Vestaron, which develops next generation crop protection products from peptides – naturally occurring proteins delivering selective, effective biological control of pests for use on fruits, vegetables, nuts and high-value field crops – raised US$92m as part of a Series C fundraising from investors including Grosvenor Food & AgTech.

The funding is accelerating the development of Vestaron’s product pipeline as well as fuelling its expansion from specialty fruit, vegetable and nut crops into broad acre row crops and into new insect pest categories.

Crop protection is a vital part of global agricultural production and is responsible for approximately 40% of yields. Unlike traditional synthetic products, Vestaron’s do not affect bees or other beneficial insects and degrade into amino acids which are harmless to the environment, fish and mammals, helping to reduce pollution.

Vestaron’s products’ industry-leading safety enables farm workers and growers to be able to return to the field to tend to their plants or harvest crops more quickly compared with traditional crop protection treatments.