Trendlines co-invests in pesticides startup

STARTUP incubator The Trendlines Group and The Bayer Trendlines Ag Innovation Fund have co-invested in pesticides startup ProJini Agchem, Trendlines said in a bourse filing on Tuesday evening.

Catalist-listed Trendlines did not disclose the investment amount.

ProJini Agchem focuses on "developing a platform technology to develop novel pesticides with new modes of action", and its solution focuses on new types of molecular targets known as protein-protein interactions, Trendlines said.

The fund, set up in April 2016 as a partnership between Trendlines and German healthcare and agriculture company Bayer, invests in agricultural technologies. The partnership includes a US$10 million investment from Bayer.

"ProJini Agchem is the third company established by the fund and boosts Trendlines' growing ag-bio sector of portfolio companies," said Steve Rhodes, chairman and chief executive officer of Trendlines.

"Because protein-protein interactions are species specific, we expect the company to discover targeted pesticides that will be less harmful to the environment," he added.

Shares of Trendlines closed up S$0.004 or 3.5 per cent to S$0.118 on Tuesday before the announcement.