MicroLife

We engineer the seed microenvironment to ensure better germination and growth in saline soils and water stressed regions. Further, we deliver plant microbes that reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers which have several effects including: high carbon footprint and contribute to degraded and saline soils. Our technology is unique because we have discovered how to better stabilize and deliver beneficial microbes to plants reducing the need for fertilizer in stressed soils. The microbes already exist in nature and are what plants use in their indigenous environments to grow. Our findings are currently undergoing patent approval. We want to lead the shift from unsustainable ways of farming to sustainable green agriculture. The world can cut back on 3% of world carbon emissions, while also increasing productivity in saline and degraded soils(marginal lands).Our solution could help make biological fertilizer accessible to the most vulnerable communities in the world (2 billion subsistence farmers).

About 95% of our food is produced by our top soil, however ~1/3 of this soil has become degraded. Our soils have become degraded because of poor agricultural practices such as poor synthetic fertilizer use and over use of the soil. Synthetic fertilizers account for about 3% of the global carbon emissions, which is significant. We desire to farm more sustainably and boost agricultural productivity because of climate change effects and an increase in food demand spurred on by an increase in standard of living and population. Therefore we need to find new ways to farm on degraded soils and provide nutrients (fertilizer) to the plants we grow in a sustainable manner. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria(PGPR) can help with this however, delivering these delicate microbes has proven to be difficult and thus made PGPR not as effective.

We have found a way to better deliver plant growth promoting microbes by encapsulating and preserving microbes better than what most companies can do in the current market. Effectively, this means the microbes we use can be more effective as they are in a better state. Further, with engineering the seed microenvironment we can also deliver other nutrients which help our plants germinate and grow better in marginal lands. We engineer microbe laden seed coatings that can help alleviate the stressors in the soil and delivers viable microbes that provide nutrients to plants. MicroLife is a global solution that will help agriculture transition from synthetic to biological fertilizer thereby lowering carbon emissions, energy use in agriculture and soil salinization and degradation. By providing better productive seeds with higher yields to small hold farmers in the developing world we can economically impact their lives by increasing their income levels. We are developing an easy to use technology that can be used by any low tech farmer. Our goal in engineering the seed microenvironment will allow the farmer to plant the seed with no extra work required to reap the gains of our product. 

Our longterm goal is to serve all farmers. Our initial target market, however will be small scale farmers in degraded lands. We have ~ 2 billion subsistence farmers in the world. Subsistence farmers find fertilizer costs prohibitive therefore there is great need to find cheap ways to provide nutrients to their plants sustainably. The subsistence farmer is low skilled and has very little technology access. Further, one of toughest challenges of biological(microbe) fertilizer use has been that microbes are delicate and therefore die in a few hours if not refrigerated. Knowing farmers would find this challenging we went and developed a seed coating that could preserve these microbes for weeks in a seed coating, therefore making this solution feasible for our target market. Also, a seed coating was developed to make delivery easy as it takes away the need in technology investment for farmers. To better understand the farmers and their supply chains, we will do questionnaires and interviews with the farmers to understand their needs and pain points. The idea would be to develop and test with these farmers to build the best product possible.

We have found a way to better deliver plant growth promoting microbes by encapsulating and preserving microbes in proteins and polysaccharides better than what most companies can do in the current market. Effectively, this means the microbes we use can be more effective as they are in a better state. Further, with engineering the seed microenvironment we can also deliver other nutrients which help our plants germinate and grow better in marginal lands.

Competitor Analysis: Our competitors in the space are big agriculture companies such as Bayer-Monsanto that produce synthetic fertilizers. However, we offer a substitute product/ a space they currently do not have expertise in. Thus if we get it correct we could disrupt their valuation chain. They are start ups such PivotBio and Indigo Agriculture, however they have focused on microbe identification while we have worked on delivery technologies. Therefore our technologies have possible synergies. 

Competitive Edge: Our approach is engineering the seed microenvironment while other competitors have focused on microbe identification. 

We have developed a material based technology that encapsulates, protects and delivers microbes and nutrients. The key insight of our technique is creating a microenvironment for our microbes survival and growth, which improves effectiveness of microbe and plant root infection. Our first model is a silk and trehalose coating that stabilizes our microbes and adheres to the seed creating a microbe laden seed.

Description: We have developed a seed coating technology that can help plants alleviate soil salinity stress and in the future water stress. 

Maturity: A recent paper published in PNAS (Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) details the proof of concept of our work.(https://www.pnas.org/content/116/51/25555) Currently, we have deployed a prototype in field test studies. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/90...

https://www.theguardian.com/en...

http://news.mit.edu.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/2019/coate...

Tech Validation: The technology has been implemented with success in Morocco.

Activity: Farming with microbe laden seeds

Output: Less time required in fields adding synthetic fertilizer and money to purchase synthetic fertilizer .

Short term: Higher output in all soils and productivity in degraded soils with less carbon emissions from agriculture. Higher incomes for farmers.

Long term: Less degraded soils, polluted waters and climate change effects. Better educated communities that are well resourced. 

