Moa Technology
Oxford Plant Sciences spinout developing herbicides against weed resistance.
Last refreshed: 31 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why does new herbicide chemistry reach farmers through incumbents rather than Moa itself?
Background
Moa Technology closed a £22.2m Series c on 23 July 2026, co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Supernova Invest .
Moa Technology is an Oxford Plant Sciences spinout founded in 2017. The company has screened more than 900,000 compounds and found over 80 novel herbicide modes of action, the biochemical routes by which a chemical kills a plant. Magdalen College Oxford, GrainInnovate, the Agri Investment Fund and Infinity Investment Partners joined the round, alongside returning investors Parkwalk and Oxford University Innovation. Moa has built no sales force of its own; its research partnerships run through four incumbent agrochemical companies, Nufarm, Gowan, Certis Belchim and Corteva Agriscience, which already own the distribution and regulatory teams needed to bring new chemistry to a field.
University spinout deals fell 33% by count last year , so a 2017-vintage company still closing a Series c with Parkwalk and Oxford University Innovation on The Register is what the surviving tail of that pipeline looks like. Agricultural chemistry runs on decade-long regulatory timelines, and growers in Australia and the American Midwest are running short of herbicide chemistry that still works, which is why Moa's new modes of action matter even though the company itself will never sell them directly.
