Pivot Bio

Pivot Bio develops microbial nitrogen products for row crops. Its gene-edited microbes, sold under names including PROVEN for corn, RETURN for wheat, CERT-N for cotton and RETAIN for sorghum, live on the plant root and convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, letting farmers replace part of their synthetic fertilizer. The company dates its founding to 2011 and was started by Karsten Temme and Alvin Tamsir, who served as chief executive and chief scientific officer. It was long based in Berkeley, California; a 2025 company release lists Minneapolis, Minnesota as headquarters, with Chris Abbott as CEO.

SEC Form D filings show early equity sales of $749,998 in October 2014 and $8.1 million in January 2016. Breakthrough Energy Ventures led a $70 million Series B announced in October 2018, with Temasek participating. In April 2020 Pivot Bio raised a $100 million Series C led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Temasek, joined by DCVC, Prelude Ventures, Spruce Capital Partners, Codon Capital, Bunge Ventures, Continental Grain Company, Tekfen Ventures and Pavilion Capital, bringing total funding to $186 million. In July 2021 DCVC and Temasek led a $430 million Series D with Generation Investment Management, G2 Venture Partners, Rockefeller Capital Management, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Continental Grain, Prelude Ventures, Pavilion Capital, Bunge Ventures and Tekfen Ventures; the company said total equity raised exceeded $600 million. A Form D reports $434.5 million sold in that offering.

Pivot Bio is private and has not disclosed a valuation. The company reported that its products were used on more than 1 million acres in 2021, more than 3 million acres in 2022, and more than 14 million acres cumulatively according to its media materials, which also state that fiscal 2023 revenue surpassed $100 million. It says its microbes have replaced over 80,000 metric tons of synthetic nitrogen since 2022.

Pivot Bio is an example of climate and agriculture investors carrying a synthetic biology company from lab to commercial scale. Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Temasek entered by 2018 and stayed through later rounds, DCVC moved from participant to co lead, and agribusiness strategics such as Bunge Ventures and Continental Grain joined as distribution partners. With more than $600 million of equity and no exit after about fifteen years, its backers hold long dated, illiquid positions whose value depends on continued adoption by farmers.