Currently serving: 0

Serving in 1 year: 10

Serving in 5 years: +10 000

Within the first year we intend to invest in product R&D. We want to invest in non silk materials that can be scaled up. Further, we want to begin talking with farmers to build products that are targeted towards the farmers pain points. The next task for us would be rolling out field trials with farmers who we will eventually buy our product after realizing its benefits. Over the next five years our target will be to work on developing products for cereal crops and legumes that are in high demand by creating synergies with companies in microbe identification space and forming distribution partnerships for end product sales.

Financial: To scale up operations we will need finances for laboratory space and consumables to carry out experiments for further product development. Further, for field trials and customer questionnaires we will need to invest in human capital traveling to farms and seed distribution centers to better understand the problem we are solving.

Technical: Scaling up operations from coating a few hundred seeds in the lab to several thousands.

Legal: Applicability of US patents in overseas markets.

Market barriers: government regulation with regards to agricultural practices and techniques. Accessing seed distribution markets which maybe a private monopoly or controlled by the government. 

We intend to apply for grants and raise seed money from friends and families to initially validate our idea over the next year. Being in the MIT community will help with laboratory space and mentorship programs. After the first year we will need to raise money to continue with product R&D and with the hiring of talent.With regards to scaling up, they are industrial methods on seed coating but we would need to try them out to ensure they fit our our model well. Our legal questions we intend to find legal minds that can help with dealing with international jurisdiction. Lastly, with monopolies if we are able to validate and show our product works better than what is currently available we can undercut our competitors and maybe get them on board as partners or we will build a distribution network through the retail chains already in country.

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The team is composed of Professor Marelli and PhD candidate, Augustine Zvinavashe. The team has been working together for four years in Professor Marelli’s lab where Augustine is a doctoral candidate. Professor Marelli has previously founded a biotech company, Cambridge Crops which works to lower food waste impact and it has raised over USD 5 million. He brings experience in material science as well as founding a new venture. Augustine is a subject expert and has focused his research on the ideation and creation of the seed coating product. The team has high complementarity as they have worked together for an extended period of time from inception of the idea to today. They have open feedback mechanisms and have grown to become true partners, with Professor Marelli also providing mentorship to Augustine. Augustine is very creative and has pushed forward innovative solutions to many of the research problems, his non-traditional background allows him to think outside the box. 

MIT Legatum- access to organizations mentorship program and network.

Our business model will be a B2B model with some B2C, however we need to analyze the market to understand the best approach. We will provided microbe coated seeds to businesses that currently distribute farming inputs such as seeds and fertilizer.

We are inspired to solve one of the worlds toughest challenges which is affordable food to all. We hope by leveraging MIT Solve we can develop and push forward our solution to grow crops more sustainably by lowering our environmental impact and further making fertilizers available to all income groups which will boost farming returns and thus health and lifestyles in developing countries and developed countries. With MIT Solve we hope to get access to corporations, mentors and talent that can help us scale up.

Our goal is to be able to partner with companies that deal with product development and work on identifying microbes. Our main expertise are in delivering microbes and we could add synergies with companies with a competitive advantage in microbe indentification.  

Bayercrop Science- partnering with a agriculture company that has great distribution networks will help us access larger markets and help us retrofit and design seed coatings that take into consideration the seed treatments and genetic engineering that may happen at seed companies.

PivotBio - we would like to partner with a company that is working on identifying microbes for cereal crops. With our delivering technology we can enhance the performance of their product and open up more customer segments they can better serve.

We are motivated to develop and bring to market innovative technologies that impact water, energy and food security. Innovations in agriculture have historically focused on increasing crop yield and resilience while paying little attention to the harmful effects of these solutions.  Synthetic fertilizers produce ~3% of global carbon emissions and intensive agricultural practices have left a third of our soils degraded, while 95% of our food comes from top soil. In order to increase agricultural productivity responsibly we need to find new and better ways of farming to feed our growing population while lowering the environmental impact we have on the world.

Our solution is providing microbe laden seeds that improve germination and growth in marginal lands, therefore increasing productivity in degraded soils and lowering synthetic fertilizer impact. Our microbe laden seed coating technology is currently under patent and has been published in high impact academic journals, including PNAS and Nature Food and has been featured on the National Public Radio, Fast Company, the World Economic Forum blog, the Guardian and MIT News. Our aim is to target large scale and commercial farming and eventually expand to the 2 billion subsistence farmers globally. If we can provide a coated seed with all or some of the nutrients and fertilizer a plant requires we can make agriculture “greener”, more productive and more sustainable. 

We intend to use the funding to continue our R&D. We are currently doing trials on small plots in Morocco with the help of University Muhammad 6th Polytechnique and would like to scale up our testing to larger acreages. At the same time we intend to start surveying farmers on their pain points and how we can build a product that suits their needs. Once we have done this we intend to roll out our prototype to different farmers to test performance with selected crops. In addition, our coating process is a laboratory procedure therefore we need to look at turning it into an industrial scale process.