Solasta bio

Green insecticides with a reason to Bee 🐝

Meet Solasta Bio, a Scotland-based bioinsecticides with a unique proposition: insect control products that are nature-inspired. In other words, it kills the insect pest and does not affect bees, other insects, or animals. 

One of the biggest challenges of today

Protecting crop yields while preserving the environment is one of the biggest challenges of today. Conventional approaches are damaging our ecosystems and failing to deliver safe effective food production. In fact, the global insecticides market is currently dominated by synthetic chemicals accounting for 94% of insect control solutions. While 75% of food crops are dependent on pollinator insects, other insects cause enormous social, health and economic damage that accounts for at least $70 billion in US crop losses alone.

The next generation of green insecticides

This is where Solasta Bio comes in. Solasta Bio is bringing to market the next generation of green insecticides. The Solasta Bio’s technology enables farmers to use small protein-based crop protection that is both effective and specific. It effectively targets insect pests while preserving beneficial pollinators, such as bees, in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. The company’s innovative solution can be used to target a wide spectrum of pests, including those with resistance to synthetic chemistries, The combination of high effectivity and specificity is a huge white spot in the current market offering. 

Go to market in 2027

Solasta Bio was co-founded by scientist and entrepreneur Professor Shireen Davies and insect biology and functional genomics Professor Julian Dow. Together with their team the management is dedicated to take the trials of its biopesticides out of the laboratory and into real-world settings. The company aims to bring its first biopesticides to market in 2027, around half the time traditionally taken by synthetic pest control products.

Professor Shireen Davies, CEO Solasta Bio: “The global market for insecticides has been under intense scrutiny for many years now, with growing demands on food production requiring greater levels of crop protection, counterbalanced by heightened concerns for the environment. Through our proprietary technology platform, we have developed a world-leading solution which represents a profound change for how insect control agents are discovered, and a step-change in how we not only protect our crops worldwide but also our ecosystem. This seed funding now allows us to accelerate our R&D plans and move towards Seed+/Series A in 2023.”

Why we invested

“Solasta Bio translated deep insect physiology knowledge to pest control that has no collateral damage to pollinators or other animals. Moreover, it leaves no chemical residues in nature. This is a huge white spot in the current market offering. As we deem the loss of biodiversity as urgent as climate change, this company is right in the sweet spot of what we want to invest in.”

Tijl Hoefnagels, Venture Partner at Rubio