Robigo and Leaps by Bayer Announce Series A Financing to Advance Engineered Biologicals That Protect Yields and Reduce Costs

Robigo’s engineered microbes for combatting Sudden Death Syndrome in soybeans match the performance of commercially available chemistries at half the cost, targeting launch in 2028 / The second product in development, targeting the #1 fungal disease in lettuce and berries, increased yields by 3x compared to untreated control samples, targeting launch in 2029 / Robigo's ARGO™ platform cuts new product development from an industry standard of three to five years to under 20 months, proving a scalable engine behind the initial products

Cambridge, Mass., September 17, 2026 – Robigo, a biotechnology company engineering no-compromise biological solutions for crop protection, today announced a Series A funding led by Leaps by Bayer with participation from Illumina Ventures, SVG Thrive, Congruent Ventures, and Endeavor8. The round will accelerate the commercial launch of engineered microbial biopesticides combatting fungal diseases in soybeans and specialty crops in the United States, making these biologicals economically viable without sacrificing performance. The round will also support Robigo’s pipeline expansion to target additional soil-borne pathogens in broadacre crops, tapping into an addressable market of $10 billion.

Biologicals, which have long been hailed as the next frontier in agriculture, add another tool to expand the farmer’s arsenal of technologies for targeted pest and disease control. The economic toll of crop disease is staggering, and new solutions to combat this are needed. Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) in soybeans alone causes an estimated $200–$500 million in annual losses for U.S. soybean farmers, and effective chemistries are costly and limited. Meanwhile, fusarium wilt is currently the #1 disease problem for lettuce and berry growers, making Robigo’s solution an excellent addition to their crop protection toolbox.

Robigo's solutions to address crop diseases are rooted in a fundamentally new approach that leverages synthetic biology to precisely engineer the genetics of living microbes, giving them the traits needed to consistently control pests and disease. The company’s ARGO™ platform delivers rapid programmability with computationally designed active ingredients, enabling novel modes of action that silence the pathogen’s essential genes. The platform delivers unparalleled speed, shortening development from computational design through microbe engineering, lead validation, and field testing to under 20 months, compared with an industry norm of three to five years.

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