Chicago-based IMIO has secured $12m in seed financing to expand its biological products business, Fertilizer Daily reported. Sofinnova Partners led the round, with participation from Chipotle’s Cultivate Next, Starshot Capital, Grow Together Salinas, Earth Foundry and Serra Ventures. The company’s products use microbes to break down material left after harvest, making nutrients in those residues available to the following crop.
Its main product, Re-Gen, delivers concentrated, naturally occurring microbes directly onto crop residues, including maize stover. IMIO’s production process involves freeze-drying each microbial strain separately and then combining the strains into a powder. According to the report, the resulting product has a shelf life exceeding 12 months. The approach is central to the company’s efforts to scale its biological inputs business.
Founder and chief executive Charles Smith told AgFunderNews that the process produces greater microbial activity and better batch-to-batch consistency than competing products, according to Fertilizer Daily. Those performance comparisons are claims from the company’s chief executive, rather than independent findings presented in the report. IMIO also says it has supplied more than 100 customers across row crops and speciality crops, with produce growers saving approximately $120 per acre on tillage.
The seed proceeds will support a headquarters, laboratory and biomanufacturing operation in Chicago. The funding therefore covers both the company’s premises and facilities for developing and manufacturing its products. Its stated expansion plans centre on scaling biologicals that release nutrients from existing crop residues.
The financing comes against a backdrop of continuing concerns over biological product reliability. Fertilizer Daily cited CropLife’s 2026 Biologicals Survey, in which 39% of agricultural retailers and advisers identified trust as the biggest obstacle to adoption. Investment in microbial nutrient products nevertheless continues: the report also noted BioConsortia’s $15m fundraising earlier in October for its nitrogen-fixing seed treatment.