Agriodor raises €15 million to expand scent-based crop protection globally

French Agriodor, an agritech company developing crop protection solutions based on natural plant scents, has raised €15 million in Series A funding to accelerate its international expansion and the deployment of its olfactory biocontrol technology.

The round was led by the Environmental and Solidarity Revolution Fund, financed by the societal dividend of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale and managed by Crédit Mutuel Impact. Additional participants included Région Sud Investissement, CAAP Création (Crédit Agricole Alpes-Provence), and existing investors Capagro, CapHorn, and SWEN Capital Partners.

Founded in 2019 by Alain Thibault and Dr Ené Leppik as a spin-off from INRAE, Agriodor develops a new class of crop protection solutions using semiochemicals to influence insect behaviour. This approach offers a sustainable and scalable alternative to conventional pesticides, addressing increasing pest resistance, regulatory constraints, and biodiversity loss.

Agriodor’s research and development platform combines high-throughput chemical ecology and reverse chemical ecology to replicate natural plant scents and adapt them to diverse cropping systems. This enables the attraction, repulsion, or disruption of pest insects while preserving beneficial species. Compared with conventional insecticides, this method allows for substantially lower development costs and faster time to market, while supporting resistance management and environmental sustainability.

Alain Thibault, co-founder and President of Agriodor, noted that the company’s technology enables farmers to safeguard crop yields while supporting environmental sustainability and protecting human health.

Agriodor recently achieved a global first by successfully deploying a semiochemical (allomone) in row crops, with an initial application in sugar beet fields in France. The company’s first commercial product, targeting sugar beet aphids, is distributed through an exclusive agreement with Syngenta, supporting growers in managing yellows virus.

Building on this milestone, Agriodor is expanding its portfolio to additional crops and insect families, including fruit flies, whiteflies, and thrips, representing significant global market opportunities.