Israel’s Kaiima Bio-Agritech Ltd. Expands U.S. Operations in St. Louis

Israel’s Kaiima bio-Agritech Expands U.S. Operations in St. Louis June 29, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Kaiima Bio-Agritech, headquartered in Lower Galilee, Israel, announced yesterday that it is expanding its presence in St. Louis, Missouri. The company established an office in St. Louis in 2014, and now will have four full-time employees.

The firm, which employs about 111 people, mostly in Israel, is a genetics and breeding technology company. Its proprietary, non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) platform is called EP, which creates genetic diversity using the plant’s own DNA.

“Although the initial presence in St. Louis will be small,” said Donn Rubin, president and chief executive officer of BioSTL to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “they are poised for growth.”

BioSTL, which evolved from the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences, is a regional organization that champions St. Louis bioscience. Earlier this year, BioSTL started a recruitment effort called St. Louis-Israel Innovation Connection, which attempted to entice young Israeli companies to consider expanding in the U.S.

Kaiima representatives visited in May and chose to expand in the area. “It’s a validation of our thesis and of our approach,” Rubin said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It makes us very hopeful that there will be more successes.”

EP technology can modify plants to improve yields and stress tolerance, cut seed production costs, and create efficiencies in product development timelines. And since it does not insert genetic material from other plants or animals, it doesn’t fall under the controversial definition of GMO.

“The growth of our U.S. team and the investment in a new facility demonstrates Kaiima’s commitment to bringing the benefits of its EP Technology to key crop growing markets,” said Rick Greubel, Kaiima’s chief executive officer, to Area Development. “We will continue to grow in St. Louis and are excited to be part of the growth of the agtech entrepreneurial community in this region.”

In addition to its Israel and U.S. operations, Kaiima has a small office in China.

It’s probably not a coincidence that Monsanto has headquarters in St. Louis. Recently Germany’s Bayer AG has made a bid for Monsanto for about $62 billion, although the European Union’s antitrust agency has indicated it plans to thoroughly vet the merger, which has yet to begin formal negotiations. And to date, Monsanto has rejected the bid, although it has indicated it is open to discussions.

“The Midwest is a natural target,” Doron Gal told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “There’s just a great infrastructure of people, talent and laboratories that can support the growth of a company like ours.”

Ori Ben-Herzel will join the St. Louis operations as commercial breeding lead, and Marcia Weldon as the breeding associate. Already at the St. Louis location are Sharon Berberich, head of U.S. Operations, and Kevin Cook, chief technology officer.

A private company, Kaiima has so far raised about $83 million in equity funding from six investors. Investors include DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), Horizons Ventures, IFC InfraVentures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and The World Bank Group.

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