Crop Enhancement Presents at the AGRI Tech Venture Forum
by Kevin Chen

Crop Enhancement was selected to present as a showcase company at the recent AGRI Tech Venture Forum. Held each year in Toronto, this event is among the calendar highlights of any agtech company looking to connect with customers, partners, and investors.

The conference website nicely summarizes the need for this event: “New ventures and high-growth companies require more than just financial capital to succeed in the dynamic global market. Innovation, partnerships, ingenuity, and experience are just a few of the ingredients for an agtech success story.” That’s certainly been my experience.

Crop Enhancement was selected from among many companies that submitted an application, making it to the final 11 that presented to an audience of 125 investors and industry experts. We were the only company selected to represent the sustainable crop protection segment. Other companies presented technologies from manure treatment to crop threat analysis to pesticide use analysis and even precision beekeeping technology. There is seemingly no end to the innovation and ingenuity that is driving the agtech sector.

At the event, we were able to highlight the progress we’ve made on many fronts over the last 18 months. For example, compared to last year when I presented at similar conferences, Crop Enhancement is now significantly closer to commercialization. This year, we’re in a position to report on our field trials with cacao which are proving that our CropCoat® product boosts yields by double digits while permitting reduced or no toxic pesticide use at all. At the same time, we’ve made great progress in terms of product registrations in our target markets and we’re investing in our commercial infrastructure.

It being a primarily North American audience, investors I spoke with at the forum were very interested in our efforts in domestic markets. To that end, we’re working with growers and partners focused on high-value specialty crops such as fruit,

berries, and even coffee. These were just some of the many insightful questions we fielded from an audience of ag-focused investors and experts who attended.

If you’re an agtech company looking to engage with investors and potential partners, I highly recommend this forum. Thank you to Aryn Guthrie and the AGRI Tech Venture Forum organizers for the invitation to present.

 

Following Positive Agricultural Field Trials, Crop Enhancement Expands Go-To-Market Team

 

Rodrigo Bermudez to Spearhead Global Business Development, Nandang Holil to Lead Commercialization in Indonesia

 

SAN JOSE, Calif.—May 1, 2018: Crop Enhancement Inc., an innovator of sustainable agrochemicals for enhancing crop yields, has strengthened its go-to-market team with the appointment of two experienced agricultural business development executives. Rodrigo Bermudez joins as vice president, global business development, and Nandang Holil joins as Indonesia country director. Crop Enhancement is gearing up for commercialization of its non-toxic crop protection technology, CropCoat®, following successful field trials with cacao growers in Indonesia. Field testing with coffee growers is also underway in Central and South America, and the program is being expanded to other high-value specialty crops including tree fruit, vegetables, and berries in the United States.

Mr. Bermudez brings to Crop Enhancement 25 years’ experience in agribusiness, including senior management and operations roles with Munger Farms (chief operations officer for blueberries), Harry & David (director of orchards), and Apio (director of procurement for fresh salads). Prior to returning to the US, Mr. Bermudez ran his own company in Mexico for a decade providing specialized business development and technical marketing services to globally recognized agriculture-related enterprises helping them to successfully penetrate the Latin American agribusiness markets involving production, post-harvest technologies, and new crop inputs.

“As a grower myself, catering to brands that have set high standards for quality and sustainability, I am eager to introduce growers and channel partners in key markets around the world to the CropCoat product,” said Rodrigo Bermudez, vice president of global business development for Crop Enhancement. “We can equip growers with a highly effective crop protection solution that boosts yields and makes the lives of field workers safer by eliminating toxic chemicals.”

Crop Enhancement’s CropCoat product is highly effective for boosting cacao yields

The company’s momentum in Indonesia is growing as successful results from its cacao field trials have shown double-digit yield improvements above today’s toxic pesticide regimen. Cacao, the purest form of chocolate and the highest source of antioxidants of all food, is among the top four crops produced in Indonesia, which is the third-largest producer of cacao worldwide.

Nandang Holil, who will spearhead Crop Enhancement’s go-to-market strategy and partnerships in Indonesia, brings to Crop Enhancement 35 years’ experience in the agrochemical industry in the ASEAN region, particularly in Indonesia. Mr. Holil recently completed a 17-year career at DuPont, culminating in his dual roles as business manager of DuPont Crop Protection Indonesia, and director of PT. DuPont Agricultural Products Indonesia. During this time, he simultaneously led CropLife Indonesia as its chairman for nine years, driving general industry and governmental efforts related to crop protection initiatives. Prior to DuPont, Mr. Holil held marketing, product development, regulatory, and agronomic roles in Indonesia at Rohm & Haas, ICI/Zeneca, and Uniroyal. He is an active member of the Indonesian Entomology Society.

“Crop Enhancement offers game-changing technology for growers in Indonesia that delivers life-changing benefits,” said Nandang Holil, Indonesia country director for Crop Enhancement. “Indonesian cacao growers are very excited about using CropCoat to boost crop yields. I’m eager to see this advanced technology adopted broadly so that growers here can better compete on the global stage for the attention of leading food manufacturers.”

Crop Enhancement has also significantly expanded its operations over the past 12 months, with the appointment of new technical team members, the formation of an expert advisory board, and the relocation of its HQ to Silicon Valley.

“We’re extremely encouraged by the results of our cacao trials, where we see an excellent product-market fit. This validation of Crop Enhancement’s technology has already resulted in field trials placed on other high-value crops in geographies across the globe,” said Kevin Chen, Ph.D., CEO of Crop Enhancement. “The expansion of our business team with the addition of Rodrigo and Nandang enables us to deepen existing relationships and forge new ones in North, Central, and South America, Asia, and Africa.”

