Biotech startup Micropep technologies just announced a multi-year collaboration with Corteva via the latter’s Corteva Catalyst investment arm to co-develop peptide-based biocontrol solutions.
The two will conduct joint R&D and field tests using Micropep’s small linear peptides, for which Corteva Catalyst will hold exclusive rights to apply across biocontrol and biofungicide applications.
Corteva Catalyst has already invested in Micropep, having participated in the startup’s $40 million Series B in 2024.
Tom Greene, senior director, global leader at Corteva Catalyst, says it made a great deal of strategic sense to partner with Micropep beyond just that investment, as Corteva had already recognized peptides as an important emerging space for ag biologicals.
“We are constantly looking for new discovery approaches. Peptides are that next generation of a discovery process that really opens the door to novel modes of action, which every strategic in the industry is looking for,” he tells AgFunderNews. “We viewed this external innovation as a way to accelerate our research and progress down the path in this area.”
With little development effort around peptides internally and not much in the way of AI to help, says Greene, Corteva Catalyst had to choose between putting more head count into the organization or looking externally to find “leading edge companies pushing the space.”
The latter “was the right choice for us as an organization, because we’ve greatly accelerated our position in peptides,” he says. “Through the partnership and investment in collaboration with Micropep, we’re now testing large numbers of peptides that would have taken us many, many more years to get to from an organizational standpoint.”
‘A new class of chemistry’
Micropep stood out for a number of reasons, not the least of which was its work with small peptides.
The France- and North Carolina-headquartered startup specializes in a very small portion of five to 20 amino acid peptide sequences. Its Krisalix screening platform uses computational biology and AI to browse genomes and identify potential micropeptide sequences suitable for a specific function—weed control in a bioherbicide and disease control in biofungicides, for example.
“Peptides are a new class of chemistry,” Micropep CTO Mikael Courbot tells AgFunderNews. “They are polymers of amino acids. Amino acids have naturally occurring elements, which allows us to access not only the fungicides or the disease control elements [for] this collaboration, but potentially we can target others.”
“They have a broad portfolio in disease,” says Greene. “It’s an important area for us as we look at novel modes of action for disease.”
A major win for Corteva with the partnership is access to the groundwork Micropep has already laid around peptides over the last seven years, including specialized knowledge and IP around small linear peptides.
By combining Micropep’s innovation engine with Corteva’s global experience, we believe our research will only grow stronger, and the results will ultimately benefit growers, the environment, and the future of agriculture,” says Courbot.
A multi-year testing scheme
The two parties hope that the partnership will identify small peptides efficacious enough to fight against disease targets that can be used to develop actual ag biological products.
“We have a multi-year testing scheme where we’re going to work through a large number of peptides, and hopefully the outcome of that will be a small set that are showing efficacy,” says Greene.
From there, chosen peptides will move into additional testing followed by a phased product development cycle, he adds.
“The idea is for Corteva to test very significant amounts of peptides that we design to validate them,” adds Courbot.
Corteva will rely on its own data and expertise, as well as its own sets of results to decide what does and does not work for its purposes, he says.
“At the end of the day, we have to funnel down to the best peptide, and that’s basically what Tom’s team will be doing: starting with a big batch and ending up with a very small amount of the best peptides in their hands.”
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