Dive Brief:

• Pivot Bio named a grain-trading insider as CEO this week, part of the billionaire-backed startup’s plan to significantly scale production and capitalize on soaring demand for biofertilizers.
• Chris Abbott is taking over as chief executive, effective immediately, after recently helping launch and scale Continental Grain’s venture arm Conti. He replaces Pivot Bio’s co-founder Karsten Temme, who will become chief innovation officer.
• The executive shakeup comes as Pivot Bio soars past $100 million in revenue and plans a significant expansion of its microbe-based alternative to traditional fertilizers. New facilities in the Midwest will double manufacturing capacity, according to the release.

Dive Insight:

Sky-high fertilizer prices last year supercharged demand for alternatives to traditional crop protection products, benefiting biofertilizer makers such as Pivot Bio.

The ag tech company’s flagship product Proven 40 uses microbes to convert nitrogen from the air into the ammonia needed for plants to grow. The product is placed either directly to the seed or the root of the plant and does not run off during weather events.

Pivot Bio says its products are both more sustainable and cost-effective than traditional fertilizers, and it has worked with multiple universities around the country to prove the product’s effectiveness. A trial from Precision Planting found Proven 40 led to higher yields and about $12.50 per acre in additional revenue.

The company’s synthetic nitrogen replacement products were used on more than 5 million acres of land in fiscal year 2023, “an unprecedented rate of adoption for new crop nutrition technology.” Revenue increased 60% year-over-year, surpassing the $100 million mark for the first time.

Founded in 2011, the Berkeley, California ag tech company over the years has attracted funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and investment from the billionaire-backed venture capital fund Breakthrough Energy, launched by Gates and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2015. Other members of Breakthrough Energy include George Soros, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.

As Pivot sees explosive demand for its products, the company is tapping Abbott to help guide it out of the startup phase and into a full-fledged commercial operation. As part of its planned expansion, Pivot will open a 48,000-square-foot facility in St. Louis to manufacture its on-seed products.

“With our strong fiscal year 2023 results and expansion plans to meet farmers’ increasing demand, Pivot Bio is well-positioned for its next phase of growth under Chris’ leadership,” Temme said in the release. “[H]e is the right person to further optimize the commercial opportunity of our patented products and fully realize our ambition to make agriculture more productive and sustainable.”