Pairwise, a Durham startup using gene editing on crops, raises $90M from investors
Pairwise, a 3-year-old Durham startup that uses gene-editing technology to improve crops, has raised $90 million from investors — a large sum of money that will spur growth at its offices and labs in Durham and help launch its first products in stores.
The company uses CRISPR technology to make certain crops and plants more shelf stable and consistent as well as boosting their availability throughout the year. Its gene-editing platform is built off technology licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, which has been a leader in gene editing.
CRISPR allows scientists to cut out individual genes from a plant’s DNA, like using a pair of scissors, without inserting foreign DNA into it. By doing this Pairwise can remove or add traits that make a plant more attractive to consumers.
For example, the company is working on a blackberry that is seedless and available year round. Consumers, it turns out, have an aversion to buying fruits with large seeds in them, the company’s CEO Tom Adams told The News & Observer in an interview.
Adams said the company is motivated by the fact that just 10% of adults eat the daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables.
By slightly tweaking some of these crops, the company believes it could change behaviors.
“Many consumers don’t like caneberries (the family of berries that blackberries belong to) because of the seeds,” he said. “They’re not as big as the pit in a cherry but they’re significant and they get stuck in people’s teeth so a lot of people don’t like them. We have the genetic capability of eliminating the seeds from berries.”
The company has targeted caneberries because they haven’t received as much attention as things like strawberries and blueberries.
Adams said the new funding will be used to build out its research and development team and launch its first product, a new variety of leafy greens, in 2022.
“It is a healthy sum of money,” he said, “but it’s a big business and a big vision that we have to drive with it.”
Gene editing is a prominent focus of the Triangle startup scene — though mainly it is being used to treat genetic disorders. But its applications in the agriculture world could be worth billions of dollars.
The company previously raised $25 million from investors in 2018, including from agriculture giant Bayer. Pairwise has been working closely with Bayer on crops like corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton.
The company’s first entry into the retail world, Adams said, will be a new variety of leafy greens.
Most people, Adams said, eat lettuces like iceberg and romaine because of their taste. However, they have much lower nutritional value than greens like kale and arugula.
“We found a relative of (kale) that actually has characteristics a lot like the lettuces ... but has a nutrient value of the kales and arugulas of the world,” Adams said. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t taste very good normally. It tastes sort of like horseradish.”
Using CRISPR, Pairwise has eliminated the biochemical pathway that creates that horseradish taste, so it essentially tastes like lettuce but has the nutrient qualities of kale.
Adams said making healthier foods more attractive and easier to get can “create a healthier world.”
Investors in the latest round include Deerfield Management and Pontifax AgTech, a California-based firm that has put money into several Triangle startups, including AgBiome, FoodLogiQ and Precision Biosciences.
Ben Belldegrun, co-founder of Pontifax AgTech, said Pairwise could have a large effect in the $66 billion retail produce market in the U.S.
“COVID-19 reinforces the importance of health and nutrition and Pairwise provides consumers with new options in their produce aisle,” he said in a statement. “... We believe that the combination of Pairwise’s gene editing platform, plant breeding expertise, and consumer food understanding creates a powerful engine that will be a game changer.”
The company has 100 employees split between an office in the Golden Belt development in downtown Durham and lab space in Research Triangle Park.
Adams said the company will likely hire 30 more people in the next year, and continue to grow at that pace over the next few years. He said the company wants to build out its research and development team as well as its team that supports its commercial partnerships.
“I think one of the real draws of (the Triangle) is the number of highly educated people in the life science space,” Adams said, “and it’s not just pharmaceuticals. It’s ag(riculture) with N.C. State here. So we’ve done really well hiring locally.”
About half the team came from the Triangle and half moved here from other parts of the country, said Adams, who moved to Durham from St. Louis.
“People like to move here. It’s a real draw for people,” he added.
Pairwise declined to say where the investment pegs the company’s valuation. But after raising $115 million in less than three years, it is one of the most capitalized startups in the Triangle.
The raise is also another indication that the Triangle’s red-hot startup ecosystem isn’t likely to slow down in 2021.
North Carolina tech companies raised more than $3.6 billion from investors in 2020, a record for the state, The News & Observer recently reported.
The Triangle dominates funding in the state, accounting for more than 76% of funding in the state last year.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more.