Vive Crop Protection closes funding round, accelerating its precision chemistry platform

Canada's Vive Crop Protection has announced the closing of its US$26 million Series C investment round. The round was led by Emmertech with participation from the Cibus funds, and existing investors Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Export Development Canada (EDC), and Urbana Corporation. Vive has also secured debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) to provide both working and growth capital in support of its continued expansion.

Vive will have a second close in the next quarter to accommodate top-tier investor groups still completing diligence – all strategically focused on next-generation agriculture technology.  

Vive will leverage its newest funding to accelerate the commercial deployment of its next-generation product portfolio into new North American markets while advancing its research and development pipeline.

"The investment by Emmertech, the Cibus funds, and existing investors, and the debt financing provided by Silicon Valley Bank underscores our success in delivering innovative solutions to farmers," commented Darren Anderson, CEO of Vive Crop Protection. "We're extremely excited about how these new relationships will propel our business to the next level, including into global markets."

Vive's proprietary Allosperse technology is a nanoscale, polymer-based delivery system that improves the targeting and performance of both synthetic and biological active ingredients, enhancing farmers ROI and sustainability profile.

"Since 2018, our products are estimated to have saved farmers 34 million gallons of water, 189,000 gallons of fuel, and 15,000 hours of farm labor," added Anderson. "In addition, feedback from our annual customer satisfaction survey has been overwhelmingly positive with 97% of respondents indicating their desire to re-use Vive products."

In the past 18 months, Vive has experienced rapid growth which is evident in new product registrations, and increases in customer base, employment roster, and revenue - which has more than doubled from sales of its seven EPA-registered products.

Following Vive's 2021 US launch of AZterknot fungicide, sales opportunities in new crop segments have been significant. Registered across a broad spectrum of crops, AZterknot demonstrates Vive's ability to more effectively deliver both biologicals and synthetic active ingredients in a single jug.

In its first full marketing season of 2022, AZterknot sales exceeded expectation with product use on more than 50,000 US acres. "AZterknot showcases our ability to deliver biologicals with proven chemistry," explained Anderson. "As the demand for biologicals increases, Allosperse will be an important technology for bringing more bio-based offerings to market."