Wild Bioscience, which develops ways to make crops more productive, has more than doubled its space at at Milton Park by expanding into an additional 5,000 sq ft.

The agritech company joined the park in 2021 as a spinout from Oxford University and now employs more than 20 staff. That number is set to double in its expanded 9,000 sq ft bespoke R&D labs and offices.

Ross Hendron, co-founder and chief executive, said: “We’re at an exciting time in our growth journey as we’re now getting crops into the field for the first time – asking growers what they think of our new solutions.

“Getting our product into field trials is as significant as a drug discovery company getting to clinical trials.

“We raised £12 million in seed capital in 2021 and we’re planning a Series A funding round next year, which will be a trigger for yet more expansion. As an ambitious start-up, we need to capitalise on these growth opportunities, but because of the very nature of developing and growing large crop plants, we need a lot of space in order to do this.

“It was challenging to find suitable lab space in Oxford but we were attracted to Milton Park due to its single ownership, creating a giant incubator with the flexibility for companies to grow.

“This, and the park’s exceptional facilities, made it an ideal fit for our unconventional requirements that include a unique combination of laboratory and crop propagation capabilities.”

Tom Booker, commercial manager at MEPC Milton Park, said: “It’s a pleasure to be able to accommodate Wild Bioscience’s growth plans. As the UK’s largest science, technology and business community under single ownership and through our innovative ten-day planning arrangement, we’re committed to creating a supportive ecosystem that enables occupiers to scale up quickly.

“We’re excited for Wild Bioscience to further benefit from this environment and look forward to supporting them by creating the bespoke space they need.”

Image shows the team at Wild Bioscience.

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