AgroSpheres

As students at the University of Virginia, Payam Pourtaheri and Ameer Shakeel discovered a novel way to degrade pesticide residues left on plants after spraying. Early in their journey to raise capital, the AgroSpheres team recognized the value of federal non-dilutive funding, which led them to connect with EGC’s scientific consulting team in the fall of 2018. What began as a young startup’s first NSF STTR Phase I grant that EGC helped them secure in 2019, has flourished into a remarkable journey that saw AgroSpheres secure an NSF SBIR Phase II grant for $1 million, followed by an NSF SBIR Phase IIB supplement award for $500,000 in 2022. EGC’s Scientific Grants Experts and Accounting and Compliance Professionals have supported AgroSpheres every step of the way. During this period, AgroSpheres has achieved remarkable success, establishing a state-of-the-art facility in Charlottesville, VA that currently houses 15 full-time employees, and securing multiple rounds of investor funding, including $8.8 million Series A round in 2020 led by Ospraie Ag Science Ventures and a Series B round of $37 million in 2024. Additionally, AgroSpheres entered into a collaboration with Bayer.