Wild Bioscience Acquires F1 Seed to Build a Next-Generation UK Seed Company

With this acquisition, Wild Bio has become a fully integrated UK seed company. It can now handle the entire process of developing, breeding, and bringing improved seed varieties to farmers.

The acquisition follows Wild Bio's €51 million Series A funding round, which was raised to expand its research and commercial operations. The company has now raised a total of €65.8 million ($75 million) from investors, including The Ellison Institute of Technology, Oxford Science Enterprises, Braavos Capital, and the University of Oxford.

Dr. Ross Hendron, co-founder and CEO of Wild Bio, said, “Wheat is Britain’s biggest crop and feeds a fifth of humanity. But on a changing planet, growing it is only getting harder. That’s the challenge we exist to meet. As a new independent seed business that brings breeding and gene editing together, we can focus on the traits that growers genuinely need and design towards them with precision. Bill and his team have built something remarkable; pairing their strengths with our evolutionary platform gives us the full stack of capabilities we need to develop the varieties that will bend the yield curve upwards again.”

“This is the most exciting news for wheat growers since Cambridge University established the Plant Breeding Institute in 1912. That organisation established the blueprint for integrating new traits into cereals. Now over a century later, armed with an array of novel traits, we are well placed to move wheat breeding into a new and exciting era. Deploying traits has been the lifeblood of wheat breeding – now we have the opportunity to accelerate this in UK germplasm,” said Angus.

Dr. Stuart Harrison, Chief Business Officer at Wild Bio, said, “By acquiring F1 Seed, Wild Bioscience evolves from a trait discovery and licensing business to a full seed company. This gives Wild Bioscience all the capabilities of a larger seed company with the agility of a start-up, which is extremely rare in the seed industry and a clear differentiator from the incumbents. The UK is a perfect starting point as stagnating wheat yields and challenging agronomic conditions are the perfect target for the Wild Bioscience platform.”

About Wild Bio

Founded in 2021 by Dr Hendron and Steve Kelly, Wild Bio is a plant science startup created from the University of Oxford. The company develops stronger and more resilient crops to help improve food production and support future food security.

The startup uses evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence (AI), and gene editing to create better crop traits. Its goal is to help farmers grow higher-yield crops while reducing the environmental impact of farming.

About F1 Seed

Founded in 2014 by Bill Angus, F1 Seed was created to increase the genetic diversity of crops and help protect farmers from large-scale crop failures caused by diseases, pests, or changing weather conditions.

Wild Bio is developing new crop traits and breeding improved seed varieties in the UK for local farmers. The company operates as an independent business focused on supporting UK agriculture.

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