- Moa Know-how has accomplished a £22.2 million Collection C spherical, co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Supernova Make investments.
- During the last two years, Moa Know-how has signed R&D agreements with 4 main agrochemical firms, together with Corteva Agriscience.
- Dr Virginia Corless, the CEO, beforehand labored in astrophysics and on power coverage for the US Senate.
Earlier than addressing crop-killing weeds, Dr Virginia Corless studied astrophysics. Her profession included clear power coverage for the US Senate and work on a food-energy-water venture within the Sahara desert. This led to her present position as chief govt officer of Moa Technology.
The corporate simply raised £22.2 million to strengthen its place within the often-overlooked market of weed resistance. The Collection C spherical was co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Supernova Make investments.
New buyers included Agri Funding Fund, GrainInnovate for Australia’s Grain Analysis Growth Company, Infinity Funding Companions, and Magdalen Faculty Oxford. Present buyers Lansdowne Companions, Parkwalk, and Oxford College Innovation additionally joined in.
Moa Know-how was based in 2017 by Professor Liam Dolan and Dr Clément Champion as a spin-out from Oxford College’s Plant Sciences Division. Corless grew to become CEO in 2021, bringing expertise from astrophysics, clear power coverage, the Sahara Forest Venture, and Novihum Applied sciences, a German agricultural expertise firm.
Moa is predicated in Oxford, runs a glasshouse analysis facility in North Yorkshire, and has examined over 900,000 compounds because it began.
Why weed resistance is a much bigger difficulty than it appears
Herbicide resistance is changing into a much bigger downside as weeds adapt to present chemical substances quicker than new options may be created. Moa’s expertise has discovered over 80 new methods to struggle weeds, with a number of now of their third yr of worldwide subject trials.
In 2025, the corporate launched Moa Amplifiers, which aren’t herbicides themselves however assist cut back the quantity of conventional herbicide wanted. Farmers can use Amplifiers with their present merchandise to make use of fewer chemical substances whereas nonetheless controlling resistant weeds.
Moa doesn’t compete straight with huge agrochemical firms like Bayer, Corteva, or Syngenta. As a substitute, it licenses its discoveries to those companies, utilizing a mannequin extra like pharmaceutical platforms than typical agricultural expertise startups.
This issues as a result of most crop safety analysis is finished in-house by giant firms. Moa acts as an exterior discovery companion and has fashioned business partnerships with Nufarm, Gowan, Certis Belchim, and Corteva Agriscience within the final two years.
In European agricultural expertise, Tech Funding Information has reported that many startups are working to scale back, not substitute, chemical use. For instance, Alvie, a startup from Paris, raised cash to chop pesticide use by enhancing how they’re utilized. Trapview created an AI system to observe pests and cut back spraying. Moa stands out by specializing in discovering fully new methods to struggle weeds.
What this funding spherical reveals about investor curiosity
The funds will assist convey the three most superior applications to market, develop the early-stage pipeline, and additional develop the Amplifiers line, with further assist from milestone funds by business companions.
“After we helped spin Moa out from the College of Oxford’s Plant Sciences Division in 2017, we noticed that its expertise platform had a novel and necessary method to handle the market’s want for herbicides able to breaking weed resistance,” says Martin Fiennes of Oxford Science Enterprises.
“Weed resistance continues to unfold. It’s inflicting growing yield losses, additional undermining the resilience of farming operations, whereas local weather change is predicted to make weed management much more difficult,” provides Alexandre Biau of Supernova Make investments.
“This marks a serious milestone for Moa Know-how — a validation of the excellent progress we’ve made not simply within the laboratory, but additionally in putting business offers with main business companions around the globe. We’re significantly happy that, by way of AIF in Europe and GrainInnovate in Australia, the farming sector itself is carefully related to the following section of Moa’s improvement,” Corless concludes.
The worldwide herbicide market was valued at $47.31 billion in 2026 and is predicted to achieve $60.09 billion by 2031, rising at a 4.9% annual charge attributable to rising meals demand and fewer accessible farmland. Moa is certainly one of a number of European startups, together with some on TFN’s recent watchlist, that might profit from this development with out straight promoting herbicides.
It’s nonetheless unclear whether or not Moa’s licensing mannequin will grow to be a sustainable, impartial enterprise or primarily act as a long-term R&D supplier for big business gamers. This funding spherical has not answered that query but.
