Startup accelerator CNT Tech (CEO Jeon Hwa-seong) announced on the 15th that it has made a Pre-A round investment in Robus Co., Ltd. (CEO Park Chang-jun), which operates a global agricultural intellectual property (IP) trading platform.
In addition to CNT Tech, this investment round was jointly participated by the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, KB Securities, BDC Accelerator, Andis Partners, and Antler Korea, and was concluded with a total of 2 billion won. The investment was made through the 'KDB Next One-CNT Tech-BDC Startup Investment Association', a fund established this year with investments from the Korea Development Bank, CNT Tech, and BDC Accelerator.
Founded in 2023, Rovers is entering the global seed IP trading market based on its own AI solution, 'Genix', which digitalizes the process of seed and variety IP registration, distribution, contracts, and settlement. It currently has data on over 410,000 varieties, and differentiates itself by being able to recommend and support the development of varieties optimized for cultivation regions, climate, and soil conditions through digital breeding services utilizing this.
Following the domestic distribution of the Italian ancient grain 'Farro', Robus is promoting the export business of the domestic indigenous variety 'Hyangmi' to the US. Sales in the first half of 2024 are growing rapidly, increasing more than 30 times compared to the same period last year.
“As crop cultivation conditions are rapidly changing due to climate change, the demand for global IP transactions for varieties is continuously increasing,” said CNT Tech CEO Jeon Hwa-seong. “Rovers is a company that can dramatically shorten the seed development cycle and lead a paradigm shift in the global seed industry through digital breeding technology that utilizes accumulated variety data.”
- See more related articles
You must be logged in to post a comment.