Rimonim Agro fund announced its investment in  gene-editing company - eggXYt.

The newest investment of the Rimonim Fund is its first move in the livestock arena. Rimonim continues to focus on solutions that change the way industries are conducted while bringing both operational and ethical gains.

eggXYt is an Israeli Agtech start-up, founded by Prof. Dani Offen of Tel Aviv University and Yehuda Elram, developing a technology which enables sex detection of chick embryos immediately after the eggs are laid, and before they enter the 21 day incubation process.

In the eggs supply chain, hatcheries are focused on getting female chicks, but currently there’s no way for them to determine sex in a non-invasive way before going through the entire incubation process. eggXYt tackles this global problem using   gene-editing tools such as CRISPR  to allow non-invasive pre-incubation sex detection in chicken eggs - saving 8 billion male chicks from being unnecessarily hatched and disposed of each year, and as a direct result, saving the industry billions of dollars and adding 8 billion eggs to the global supply. With the mission to enable a sustainable future in the livestock industry, eggXYt is allowing ethically sourced male-chick-culling-free eggs to reach the market, answering the demand of conscious egg consumers.

 “eggXYt is on a mission to restore consumer trust in the food system. Consumer trust has been repeatedly challenged by discoveries of some of the unethical practices that prevail in the food production industry. eggXYt’s mission is to use cutting-edge science to promote a more sustainable livestock industry. eggXYt is working to earn consumer trust by developing innovative solutions that address issues of transparency and animal welfare in the food industry.

eggXYt is a triple bottom line impact startup with social, environmental and financial returns. The company is directly contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals pursuing Zero Hunger and promoting Responsible Consumption and Production. Its technology lowers the costs of egg production and by that, secures one of the most important protein sources for global consumption, and for lower-income populations in particular, helping to fight hunger. Through these processes, eggXYt is contributing to a more sustainable future.”  Said Yehuda Elram, CEO and Co-founder of eggXYt

According to Yehuda , the company is growing  rapidly and developing a pipeline of additional products , all aimed at improving outputs for the  industry while creating social impact and environmental benefits. eggXYt is funded by  several grants and awards from the European Commission, Israel Innovation Authority, and private capital.  

• eggXYt was awarded the Excellence in Environmental Technology Research Award by Prince Albert II of Monaco.
• Chosen as one of the top 100 start-ups for 2017 by Disrupt100.
• Presented at 2017 TechCrunch Battlefield San Francisco.
• Accelerated at Alltech’s Pearse Lyons Accelerator and MassChallenge, where it was awarded the diamond award and.

Rimonim Agro VC I, one of Israel’s top Agritech VCs, is a specialist managed fund that invests in early and mid-stage Israeli Agtech and Foodtech companies, developing technologies that address the unmet need of the global food shortage.

Several megatrends make the world vulnerable to food shortage. These include population growth, rising demand for calories and protein (especially in developing countries), climate change, resource degradation and production bottlenecks. The solution will almost certainly come from advances in AgriTech. 

Rimonim’s highly experienced team, which has worked together for many years, has successfully guided companies from early stage to trade sale or listing. According to Yigal Galli, co-founder and Managing Partner of Rimonim Fund: "Many Israeli AgriTech companies have great technologies but look for additional expertise to reach their potential. We help  companies by direct participation in management to move from early stage to Series A and beyond."

Across the value chain, two of the high growth areas on which Rimonim focuses are: Precision Agriculture and Ag Biotechnology. -. This includes technologies relating to analytics, , robotics, urban vertical farming, spraying;  a-biotic stress, crop protection, breeding and post harvesting.

Rimonim, is now raising its second vehicle, Rimonim II. Targeting to invest up to $100m with the investment strategy, already implemented in Rimonim 1.

"We are looking for  the most compelling Israeli Agr-Tech, companies with internationally scalable technologies that  can play a key role in resolving the world’s food shortage issues." says Dr. Michal Devir, co-founder and managing partner of Rimonim Fund.