Resurrect Bio closes Series A at $10.3M with Corteva leading as AI crop-immunity platform scales

UK-based Resurrect Bio has closed its Series A at $10.3 million, oversubscribed from an initial $8.1 million first close announced in February, bringing the crop disease-resistance startup’s cumulative funding to $12.4 million since its 2023 seed round.

The round was led by Corteva through its Corteva Catalyst investment platform, with participation from Calculus Capital, Pymwymic, Future Planet Capital, SynBioVen, and AgFunder. The final close follows a joint development agreement Corteva and Resurrect Bio announced in March to develop disease-resistance traits in corn — a crop that suffered estimated losses of over 1.2 billion bushels to disease in 2025 alone.

Spun out of The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich in 2021, Resurrect Bio uses a proprietary AI platform called FloraFold to map protein-protein interactions between plant pathogens and NLR immune receptor proteins in crop plants. Pathogens secrete proteins that bind to NLR proteins, suppressing a plant’s immune response. Resurrect identifies precisely where gene edits can sever that binding — often requiring a change of just one amino acid — effectively restoring the plant’s natural defenses against fungal disease, oomycetes, and nematodes without chemical inputs.

“What makes Resurrect Bio unusual is that we can work with any crop, most pathogens, and many pests. The base science is about rapidly discovering the interaction between pathogen and plant and then breaking it,” said Robert Lo Bue, head of operations. The platform is designed to work across multiple crops and pathogens simultaneously; Corteva provides access to elite germplasm and a global field trial network for commercial development.

Funds will support team growth and development of resistance traits in additional commercially important crops beyond corn.

Source: AgFunderNews