
Phytoform Labs is an agricultural technology company focused on making agriculture sustainable by accelerating crop evolution. They leverage Artificial Intelligence and genome editing to redesign and develop novel crop traits, referred to as Nature IdenticalTM. Their mission is to build a resilient and future-secure food system by unlocking the genetic potential of plants. Founded by Dr. Will Pelton and Dr. Nicolas Kral, the company is composed of biologists and technologists dedicated to minimizing agriculture's environmental impact. Phytoform is actively developing advanced plant genetics, including work on synthetic chromosomes for crops like potatoes, and utilizes its CRE.AI.TIVE™ platform for trait development.

Phytoform Labs is an agricultural technology company focused on making agriculture sustainable by accelerating crop evolution. They leverage Artificial Intelligence and genome editing to redesign and develop novel crop traits, referred to as Nature IdenticalTM. Their mission is to build a resilient and future-secure food system by unlocking the genetic potential of plants. Founded by Dr. Will Pelton and Dr. Nicolas Kral, the company is composed of biologists and technologists dedicated to minimizing agriculture's environmental impact. Phytoform is actively developing advanced plant genetics, including work on synthetic chromosomes for crops like potatoes, and utilizes its CRE.AI.TIVE™ platform for trait development.
Founded: 2017
Core tech: AI-driven predictive biology + genome editing (Nature Identical traits)
Proprietary platform: CRE.AI.TIVE™ sequence-to-expression modeling for trait design
Known funding: Seed $5.7M (Dec 16, 2021); Grant round May 21, 2024
Team size (reported): 28 employees
Accelerating crop trait development for yield improvement and climate resilience to make agriculture more sustainable.
2017
Agriculture and Farming
$5.7M
Participating investors included Wireframe Ventures, Fine Structure Ventures, FTW Ventures, Pale Blue Dot, Refactor Capital, BACKED VC and angel investors such as Jeff Dean, Ian Hogarth, and Rick Bernstein.
“Backed by early-stage and climate-focused investors (Eniac Ventures led the seed); other investors include Pale Blue Dot, Refactor, BACKED VC, Wireframe Ventures, Fine Structure, FTW Ventures, angels such as Jeff Dean and Ian Hogarth, plus UK Government grant funding.”