Start-Up Success: Switch Bioworks

World Agri-Tech provides founders a unique opportunity to showcase their ground-breaking innovations and success stories, driving transformative solutions to pressing challenges.

October 17, 2024

Since featuring at the summit in March 2024, Switch Bioworks has gone from success to success, recently raising $17M in series seed financing to bring new biological fertilizer technology to the field.

We caught up with Tim Schnabel, Founder and CEO, to discuss recent key milestones, commercialization, and navigating the challenging economic landscape.

What agricultural problems do you address? What is your value proposition? Be specific.

Switch Bioworks precision-engineers microbes to replace nitrogen fertilizer, eliminating CO2e emissions and reducing costs for farmers.

Our breakthrough technology enables microbes to colonize plants first and then produce fertilizer, overcoming a key trade-off between two resource-intensive processes that cannot occur efficiently at the same time.

Every time our microbes double on plant roots during the colonization phase, they can make twice as much fertilizer after switching into production phase, because there are now twice as many microbes.

It’s an exponential improvement with the potential to deliver high-performance and reliable in-field nitrogen production.

What are your company’s recent key milestones?

Since World Agri-Tech San Francisco, March 2024, Switch raised $17M in Series Seed funding, which will be used to complete product development of our first carbon-neutral biological nitrogen fertilizer, including initial scale-up fermentation and formulation as well as greenhouse and field trials in the U.S. and internationally.

 

What is driving your commercialization strategy? What have been the pivotal “aha” moments that shaped this strategy?

Science first. To bring farmers true performance, Switch is building, fine-tuning, and validating every step in the mechanism of action of biological nitrogen fertilizer production.

Unit economics also first. We don’t believe in a “green premium” and are developing a solution that will cost less per pound N than conventional fertilizers, without requiring growers to change their standard practices.

 

What actions are you taking to survive the VC downturn?

It was humbling to raise funds in the current economic climate.

However, we are very fortunate to be backed by supportive, mission-aligned investors, including our Series Seed lead, Change Forces Capital, as well as Grantham Foundation, Astanor Ventures, Acre Venture Partners, Anthos Capital, Thia Ventures, Emerson Collective, the farmer-led Ag Ventures Alliance and others.

Their support has enabled us to continue working towards our mission despite the market challenges.

 

What is your strategy for weathering the current economic climate and turning growth into profitability?

The ten hottest years on record have all been in the last ten years, highlighting the urgent need to decarbonize the global economy quickly.

Nitrogen fertilizer is responsible for over a gigaton of CO2e emissions, while also supporting the planet’s food supply, and that’s only getting more.

We have to solve this — no way around it. While the market is tough, we’re constantly and with urgency assessing the right balance between growth and conservation of capital…but the clock is ticking, not just on our bank accounts but the planet. I’m defiantly optimistic that we’ll figure it out. Together.

 

What advice would you offer start-ups who are fundraising in today’s challenging economic climate?

Raise money before you need it.

Aim to raise more than you think is necessary.

Find investors who truly believe in you and your mission, beyond words and money.

Most importantly: don’t give up—true innovation will attract funding, even during tough times. The process will pressure-test all aspects and opportunities of your business for maximal efficiency.

 

 

Join the summit on March 11-12 in San Francisco, where emerging start-ups, scale-ups and accelerators will connect with a global network of farmers, innovators, researchers, industry leaders, governments, and investors. Discover start-up opportunities.