Sep 18, 2018

Indigo Ag raises $250 million at $3.5 billion valuation

Dan Primack

Dollar sign growing out of a plant — Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios

Indigo Ag, a Boston-based developer of crop yield improvement solutions, raised $250 million in Series E funding at what Axios has learned is a $3.5 billion post-money valuation. Return backers include Ballie Gifford, Investment Corp. of Dubai, the Alaska Permanent Fund and Flagship Pioneering.

Why it matters: The company is using microbes to fight hunger, and is also seeking to upend the entire grains industry with an online marketplace that allows for buy-side quality specifications and identity preservation.

The bottom line: Indigo's seed coatings are now on around 1 million acres of US farmland, representing thousands of farmers and seven major crops, and around $6 billion worth of inventory has been put into the marketplace since its June launch.

Go deeper: I first wrote about Indigo two years ago, after visiting the converted milk bottling plant it calls home.

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Indigo Ag raises $250 million at $3.5 billion valuation

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