Moa Technology, an Oxford University spinout, has closed a €25.9 million (£22.2 million) Series C round to accelerate development of next-generation herbicides designed to overcome the growing problem of weed resistance, the company announced on 24 July 2026.
The round was co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Supernova Invest, with new backing from Agri Investment Fund, GrainInnovate (which manages Grain Research Development Corporation funds), Infinity Investment Partners and Magdalen College, Oxford. Existing investors Lansdowne Partners, Parkwalk and Oxford University Innovation also returned.
Founded in 2017 by Professor Liam Dolan and Dr Clément Champion out of Oxford’s Plant Sciences Department, Moa uses AI and machine learning alongside a proprietary platform of miniaturised plants to screen for entirely new herbicide “modes of action” — the specific biological mechanism by which a weedkiller disrupts a plant. The company says it has already identified more than 80 novel mode-of-action areas and struck R&D collaborations with Nufarm, Gowan, Certis Belchim and Corteva Agriscience.
“This marks a major milestone for Moa Technology — a validation of outstanding progress we have made in the laboratory and striking commercial deals worldwide,” said CEO Dr Virginia Corless.
Martin Fiennes of Oxford Science Enterprises added: “The success of the platform’s discoveries in lab and field trials confirms Moa is on track to provide new solutions farmers need.”
The new capital will push Moa’s three most advanced herbicide programmes toward commercialisation, expand its earlier-stage pipeline, and further develop its “Moa Amplifiers” programme.
Why it matters: Weeds are becoming resistant to herbicides in much the same way bacteria become resistant to antibiotics — through decades of repeated exposure to the same chemical mechanisms. With very few genuinely new modes of action reaching market in recent years, Moa’s AI-driven discovery approach, and the scale of this round, signal renewed investor confidence that biotech can still crack one of arable farming’s hardest, slowest-moving problems.
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