Resurrect Bio raises $25M Series A to revive crop-resistance genes lost in modern breeding

Resurrect Bio, a spin-out from the John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, announced on May 15 a $25M Series A led by Atomico with participation from Octopus Ventures, Cherry Ventures, and Hoxton Ventures. The company's platform identifies disease-resistance genes that were present in wild crop ancestors but lost or silenced during a century of yield-driven breeding, then uses CRISPR re-activation to restore them in elite modern cultivars. The technical premise is well documented in plant pathology: wild relatives of wheat (Aegilops) and potato (Solanum demissum) carry NLR-type resistance genes that confer durable resistance to rust, late blight, and powdery mildew, but introgressing them via conventional crossing takes 8–12 years and drags 'linkage drag' of low-yield alleles. Resurrect's approach edits a single nucleotide in the modern variety to restore the resistance phenotype, leaving the rest of the high-yield genome intact. First two pipeline products: a Phytophthora-resistant Maris Piper potato line and a yellow-rust-resistant winter wheat targeting UK and Northern European growers, both scheduled for field-trial release in 2027 under the UK Precision Breeding Act and the new EU NGT-1 fast-track lane (adopted last week, see related coverage). For founders and investors, Resurrect illustrates the second-wave business model in crop genomics: not 'we'll edit anything for a fee,' but 'we own the IP on a defined library of revived resistance traits, licensed exclusively to one breeding partner per crop per geography.' Pricing is structured as royalty-per-bag — Atomico partner Sasha Astafyeva confirmed the company already has term-sheets from two top-five seed multinationals.