The financing follows OlsAro’s €2.5 million pre-seed round in April 2024, bringing the total raised by the Swedish company to date to approximately €7.5 million.
Salinity already affects around a tenth of the world’s cropland. Heat and drought are also putting pressure on cereal production, increasing the need for varieties that can maintain yields under these conditions.
OlsAro develops cereal traits and varieties, with an initial focus on wheat. Its SeedAX platform combines proprietary genetics and data, AI-driven trait discovery and genetic technologies to identify and validate climate-resilience traits, then integrate them into elite germplasm for commercial seed programmes.
OlsAro’s salinity-resilient wheat has shown an up to 41% yield increase over a moderately salt-tolerant variety under saline conditions in Bangladesh. The wheat is now being field-trialled in several global markets.
The recent funding will support international field trials and commercial work with seed-company partners as OlsAro prepares to bring its first product to market. It will also fund further R&D efforts, AI-driven trait discovery and expand the company’s IP portfolio.
New programmes will target drought tolerance and nitrogen-use efficiency, extending the pipeline beyond salinity and heat tolerance. OlsAro also plans to move into other cereal crops, including rice.
Elén Faxö, CEO, OlsAro said: "We have spent years proving that we can identify and develop genetics that perform under some of the conditions putting the greatest pressure on agriculture. This round is about turning that capability into a platform seed companies can use repeatedly. By expanding SeedAX across more traits and markets, we can help our partners bring climate-resilient cereals to farmers faster and at much greater scale."
Sara Frykstrand Ångström, Intelligence Manager and Head of Intelligence, Industrifonden said: "What convinced us about OlsAro was the scientific work behind the company, together with its field-trial results and existing seed-company partnerships. With SeedAX, OlsAro has the opportunity to turn this into a scalable platform for seed companies looking to develop climate-resilient varieties across multiple traits and markets."
