for disease and pest resistance.
According to the company, the financing follows a milestone year in which Tropic launched the first new commercial banana varieties in more than 75 years. These include a non-browning banana, recognised as one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2025, and an extended shelf life variety that lengthens green life by an additional 12 days, increasing field yields, enabling new export routes and reducing transportation waste by up to 50%.
Additionally, Tropic reports significant progress in its Panama Disease (TR4) resistance program in 2025, with plants shipped to establish a mother plantation, enabling commercial deployment starting in 2027.
With the fresh funding, the company plans to expand large‑scale plant production capabilities, strengthen global supply chains, and support commercial partnerships across major export markets.
The funding will also accelerate Tropic’s development of banana varieties with natural resistance to devastating diseases like TR4 and Black Sigatoka. It will enable expansion across its rice portfolio and support entry into other high-impact crops to address global food supply challenges.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/03/uk-agtech-startup-tropic-secures-e91-3-million-to-bring-gene-edited-bananas-and-climate-resilient-crops-to-market/
