Agrivida raises $2 out of $8m round of funding

Medford, Massachusetts, US-based Agrivida, a company dedicated to finding novel crop varieties for the production of biofuels, has reportedly raised $2 million (€1.4 million) of a planned $8 million round of equity funding.

The company collaborated with agribusiness firm Syngenta Ventures back in December 2010 to develop new corn and switchgrass strains that can be used for the production of commercial volumes of low-cost sugar.

Previously, Agrivida has received support from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the form of $2 million, as well as a $4.6 million Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy award from the US Department of Energy (DoE).