Crop Enhancement’s products target crops worth over $100 billion annually across regions that include North America, Southeast Asia, Greater China, Latin America, and Africa. The company has developed proprietary films and formulations that modify plant surfaces (leaves, stems, fruit, and seeds) to improve their resistance to pests and diseases while reducing the need for harmful pesticides. Crop Enhancement’s formulations can also be applied with agricultural inputs like nutrients, fertilizers and other active ingredients, giving farmers the tools they need to reduce costs and increase yields.

Where to learn more about Crop Enhancement

 

About Crop Enhancement

Crop Enhancement is a venture-backed agriculture technology corporation based in San Jose, California. Founded by renowned materials scientist and serial entrepreneur Dr. David Soane, Crop Enhancement is developing sustainable agrochemical formulations that employ advanced and environmentally friendly chemistry to improve crop yields, eliminate or minimize toxic pesticide use, and enable precise and effective delivery of active ingredients and fertilizers. Visit us at www.crop-enhancement.com.

 

Media contact:

Tim Cox, ZingPR, tim@zingpr.com, 650-369-7784

 

[dt_highlight color=”” text_color=”” bg_color=””]by Kevin Chen[/dt_highlight]

 

2017 was a pivotal year for Crop Enhancement, and we exited the year well positioned for 2018. During the course of the year, we focused our efforts on three initiatives: strengthening the company structurally; product and field development; and market education. In this blog, I’ll take you through the highlights and tee up the year ahead.

 

Corporate initiatives

On the staffing front, 2017 was an important year for Crop Enhancement. We were pleased to welcome Damian Hajduk as VP of R&D, with Eric Flora joining as global field development manager. We hired our first entomologist, Kavita Sharma, who quickly established a new biology lab for mode-of-action studies.

We also announced the formation of a distinguished board of advisors consisting of agribusiness industry veterans Marcus Meadows-Smith, Mark Phillipson, and Mary Shelman — talented individuals who actively contribute market insights, strategy recommendations, and valuable connections.

We moved our operations to the heart of Silicon Valley, occupying a newly renovated multipurpose lab and office space conveniently situated 1 mile from San Jose International airport and blocks away from public transportation. The entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley is no more apparent than seeing how an agriculture technology company such as Crop Enhancement can be just a block away from an internet pioneer such as PayPal.

This location perfectly suits Crop Enhancement’s creative culture and enables us to maximize our operational efficiency, reduce overhead costs, be closer to our customers and partners, and access industry talent. As part of the move from Cambridge, MA, to San Jose, we expanded our local team with experienced and entrepreneurial individuals for our formulation (Anne Xie and Gina Leung), CFO (Steve Terry), general counsel (Archana Ojha), and senior accountant (Kathryn Lorenzo) roles.  We sadly said farewell to our team members who remained in Cambridge, and thank them for their contributions and friendship: Bob Mahoney, Rosa Casado, Matt Bosley, Rodrigo Telles, and Kavita Sharma.

Amid these personnel and geographic changes, we were happy to begin a banking relationship with Silicon Valley Bank, which has provided Crop Enhancement with a $2M venture debt line. With this additional financing, we will be able to achieve more value creation milestones.

 

Product and field development

Throughout 2017, our product development team made important improvements to the CropCoat® formulation, including advances to the concentrated formulation itself, how it is applied, and how the product coats plant tissues. We also explored formulations that combine CropCoat with various active ingredients, including biologicals, to evaluate crop protection benefits. We continue to make progress on these efforts. We launched a product registration process in a key international geography to enable commercialization of CropCoat.

In terms of field development, we established a robust research bioassay and field trial program with partners that include contract research organizations (CROs), universities, and corporate partners to evaluate CropCoat performance. Our crop targets include cacao, coffee, and tree fruits across multiple geographies. We are also testing the response of a variety of pests and pathogens to the CropCoat product. I am also pleased to report that our Tunable Release Vehicle (TRV) technology is attracting interest from manufacturers of active ingredients and fertilizers seeking to improve the performance of their chemistries.

 

Market education initiatives

As a new entrant into the integrated pest management (IPM) sector, we are focused on introducing growers and farmers to our planet-friendly approach. To that end, we worked closely with several influential publications to raise awareness of the applications CropCoat has in different sectors. As a result of these initiatives, we were fortunate to place articles and CEO interviews with AgroPages, Food Processing, Fresh Cup, and the TerraTech podcast. More of these educational pieces are planned for 2018.

The Crop Enhancement team was also highly visible at industry events where we were lucky enough to be invited to speak on various topics:

We were also delighted to win the pitch competition for new materials startups at Plug and Play Tech Accelerator’s 2017 Summer Summit. And you should also check out our new corporate video:

 

2018 will be an even bigger year for Crop Enhancement!

Building on the strong foundation we laid last year, in 2018 we’ll expand our field development efforts, advance our CropCoat and TRV platforms, and kick off market development initiatives. We’re already off to a fast start with two formulation scientists (Neal Ryan and Yeon Choi) and a staff entomologist (Matheus Ribeiro) joining the team in just the last week. We are actively interviewing talented candidates to fill additional job opportunities, including one for business development.

We are also very pleased to welcome Dr. Jerry Hjelle to our board of advisors. A former technology executive at agrochemical leader Monsanto, Jerry brings extensive experience in worldwide regulatory strategy and product development strategy.

 

Connect with us this year

We’re eager to hear from potential customers and partners. Growers of high-value crops tell us that they are eagerly looking for solutions that reduce insecticide and fungicide use, save them labor costs and application time, and improve their sustainability profiles. We are taking their input to heart and looking forward to a productive and exciting year ahead. Contact us if you’d like to learn how Crop Enhancement can help you.