Concert Bio is building a system to monitor and eventually manipulate the microbial ecosystem inside hydroponic systems to prevent catastrophic disease outbreaks. The team is collecting microbe samples from hydroponic greenhouses across the U.K. and the Netherlands and sequencing genomes to map microbes in healthy systems. Once they understand healthy microbiomes, Concert Bio plans to sell probiotics (initially on a per-kilogram pricing model) and then offer a subscription service for continuous monitoring and optimization. The company says sequencing efforts funded by the seed round should be able to break even within six to 12 months. Founder and CEO Paul Rutten, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford, positions hydroponics as a simpler, more tractable microbiome problem than soil or human systems. After establishing the hydroponics business, Concert Bio plans to investigate applying the same techniques to on-land aquaculture.

Total raised

$2M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Aug 2022