Paris-based biotechnology startup Amatera has raised €6 million in seed funding to advance its technology for developing climate-resilient crops.
The round was co-led by Demea Sustainable Investment and Oyster Bay Venture Capital, with participation from existing investors PINC, Mudcake, and Exceptional Ventures.
Accelerating Crop Development With Cellular Analysis
Founded in 2022, Amatera focuses on improving plant breeding through a technology platform that combines plant cell biology, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
Traditional breeding programs often require years of experimentation and manual screening to identify new plant varieties with desirable traits. Amatera’s platform aims to streamline this process by analyzing plant characteristics at the cellular level.
By automating the identification of promising genetic traits, the system can significantly accelerate breeding cycles while lowering development costs. According to the company, the approach can make crop development up to twice as fast and substantially more cost-efficient than traditional methods.
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Initial Focus On Coffee And Wine Grapes
The startup initially applied its technology to perennial crops such as coffee and wine grapes, two sectors particularly vulnerable to climate change.
The company is developing climate-resilient coffee varieties that can better withstand rising temperatures and increased disease pressure while maintaining high-quality flavor profiles. It is also working on wine grape varieties designed to resist vineyard diseases and reduce reliance on chemical treatments.
By identifying natural cellular variation early in the breeding process, Amatera enables the development of non-GMO plant varieties with improved resilience.
Expanding Into Major Food Crops
With the new funding, Amatera plans to expand its platform beyond coffee and wine grapes into annual crops, including vegetables and staple row crops.
The investment will support the expansion of the company’s engineering and scientific teams and further development of its automated genetics platform.
Amatera is also forming partnerships with seed companies and agrifood organizations to integrate its technology into commercial breeding programs. These collaborations aim to shorten research timelines and increase breeding capacity by automating labor-intensive processes such as tissue culture, plant regeneration, and trait screening.
Supporting Agriculture In A Changing Climate
As climate change continues to impact global agriculture, the demand for crop varieties that can tolerate new environmental conditions is growing rapidly.
Amatera’s platform is designed to help breeders develop resilient plant varieties faster and more efficiently, supporting long-term agricultural productivity and food security.
About Amatera
Amatera Biosciences is a Paris-based biotechnology company developing technologies to help agriculture adapt to climate change. By combining plant cell biology, robotics, and artificial intelligence, the company accelerates the discovery and development of resilient non-GMO crop varieties while reducing breeding timelines and costs.
