Monsanto, Venture Capital Firm Enter Agreement
14 April 2011 Monsanto Company and Atlas Venture, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Cambridge, Mass., announced an agreement to enter a multi-year collaboration to explore investment opportunities in early-stage life sciences technology companies, according to a press release.
Under the agreement, Monsanto will work with Atlas to identify strategic investments in a number of technology focus areas within agriculture to support and complement Monsanto’s interests and potential growth areas, including genomics, informatics and biology. For Atlas, this collaboration provides access to technology capabilities and insight that bring a unique perspective to its investment process.
“As we work with farmers to help meet the needs of our growing planet, continued innovation is critical,” said Steve Padgette, Monsanto’s research and development investment strategy lead in a prepared statement. “Our collaboration with Atlas will provide a great opportunity for us to get an early look at promising new technologies that could potentially be introduced into our biotechnology, breeding and agronomic practices work to drive yields even further.”
“By applying Monsanto’s research-based approach to innovation in agriculture to evaluating new life sciences technologies, we’ll be able to access technology platforms and deep expertise right from the beginning of the company building process,” said Jean-Francois Formela, a partner at Atlas Venture, in a prepared statement. “The collaboration is truly synergistic and leverages each group’s core competency and expertise.”
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
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