FundraiseSep 12, 2026, 04:55 UTC

Rainbow Crops raises $11 million to lead agtech seed rounds

What's the deal? Rainbow Crops, a Belgian agritech startup, has raised $11.25 million in a seed round backed by Agri Investment Fund, Corteva, LIFTT, Maia Venture, PINC, and VIB. The Ghent-based company is building an AI-powered crop engineering platform that combines genome editing and precision breeding.

Why it stands out: The round ranks near the top of recent early-stage agtech deals, sitting in roughly the 85th percentile by size. It nearly doubles the next-largest seed round in the sector over the past six months.

The company: Rainbow Crops applies AI to speed up how crops are engineered, pairing gene editing with precision breeding techniques. Corteva, one of the largest agricultural science firms, joined the round as a strategic backer.

The context: Rainbow Crops leads a crowded field of early-stage agtech raises. AgriPass, an Israeli startup building robotic weed control, raised $7.5 million, while Paris-based Living Models raised $7 million for AI foundation models trained on genomic data.

The signal: AI now runs through nearly every agtech pitch — from crop protection and soil analysis to autonomous harvesting and disease detection. Investors are concentrating early capital on companies that promise to cut chemical use and accelerate research, with genome-focused platforms like Rainbow Crops drawing the biggest cheques.