Inari emerges with $40 million for plant breeding

Plant-breeding start-up Inari has raised $40 million in a second round of venture funding. Flagship Pioneering, one of the investors, founded the company in 2016 but unveiled it only last month. Inari says it will use biology, agronomy, data sciences, and software engineering to reduce breeding time and cost while customizing seeds for local environments. Other targets are increased yields and nutritional quality and reduced need for water and other inputs. Inari lists geneticist George Church as a scientific cofounder and Jennifer Doudna, a leading figure in CRISPR gene editing, as a science advisory board member.