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Belgian agri-tech company Rainbow Crops has raised €9.7 million in an over-subscribed seed funding round to advance its crop engineering platform and expand its team.
The round was led by Italian venture capital firm Liftt, together with its vehicle Liftt EuroInvest. Existing investors AIF, PINC and VIB also participated, alongside new backers Corteva, through its Corteva Catalyst investment platform, and Maia Ventures.
Rainbow Crops develops improved crop varieties by engineering complext agronomic traits, including yield and stress resilience. The company said the funding will support the expansion of its AI-supported multiplex genome-editing capabilities, the deployment of its platform across key crops and recruitment across scientific and technical roles.
The company's proprietary Trait Foundry platform combines artificial intelligence, multiplex genome editing, precision breeding and automated phenotyping to identify, generate and evaluate combinations of genetic variants linked to complex crop traits.
By combining genome editing with breeding, the platform creates plant populations with designed genetic diversity, allowing researchers to explore and select multi-gene trait architectures at scale. Rainbow Crops said it has already achieved proof of concept in corn.
Giacomo Bastianelli, CEO and co-founder of Rainbow Crops, said: “This investment allows us to accelerate the transition from early validation to systematic deployment of our platform. Our goal is to accelerate complex trait engineering and make it accessible to partners globally.”
He added: “This round signals strong external validation and positions Rainbow Crops as an emerging category leader in AI-driven, multiplex genome engineering. We are now focused on innovative partnerships and on delivering real-world impact in the field.”
Edoardo Bianchi, project manager at LIFTT, said Rainbow Crops was “a compelling example of breakthrough innovation in agri-tech,” combining AI, genome editing and field validation to address crop breeding challenges.
The company said investors were attracted by its potential to accelerate the development of climate-resilient and high-performing crop varieties, supported by early field validation in major crops, its proprietary data platform, engagement with seed companies, backing from the Gates Foundation and access to VIB’s scientific expertise and research infrastructure.