Tropic, a gene-edited tropical crops startup, has raised £80 million in a Series C financing co-led by Forbion through its Bioeconomy Fund and Corteva through its Corteva Catalyst investment platform. The round included participation from Just Climate and IQ Capital, alongside new investors ABN Amro and Invest International and existing investors Temasek, Five Seasons Ventures, Sucden Ventures, Genoa Ventures and Polaris Partners. Capital will support the global commercial scale up of its banana and rice portfolios and advance its pipeline of climate resilient crops.
Based in Norwich, United Kingdom, Tropic develops gene-edited tropical crop varieties designed to address disease pressure, food waste and supply chain constraints in global agriculture. In 2025, it launched the first new commercial banana varieties introduced in more than 75 years, including a non-browning banana and an extended shelf life variety that lengthens green life by an additional 12 days. The longer shelf life increases field yields, enables new export routes and reduces transportation waste by up to 50 percent.
The funding follows progress across its Panama Disease (TR4) resistant banana programme. TR4 is fast-spreading, present in more than 20 countries globally, and represents a major threat to the $25 billion banana industry. During 2025, Tropic shipped plants to establish a mother plantation intended to support commercial deployment from 2027.
Demand for the first commercial banana varieties already exceeds supply. Series C capital will therefore expand large-scale plant production, strengthen global supply chains and support commercial partnerships across export markets. It will also accelerate development of additional banana varieties designed for resistance to diseases including TR4 and Black Sigatoka, expand development across the rice portfolio and support entry into additional climate resilient crops.
As part of the financing, Joy Faucher, General Partner at Forbion, Tom Greene, Senior Director at Corteva, and Siddarth Shrikanth, Director at Just Climate, will join Tropic’s Board of Directors. Gustavo Bassetti, Rob Scott, Onno van de Stolpe and Alex Wilson will join as Board observers.
This funding is a powerful endorsement of our team’s ability to bring breakthrough products to the hands of growers, exporters and consumers around the world. We are entering a new era, one where gene-edited crops will significantly enhance food security and sustainability. 2025 proved that our technology delivers – not in the distant future, but right now. With two banana varieties already on the market and demand outstripping supply, this investment enables us to scale global production and expand into new crops faster than ever before. We are excited to be partnering with our new investors as we progress our mission to build a world leading tropical seeds company.
Tropic is an exemplary case of how advanced biotechnology can be applied with precision to challenges in planetary health, starting with banana and rice. Escalating disease pressure, limited innovation and a lack of cost-effective solutions are driving a growing environmental and supply chain risk in our food systems. Tropic has proven its leading position in addressing these threats by bringing its innovative technology to market and providing durable, scalable and resilient solutions to growers. We are proud to partner with an exceptional management team and a like-minded syndicate as Tropic scales commercially and builds a globally leading, category-defining seeds platform.
Tropic’s non-browning banana varieties are a promising example of how the agriculture industry is leveraging innovation to deliver new and improved choices for farmers and consumers worldwide. We’re thrilled to support Tropic as we continue to advance our global portfolio of next-generation solutions to help farmers produce more food and feed, sustainably.
Agriculture drives the majority of nature loss, and waste across food value chains is a meaningful contributor to global carbon dioxide and methane emissions. Based on a decade of breakthrough research, Tropic has developed crop varieties that are disease-resistant, higher-yielding, and hardier in transit to tackle the environmental footprint of our food system at its source. With the technology proven and the first products in market, the company is now at an inflection point. As growth investors supporting the commercial scale-up of transformative nature solutions, we look forward to partnering with the Tropic team and our co-investors to bring their resilient, sustainable tropical crops to growers worldwide.
