Pluton Biosciences raises $6.6 million in seed round funding

St. Louis-based startup Pluton Biosciences recently announced the closing of its Seed Round, raising a total of $6.61 million in new investments.

“With this new round of capital, we’ll be able to build Pluton’s value as an innovative force, providing solutions to the climate and agriculture challenges of our time. Credit goes to the leadership and science team who generated the results to make this all possible,” said Pluton Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Barry Goldman.

Founded in 2017, Pluton Biosciences is a natural product development company dedicated to discovering new microbes that drive environmental sustainability practices worldwide. Pluton’s current product efforts focus on agriculture, using microbes to fight climate change and replacing synthetic chemical applications with eco-friendly microbial products. Pluton uses its Micromining® Innovation Engine, a high-throughput microbial discovery platform, to identify and isolate novel organisms within months to dramatically improve R&D throughput for agtech companies. 

Pluton is currently collaborating with global life sciences company Bayer AG to investigate the development of an all-natural, microbe-based carbon-capture soil amendment for growers by identifying and developing microbes found in soil that can store carbon and nitrogen. Pluton’s proof-of-concept research predicts that the right grouping of microbes, applied in a spray at planting and harvest, can scrub nearly two tons of carbon from the air per acre of farmland per year, while replenishing nutrients in the soil.

Pluton received support from multiple angel and institutional investors, which include Greenwich, CT-based First In Ventures (www.firstinventures.com), St. Louis-based The Yield Lab Institute (www.theyieldlabsinstitute.org), and Wing Venture Capital (www.wing.vc).

Pluton’s lead investor is Better Ventures of Oakland, CA (www.better.vc).Two other key partners include Boston, MA-based The Grantham Foundation (www.granthamfoundation.org) via its environmental capital vehicle, Neglected Climate Opportunities (NCO), LLC.; and San Mateo, CA-based Fall Line Capital (www.fall-line-capital.com).

“These investors are highly knowledgeable and will actively help guide Pluton in the most productive directions. It is very exciting to have all of these impressive groups joining our Seed Round,” said Goldman. “The investments in our company are a validation of our research efforts and accomplishments to date to solve global problems such as pollution, climate change, disease, and crop infestation. Their investment in us is an investment in a better, more sustainable world for everyone.”