Pivot Bio Valuation, Funding & Investors

Pivot Bio is valued at $2B as of July 2021.

Last Pivot Bio valuation

$2B

Series D · Jul 2021

Last Pivot Bio funding round

$430M

Series D · Jul 2021

Cumulative funding Pivot Bio raised

$617M

across 5 funding rounds

Key investors in Pivot Bio

  • DCVC
  • Temasek
  • Breakthrough Energy Ventures
  • Continental Grain Company
  • Tekfen Ventures
  • Prelude Ventures

Pivot Bio Overview

About Pivot Bio

Pivot Bio is a Berkeley-headquartered ag-biotech company founded in 2010 that engineers microbes for crop nutrition. The firm develops nitrogen-fixing products using its proprietary ON Technology, which deploys naturally occurring microbes to supply nitrogen directly to corn roots. This approach reduces reliance on synthetic fertilizers while boosting yields for farmers addressing global food demands.


Founded

2011

HQ

United StatesSan Francisco, CA

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2B

Revenue model

Product sales

Valuation

$2B (Jul 2021)

Pivot Bio Valuation

Pivot Bio is currently valued at $2B, based on its Series D in July 2021.

The $430M round was led by DCVC and Temasek, with participation from Roger C. Underwood, Tekfen Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Continental Grain Company, Pavilion Capital Partners and 5 other investors.

Pivot Bio valuation by funding round

Pivot Bio valuation by funding round
DateStageValuation
Jul 2021Series D$2B

Pivot Bio Funding History

Pivot Bio has raised a total of $617M across 5 funding rounds.

Pivot Bio's first fundraising round was a $800K seed round in October 2014. The most recent completed round was a $430M Series D in July 2021.

