Duke-linked crop science startup Avalo raises $500K, looks for another $600K
DURHAM – Avalo, a Durham-based startup with ties to Duke University, has raised an additional $500,000 from two investors, according to an SEC filing.
The company describes itself as “generating crop resilience through gene discovery for a healthier and fuller world” on the company’s LinkedIn webpage. It raised $2.9 million in equity in July 2021 from six investors, according to a prior SEC filing.
According to the most recent filing, which was signed by co-founder and CEO Brendan Collins earlier this month, the new funding includes an option, warrant, or right to acquire another security, and the funding round could close as high as $1.1 million.
An August 2021 TechCrunch article explained the firm had “built a model for simulating the effects of changes to a plant’s genome, which they claim can reduce that 15-year lead time to two or three and the cost by a similar ratio.”
“We’re using interpretable machine learning to accelerate biological production and crop development,” a header on the company’s website reads.