Quercus Biosolutions, a biotech company focused on tackling challenges in crop protection, has announced its official launch from stealth mode.
The company is leveraging generative AI for protein design to develop novel solutions that address the critical needs of modern agriculture. To advance its mission, Quercus has secured a pre-seed investment round from undisclosed investors.
As part of its launch, Quercus has established a strategic partnership with Ordaos Bio to apply Ordaos’ validated generative AI platform – originally designed for human medicine – to crop agriculture applications. Ordaos’ technology has been developed and validated across multiple biopharma use cases, making it a foundation for accelerating innovation in agricultural biotechnology.
“Our vision at Quercus is to leverage genAI to rethink the development of crop protection solutions,” said Jon Lightner, CEO and co-founder of Quercus Biosolutions.
“The Ordaos biodesign engine and enabling lab-in-the-loop platform provides us with an unprecedented ability to rapidly design and optimize bespoke mini-proteins for agricultural applications, setting the stage for transformative impact in agriculture and adjacent bio-based industries.”
“We have spent years refining our AI-driven mini-protein design platform to deliver precision-engineered solutions in biopharma, and its application to agriculture represents a powerful new frontier,” said Dave Longo, CEO of Ordaos Bio.
“By integrating genAI, multitask meta-learning, and reinforcement learning with Quercus’ rapid-feedback approach, we are confident in the ability to generate highly optimized and commercially important product solutions.”
Founded in 2024, Quercus Biosolutions has generated proof-of-concept data validating in planta that designed mini-proteins can act when applied to intact plants, accessing key cellular compartments and targets. This progress has been further accelerated by its partnership with Solis Agrosciences, enabling a pipeline for testing, data generation, optimization, and validation of novel, product-development-ready solutions.
“Quercus converges a powerful genAI platform, rapid empirical testing in biologically relevant systems, and seasoned industry scientists who possess a deep practical understanding of what does and doesn’t work,” said Charlie Bolton, CEO of Solis Agrosciences.
“It’s been exciting to see rapid iteration drive compelling biological activity, and Solis is thrilled to partner with this innovative new company.”
“Quercus is at the forefront of the next wave of innovation in crop agriculture,” said Matt Crisp, executive chairman and co-founder of Quercus.
“We have formed key strategic partnerships and enlisted seasoned leaders who understand the synergies that are created at the convergence of cutting-edge technologies already accelerating solutions in human medicine. Our rapid progress underscores the disruptive potential of our platform and ability to drive innovation in ways that this market category has never experienced.”