Pivot Bio funding rounds

Pivot Bio funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedValuationDeal Summary
Jul 2021Series DDCVC (lead); Temasek (lead); Roger C. Underwood; Tekfen Ventures; Breakthrough Energy Ventures; Continental Grain Company; Pavilion Capital Partners; Bunge Ventures; Prelude Ventures; G2 Venture Partners; Generation Investment Management; Rockefeller Capital Management$430M$2BPivot Bio, a Berkeley-based agricultural technology company founded in 2011, develops microbial nitrogen products as alternatives to synthetic fertilizers for crops like corn, wheat, rice, sorghum, and small grains. The company's technology reprograms soil microbes to produce nitrogen on demand, reducing reliance on synthetic inputs that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, soil depletion, and water pollution. By July 2021, Pivot Bio had replaced synthetic nitrogen on over one million crop acres in the U.S. that year alone, marking more than 300% year-over-year growth since commercial launch in 2019. On July 19, 2021, Pivot Bio closed a $430 million Series D funding round led by DCVC and Temasek Holdings, bringing total equity raised to over $600 million and valuing the company at nearly $2 billion. New investors included Generation Investment Management, G2 Venture Partners, and Rockefeller Capital Management, alongside returning backers such as Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Bunge Ventures, Continental Grain Company, Prelude Ventures, Pavilion Capital Partners, Tekfen Ventures, and Roger C. Underwood. The funds were earmarked for scaling U.S. operations, releasing new products targeting the $60 billion synthetic nitrogen market for corn, wheat, and rice, and expanding internationally. The round highlighted Pivot Bio's rapid adoption and farmer trust, with products delivering consistent yields and profitability amid climate volatility. CEO Karsten Temme emphasized the direct-to-grower model and environmental benefits, including potential prevention of $200 billion in nitrogen-related environmental damage. Investors like Generation Investment Management praised the sustainable, profitable solutions for farmers and broader climate impact.
Apr 2020Series CBreakthrough Energy Ventures (lead); Temasek (lead); Roger C. Underwood; Tekfen Ventures; Continental Grain Company; Pavilion Capital Partners; Bunge Ventures; Prelude Ventures; Alan Cohen; Spruce Capital Partners; DCVC; Codon Capital$100M-Pivot Bio is an agricultural biotechnology company based in Berkeley, California that develops microbial nitrogen technology to replace synthetic fertilizer. The company's lead product, Pivot Bio PROVEN, uses naturally occurring microbes that form a symbiotic relationship with crop roots, delivering nitrogen more efficiently than synthetic alternatives while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution. In the 2019 growing season, the product delivered an average advantage of 5.8 bushels per acre of corn compared to fields using only synthetic nitrogen. On April 30, 2020, Pivot Bio closed a $100 million Series C funding round co-led by return investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Temasek, with material participation from DCVC, which had led the company's earlier seed and Series A rounds. Additional investors included Prelude Ventures, Spruce Capital Partners, Codon Capital, Bunge Ventures, Continental Grain Company, Tekfen Ventures, Pavilion Capital, and individual investors Alan Cohen and Roger Underwood. This brought Pivot Bio's total capital raised to $186 million at the time of the Series C close. The funding was earmarked to accelerate production scaling and geographic expansion of the company's first-to-market microbial nitrogen technology, targeting expansion from corn into other cereal crops such as wheat and into international markets including Argentina and Canada. The company sought to capitalize on a $65 billion global synthetic nitrogen fertilizer market opportunity. Co-founder and CEO Karsten Temme emphasized strong demand and plans to expand from the company's existing large acreage footprint to millions of additional acres in the subsequent growing season. Pivot Bio achieved significant commercial traction in subsequent years. By 2023, the company's revenue surpassed the $100 million milestone for the first time, representing more than 60% year-over-year growth, with net revenue retention above 95% from its 2022 grower cohort. By that time, Pivot Bio's microbe-based nitrogen product was being used on approximately 5 million acres of corn across the United States, where the PROVEN 40 product replaces about 20% of a grower's synthetic nitrogen application.
Oct 2018Series BBreakthrough Energy Ventures (lead); Temasek; Tekfen Ventures; Continental Grain Company; Alan Cohen$70M-Pivot Bio, a microbiome engineering company founded in 2011, develops nitrogen-producing microbes applied to crops as a sustainable alternative to synthetic fertilizers, targeting reductions in nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions while improving farmer productivity. Its flagship product, Pivot Bio PROVEN, is the first such microbial solution for U.S. corn farmers, with approvals in states covering about half of the U.S. corn market and additional approvals pending for 2018 and 2019. On October 2, 2018, Pivot Bio closed a $70 million Series B funding round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), with participation from Temasek Holdings, and prior investors including Data Collective, Monsanto Growth Ventures, Prelude Ventures, and Spruce Capital Partners. The round also saw Cooper Rinzler from BEV and Dheeraj Mehta from Temasek join the board. BEV, backed by investors like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others, committed over $1 billion to innovations addressing GHG emissions across sectors including agriculture. The funding supports the 2019 commercial launch of PROVEN across the U.S., expanded R&D for a second-generation seed treatment product, and development of microbes for additional crops like wheat and rice. Pivot Bio plans international expansion into markets such as Brazil, Argentina, and Canada. The company had received early backing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, National Science Foundation, and DARPA. Pivot Bio aims to disrupt the $200 billion global fertilizer market by providing cleaner crop nutrition solutions that enhance environmental sustainability and farmer economics. In a related development, Pivot Bio partnered with 3Bar Biologics for a proprietary on-site delivery system to optimize PROVEN's performance for Midwest farmers.
Mar 2016Series ADCVC (lead); Genoa Ventures; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV); OS Fund$16M-Pivot Bio raised $16 million in its Series A round in January 2016, led by DCVC, Prelude Ventures, and Monsanto Growth Ventures, with participation from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Genoa Ventures, and OS Fund. The funding supported commercialization of its first-generation microbial nitrogen solution for corn. The company develops nitrogen-fixing microbes as alternatives to synthetic fertilizers. Earlier, Pivot Bio secured $0.75 million in seed funding in October 2014, co-led by DCVC and Monsanto Growth Ventures. Subsequent rounds included a $70-71.3 million Series B in October 2018 led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Temasek, a $100 million Series C in 2020 co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Temasek with DCVC participation, and a $430 million Series D in July 2021 led by DCVC and Temasek, bringing total funding to over $600 million.
Oct 2014SeedDCVC (lead); Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV) (lead)$800K--

Who has invested in Pivot Bio?

