Syngenta Ventures has announced that it has made an equity investment in Metabolon, a privately-held U.S. biotechnology company focused on the use of metabolomics in research and diagnostics. This is the first direct investment by Syngenta Ventures, Syngenta’s newly-established corporate venture capital subsidiary.

“The creation of Syngenta Ventures will complement our in-house R&D work and enables us to be even more involved in promising technologies and innovative products with external partners,” said Robert Berendes, Head of Business Development at Syngenta. “We need access to the best available new technologies in order to achieve the increase in agricultural output which will be vital over the coming years.”

Sandro Aruffo, Head of Research and Development at Syngenta, added: “This investment follows a research collaboration with Metabolon which has existed for some years. We believe Metabolon’s unique metabolomics platform will be an increasingly important technology for the development of innovative new products in the agriculture industry.”

Metabolomics provides mechanistic insight and biochemical markers for complex biological processes. This technology aims to accelerate the development of plants with innovative new native and genetically modified traits.

Syngenta Ventures will take a seat on the Board of Metabolon. The equity investment was made in the Series C financing of Metabolon which raised in total $12.3 million from a number of investors, including Syngenta Ventures. Financial details of the equity investment were not disclosed.

For more information about Syngenta please go to http://www.syngenta.com. For more information about Metabolon, please visit http://www.metabolon.com.