Farmers invest in every acre to keep it productive. Fertilizer, fuel, equipment, and labor all have a job to do. But when you’re already investing heavily in those inputs, where do you find more value?

We believe the answer starts with the soil. When soil makes more nutrients available and takes less work to prepare, farmers can grow more while spending less. We built IMIO to improve soil performance, creating dependable biologicals that help farmers get more from what's already in their fields.

To take this work further, we’ve raised $12 million in funding led by Sofinnova Partners, with additional backing from Chipotle’s Cultivate Next venture fund, Starshot, Earth Foundry, Grow Together Fund, and Serra Ventures.

We raised this money for a simple reason: our products are delivering results on farms across America, and there’s demand for more of them. This investment will help us build our new headquarters, lab, and biomanufacturing operations in Chicago, giving us the capacity to bring dependable biologicals to more farms.

In CropLife’s 2026 Biologicals Survey of ag retailers and advisors, 39% cited trust issues as the main reason biological products have struggled to find market acceptance.

A farmer put it more plainly to us years ago: “We’ve all heard about the ‘foo foo dust.’ What we really want is something that works.”

That expectation has shaped IMIO from the beginning. We knew that earning trust would mean building products that delivered dependable performance, straightforward use, and outstanding ROI.

For us, that started with manufacturing. We grow and test each microbial strain individually, combine them in precise ratios, and freeze-dry them to keep them alive and viable through storage.

Our flagship platform, Re-Gen, shows what that approach looks like in the field. Built to recapture nutrients from crop residue, Re-Gen is activated with water just before application and applied directly to the residue. This gives the biology immediate access to the material it is designed to break down, a simpler biological task that makes nutrient release more dependable. Because the microbes are activated just before application, Re-Gen delivers 100,000× more active microbes than competing products, further supporting dependable nutrient recapture.

That nutrient recapture improves soil performance by putting more of the field’s existing value back to work. Stalks, stover, and other plant “trash” hold valuable nutrients growers have already paid for. Re-Gen’s fungi, bacteria, and yeast help break down that residue and return those nutrients to the soil for the next crop.

For row crop growers, that means putting nutrient value back to work while making heavy residue easier to manage. For produce growers, it means easier bed preparation and maintaining fertility with less added fertilizer. Breaking down residue also helps mitigate risk by eliminating the habitat that pathogens live on between crops.

Across university and farm trials covering more than 10,000 Midwest acres in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Re-Gen-treated acres averaged an 11.9-bushel-per-acre corn yield increase. Re-Gen applications have also delivered NPK credits of up to $120 per acre, while produce applications have documented tillage savings of up to $120 per acre.

Individual farms tell the fuller story. Kirk Stueve farms and owns land across Minnesota and Wisconsin. He tried Re-Gen on a 140-acre field to protect margins without risking yield. After a couple of years of use in a high-residue, 4-year corn-on-corn rotation, the treated field exceeded its historic yield record by 30 bushels per acre. By capturing tied-up organic nutrients and operating at a nitrogen use efficiency of 0.75 pounds of nitrogen per bushel, Kirk cut his nitrogen bill by $45–$50 per acre without sacrificing yield.

“A lot of biologicals have great marketing strategies and sales teams but struggle to deliver in reality. From what we've seen so far, IMIO is an outlier. The team there cares about helping farmers make money while improving soil health. They're with us every step of the way, assisting with interpretations, offering insights, and listening to our concerns. It's made us more optimistic about the potential value of using biologicals,” Kirk says.

Another central Minnesota grower applied Re-Gen across 1,000 acres in spring 2025. He reported softer residue and easier field preparation, then treated another 1,000 acres that fall.

Re-Gen also fits into existing farm operations. It’s concentrated and shelf-stable until activation, and growers can apply it through standard sprayers, irrigation systems, or drones, following the product label. Easy storage and straightforward application make it practical to use across more acres.

Our move to Chicago brings us closer to our customers and gives us access to the area’s deep talent in agriculture and biomanufacturing. With this funding, we can expand production and help more farmers get better performance from their soil.

We’re grateful to Sofinnova Partners, Cultivate Next, and all our backers for helping us take that step.

And to the farmers and partners who gave us a try over the years: I want to offer a special thank you. You made room for Re-Gen in your operations, took the time to evaluate it, and told us what you saw. Your questions, feedback, and willingness to work with us have helped shape the products and the company we’re building.

We’re thankful that farmers across the country are willing to put their trust in us. As we grow, we’re focused on continuing to earn it.

Considering Re-Gen for your fall or spring applications? Talk with us about how it could fit your operation.