19 investors have backed Pivot Bio across its funding rounds, including DCVC, Temasek, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Continental Grain Company, Tekfen Ventures and Prelude Ventures.

Lead investors include DCVC, Temasek, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV).


Pivot Bio Investors

Investors in Pivot Bio by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
DCVCUnited StatesUnited States4LeadOct 2014
TemasekSingaporeSingapore3LeadOct 2018
Tekfen VenturesUnited StatesNew York City, NY3ParticipantOct 2018
Breakthrough Energy VenturesFranceParis3LeadOct 2018
Continental Grain CompanyUnited StatesNew York City, NY3ParticipantOct 2018
Roger C. UnderwoodUnited StatesAmes, IA2ParticipantApr 2020
Pavilion Capital PartnersUnited StatesNew York City, NY2ParticipantApr 2020
Bunge VenturesUnited StatesSaint Louis, MO2ParticipantApr 2020
Prelude VenturesUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2ParticipantApr 2020
Alan CohenUnited StatesUnited States2ParticipantOct 2018
Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV)United StatesSan Francisco, CA2LeadOct 2014
Genoa VenturesUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA1ParticipantMar 2016
Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationUnited StatesSeattle, WA1ParticipantMar 2016

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Pivot Bio Competitors

Pivot Bio competitors include listed companies like Tongwei and Sunrun, and private ones like Plenty, Indigo, Solugen and Zume.

Public and private companies comparable to Pivot Bio
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
PlentyUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate--$1.9B-
IndigoUnited StatesBoston, MAPrivate$163M-$3.5B21.5x
TongweiChinaChinaPublicly listed$13B$461M$7.4B1.5x
SolugenUnited StatesHouston, TXPrivate$12M-$2B-
SunrunUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$3B$546M$2.1B6.0x
ZumeUnited StatesLos Angeles, CAPrivate--$1.9B-

Pivot Bio Public Comps

Pivot Bio is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Biomar Group, UIE, BF Group, Genus, Nofar Energy, Sunrun, COSUMAR, Austevoll Seafood, Presco and SMA Solar Technology.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Biomar Group$2.5B$218M1.0x0.9x11.2x9.7x
UIE$587M$328M3.7x-6.7x-
BF Group$1.9B$124M1.4x1.3x21.3x19.5x
Genus$903M$122M2.2x2.2x16.4x11.3x
Nofar Energy$103M$95M49.8x-53.6x-
Sunrun$3B$546M6.2x6.0x33.6x25.4x
COSUMAR$1.5B$161M1.2x1.6x11.6x10.5x
Austevoll Seafood$4.2B$406M1.0x1.0x10.2x6.9x

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Common questions about Pivot Bio

When was Pivot Bio founded?Pivot Bio was founded in 2011.
Where is Pivot Bio headquartered?Pivot Bio is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States.
Is Pivot Bio publicly listed?No, Pivot Bio is a private, VC-backed company.
What is Pivot Bio's valuation?Pivot Bio was last valued at $2B in its Series D in July 2021.
How much funding has Pivot Bio raised?Pivot Bio has raised $617M across 5 funding rounds.
What was Pivot Bio's last funding round?Pivot Bio's last funding round was a $430M Series D in July 2021, led by DCVC and Temasek.
Who are Pivot Bio's investors?Pivot Bio's investors include DCVC, Temasek, Tekfen Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Continental Grain Company, Roger C. Underwood, Pavilion Capital Partners, Bunge Ventures, Prelude Ventures, Alan Cohen and 9 others.
Which companies are comparable to Pivot Bio?Companies comparable to Pivot Bio include Plenty, Indigo, Tongwei, Solugen, Sunrun and Zume.

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