“When I pitched Arlabion at the very first REAP conference it was to test the industry reaction and interest; we did not even have a company registered,” remembers Ella Kalnina, co-founder of Arlabion. “Since then we have set up a company and attracted seed investment from GM&C Life Sciences Fund.”
Arlabion is developing next generation seed treatment products for sustainable crop management. The company’s new product TRIVAZEN™ is an agrochemical to combat Fusarium in wheat, onions and other crops.
Ella was exploring the best routes to the market when she was invited to present in the Start-up Showcase at REAP. This resulted in introductions to the top experts in wheat research and seed breeding which has validated Arlabion’s approach to the wheat pathogen problem.
TRIVAZEN™ is currently undergoing trials with NIAB prior to product registration. Kalnina says:
“Through Agri-Tech East we got access to the best research capabilities in plant science – NIAB, John Innes Centre and University of Essex.
“We are developing new chemistry mainly for protecting crops from diseases that affect early growth of plants. It is a long and expensive process and a lot of trials have to be completed until the product can reach farmers. Our achievements are more technical than business centred.
“We managed to prove that our product TRIVAZEN™ is effective in protecting crops from pathogens that are currently difficult or impossible to control; examples include Septoria in wheat and Fusarium in onions. We are continuing trials on other crops and the results are extremely promising.”
The start-up showcase has provided a launch pad for 16 early stage companies and some, such as PBD Biotech which has developed a fast, effective and highly specific test for tuberculosis in animals are now returning to be in the exhibition area.
This year’s Showcase will be announced on the day but here are a few that we prepared earlier.