Moa Technology Series C brings in £22.2M for herbicide discovery

Moa Technology Series C funding has brought in £22.2 million for the Oxford agritech company’s work on weed resistance, a costly problem for crop producers and the agrochemical companies that sell to them. The round was co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Supernova Invest; Moa did not disclose its valuation, revenue or headcount.

New backers in the round include Agri Investment Fund, GrainInnovate for Australia’s Grain Research Development Corporation, Infinity Investment Partners and Magdalen College Oxford. Existing investors Lansdowne Partners, Parkwalk and Oxford University Innovation also participated.

The company said the capital will support its three most advanced programs as they move toward market, expand its earlier-stage pipeline and continue development of its Moa Amplifiers product line. Moa also expects milestone payments from industry partners to help fund that work, though it did not disclose the size or timing of those payments.

What does Moa Technology do?

Moa Technology is an Oxford University Plant Sciences Department spinout that discovers new ways to control weeds, then licenses those discoveries to agrochemical companies rather than selling herbicides directly to farmers. The company says it has screened more than 900,000 compounds since it was founded and has identified more than 80 potential new modes of action against weeds.

That model puts Moa closer to a discovery platform than a conventional farm software or inputs startup. Large crop protection groups still run much of their R&D internally, so Moa’s pitch is that it can act as an external discovery engine for companies facing a thinner pipeline of new herbicide options.

Moa said several of its programs are now in their third year of international field trials. In 2025, it also introduced Moa Amplifiers, products designed to be used with existing herbicides so farmers can apply less of the conventional chemical while still controlling weeds, including resistant varieties. The Amplifiers are not herbicides, according to the company.

Over the past two years, Moa has signed R&D agreements with four agrochemical companies, including Corteva Agriscience. Its disclosed commercial partners include Nufarm, Gowan, Certis Belchim and Corteva.

Why are investors funding weed resistance technology?

Herbicide resistance is spreading as weeds adapt to chemicals already on the market, while new active ingredients take years to discover, test and commercialize. Supernova Invest’s Alexandre Biau said weed resistance is contributing to yield losses and that climate change is expected to make weed control harder.

Oxford Science Enterprises’ Martin Fiennes said the firm backed Moa at spinout because it saw a need for herbicides that could overcome resistance. Oxford Science Enterprises helped spin Moa out in 2017.

Moa was founded by Professor Liam Dolan and Dr Clément Champion. Dr Virginia Corless became chief executive in 2021 after a career that included astrophysics, clean energy policy work for the US Senate, the Sahara Forest Project and Novihum Technologies, a German agricultural technology company. Moa is based in Oxford and operates a glasshouse research facility in North Yorkshire.

The category is sizable but slow-moving. Mordor Intelligence valued the global herbicide market at $47.31 billion in 2026 and forecast it to reach $60.09 billion by 2031, a 4.9% compound annual growth rate, driven by rising food demand and less available farmland.

For Moa, the open question is whether licensing discoveries to incumbents can support a durable independent company or leaves it functioning mainly as an outsourced R&D partner for larger crop protection groups. The Series C extends the runway for field trials and partnerships, but the company has not yet disclosed commercial traction in the form of revenue.

This story draws on original reporting from TechFundingNews.