A significant investment of €91.3 million has been secured by the Norwich-based AgTech startup Tropic through an oversubscribed Series C funding round. This capital infusion aims to accelerate the rollout of the company’s innovative gene-edited tropical crop portfolio, targeting critical food security issues worldwide. The financing was co-led by Forbion via its Bioeconomy Fund and Corteva through its Corteva Catalyst investment platform. Additional participation came from Just Climate, IQ Capital, and new investors ABN Amro and Invest International. Existing backers, including Temasek, Five Seasons Ventures, Sucden Ventures, Genoa Ventures, and Polaris Partners, also contributed to the round.
As part of this funding arrangement, key individuals from the investing firms—Joy Faucher of Forbion, Tom Greene of Corteva, and Siddarth Shrikanth of Just Climate—will join Tropic’s board. Meanwhile, industry veterans Gustavo Bassetti, Rob Scott, Onno van de Stolpe, and Alex Wilson will serve as board observers.
Innovating Tropical Agriculture
Founded in 2016 by Eyal Maori and Gilad Gershon, Tropic focuses on creating healthier and more resilient varieties of tropical crops. The company specializes in vital crops that are integral to global diets but are susceptible to diseases, climate stress, and supply chain disruptions. Currently, Tropic’s research centers on bananas and rice, both of which are staple foods consumed globally. The goal is to enhance these crops’ resilience and productivity, ultimately stabilizing supply chains and minimizing losses between farms and markets.
At the core of Tropic’s strategy lies its proprietary GEiGS® platform, which merges gene editing with gene silencing. This innovative technology enables scientists to alter specific genetic targets in crops to boost disease resistance, increase yields, and enhance environmental sustainability. Tropic has successfully developed banana varieties capable of withstanding Panama Disease, a devastating fungal infection that threatens banana production globally. This technology allows the plants to engage their natural defense mechanisms while maintaining high productivity levels.
Breakthroughs in Banana Production
The recent funding follows a period of significant milestones for Tropic. In 2025, the company launched the first new commercial banana varieties in over 75 years, marking a pivotal moment for the global fruit industry. Among these innovations is a non-browning banana, recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2025. This particular variety is designed to preserve its appearance and freshness after being cut. Another new variety extends the fruit’s shelf life by an additional 12 days, significantly enhancing field yields, opening new export routes, and reducing transportation waste by up to 50%.
Additionally, Tropic has progressed its Panama Disease TR4 resistance program, establishing a mother plantation to support commercial deployment anticipated in 2027.
The latest investment will enable Tropic to scale up large-scale plant production, fortify supply chains, and deepen commercial partnerships in major banana export markets. The funding will also facilitate the development of banana varieties that resist TR4 and Black Sigatoka, two diseases posing threats to global banana supplies.
Beyond bananas, Tropic plans to enhance its rice program and explore additional crops aimed at bolstering food security. With climate pressures mounting and global demand for staple crops on the rise, this funding reflects increasing investor confidence in agricultural technologies designed to secure the future of food production.
Gilad Gershon, CEO of Tropic, expressed enthusiasm regarding the investment, stating, “This funding is a powerful endorsement of our team’s ability to bring breakthrough products to the hands of growers, exporters, and consumers around the world. We are entering a new era, one where gene-edited crops will significantly enhance food security and sustainability. 2025 proved that our technology delivers—not in the distant future, but right now.”
He further elaborated on the GEiGS® platform: “The GEiGS® platform combines the benefits of both gene editing and RNA interference (RNAi) to enable the development of non-transgenic yet hereditary gene silencing applications. In this platform, instead of editing coding genes, we make minimal edits to specific non-coding genes of a host organism using available molecular tools (e.g., CRISPR, TALENs) so that the natural gene silencing machinery of the host is redirected towards selected targets.”
With this new funding, Tropic is poised to play a crucial role in addressing food security challenges on a global scale, paving the way for innovative agricultural solutions.
