OlsAro, a Gothenburg, Sweden-based agritech company developing climate-resilient cereal genetics, has raised €5 million in a seed funding round led by Industrifonden, with Nordic Foodtech VC as co-lead. Existing investors Future Food Fund, PINC, AgFunder and GU Ventures also participated.
Founded in 2013 by plant molecular biology researchers Olof Olsson and Henrik Aronsson, OlsAro develops crop genetics designed to improve agricultural productivity under challenging environmental conditions. Led by CEO Elén Faxö, the company works with commercial seed producers to develop cereal varieties with improved tolerance to salinity, heat and drought.
OlsAro’s proprietary SeedAX platform combines genetic research, agricultural data, AI-driven trait discovery and genetic technologies to identify and validate climate-resilience traits. These traits can then be incorporated into commercial seed breeding programmes, with wheat serving as the company’s initial focus.
The company reported that its salinity-resilient wheat varieties achieved up to 41% higher yields than a moderately salt-tolerant comparison variety during field trials conducted under saline conditions in Bangladesh. The wheat is undergoing additional field trials across international markets.
OlsAro plans to use the new capital to expand its SeedAX platform, conduct international field trials and advance commercialisation of its first salinity-resilient wheat product. The funding will also support research and development, AI-driven trait discovery, intellectual property expansion and collaborations with seed-company partners.
The company is also extending its research into drought tolerance and improved nitrogen-use efficiency, alongside plans to develop climate-resilient traits for additional cereal crops, including rice.
The investment follows OlsAro’s €2.5 million pre-seed round in April 2024, bringing its reported cumulative funding to approximately €7.5 million.
