OIST Innovation and Lifetime Ventures co-host Startup Elevate on September 29-30, 2025, at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). This article features some of the startups that participated in this deep tech startup showcase event.
Global agriculture stands at a critical crossroads. Bacteriophages are gaining attention as microbial pesticides that suppress plant pathogens, utilizing various mechanisms including lysis, predation, and fungal parasitism as biological materials in agriculture. With agricultural diseases causing a staggering $290 billion in annual economic losses, and the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) targeting a 50% reduction in chemical pesticide use by 2030, demand for innovative alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides is rapidly intensifying.
Against this global backdrop, the startup Greenleaf Bio, founded by two researchers with synthetic biology PhDs from Imperial College London, has emerged as a leader in developing next-generation pesticides that combine bacteriophages, machine learning and synthetic biology. The company’s innovative approach seeks to artificially maximize the potential of naturally occurring bacteriophages, fundamentally addressing the challenges faced by traditional biopesticides.
The global biopesticide market reached $6.2 billion in 2022 and is expected to record a compound annual growth rate of 14.1% during the forecast period. Greenleaf Bio aims to establish a unique position in this rapidly growing market and bring transformative change to global agriculture.
The “Smart Antibiotic” Revolution
Co-founder Lara Selles Vidal emphasizes the specificity and safety that make bacteriophages worthy of being called “smart antibiotics.”
There’s a reason we call bacteriophages “smart antibiotics.” They are specific, targeting only particular bacteria and not destroying the good microbiome surrounding plants. This is very good for soil, environment, humans—everything. (Vidal)
Unlike conventional chemical pesticides that indiscriminately destroy the microbial communities around plants, bacteriophages attack only targeted pathogenic bacteria while preserving beneficial microorganisms. This characteristic significantly improves soil health maintenance, environmental protection, and human safety.
Even more importantly, bacteria find it extremely difficult to develop resistance. As antibiotic-resistant bacteria emerge as a global threat, this characteristic represents new possibilities for sustainable disease management in agriculture.
There’s no resistance issue like with antibiotics. Bacteria won’t be able to evolve resistance to bacteriophages—this won’t happen with our approach. (Vidal)
The company’s innovation lies not in using naturally occurring bacteriophages as-is, but in dramatically enhancing their performance through synthetic biology and machine learning. Natural bacteriophages are an excellent starting point, but they weren’t designed as true pesticides. They exist in nature to survive and infect bacteria, but not with the purpose of destroying all bacteria.
Market opportunities are expanding rapidly. The crop biocontrol market is projected to grow from $4.9 billion in 2024 to $10.6 billion by 2033, with an expected compound annual growth rate of 9.2%. Microbial biopesticides are particularly expected to capture over 30% of market share by 2025, with innovation in this field driving market growth.
The Japanese market is also experiencing remarkable growth. Japan’s biopesticide market size reached $516 million in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.309 billion by 2033, showing a compound annual growth rate of 10.9%. Growing concerns about food safety and increasing demand for organic farming are the primary drivers of this growth.
A fundamental problem facing current agriculture is the lack of solutions for bacterial diseases. While there are abundant fungicides, insecticides, and fertilizers, there’s almost nothing available for bacteria. Existing solutions are limited to antibiotics and heavy metals, with the former facing resistance issues and the latter severely restricted due to toxicity. Bacteriophages represent a next-generation technology with the potential to fundamentally solve these challenges.
Building Instead of Hunting
Lara Selles uses an apt metaphor to describe the challenges of conventional bacteriophage development.
Finding bacteriophages in nature is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s very time-consuming and costs a lot of money. (Vidal)
Current market competitors—EcoPhage, AgriPhage, and Intralytix—take an approach of isolating bacteriophages directly from nature and commercializing them as-is. This process is extremely time-consuming and costly, and the discovered bacteriophages may not be optimized for use as pesticides.
Naturally occurring bacteriophages may lack the stability and efficiency needed for pesticide use. They may not be stable against UV, pH, or salinity levels, creating practical challenges in farm environments. Other companies isolate bacteriophages directly from nature and use them as-is, but they don’t actually try to optimize them.
Greenleaf Bio employs a completely different approach. After collecting and learning from information in nature, they use synthetic biology techniques to design and manufacture ideal bacteriophages.
We decide ‘this is what we want’ and then we make it. (Vidal)
This is a process of “mixing and matching, combining things like Lego pieces,” which also includes machine learning applications.
A concrete example of this innovative approach is improving UV resistance. Since farm environments expose bacteriophages to intense ultraviolet radiation for extended periods, survival is a critical factor. The company has successfully developed bacteriophages with dramatically enhanced UV resistance using synthetic biology methods. When comparing natural bacteriophages with theirs under identical conditions, theirs survive much, much longer.
Through synthetic biology methods, the company has also significantly improved adaptability to soil environments. They’re currently engineering enhanced UV resistance, but also making changes for better stability against salinity and pH levels—factors more important for field applications. Additionally, they’re developing “more lytic” bacteriophages that dissolve target bacteria more efficiently, achieving faster and more reliable disease control than conventional products.
Regarding differences from competitors, Lara Selles outlines a clear strategy. Basically, they integrate bacteriophages from nature, which are good but represent basic products. The company can make them better by optimizing the small things they’re missing, thereby unlocking their complete potential.
An important insight in this technology development is recognizing that natural bacteriophages aren’t perfect. They’re not ready to be crop protection agents and were never designed as such. In nature, bacteriophages reduce their efficiency at some point because if they killed all bacteria, they’d have no hosts to infect and would die themselves. Synthetic biology makes it possible to remove these natural constraints.
When Lab Success Meets Global Hunger
The company’s choice of potatoes as a proof-of-concept was based on multiple strategic considerations.
We chose potato crops because they grow fast and are relatively inexpensive. And we could demonstrate bacteriophage efficiency in both pre-harvest and post-harvest applications. (Vidal)
Bacterial diseases represent a comprehensive problem existing throughout the entire agricultural-food chain, from “farm to fork.” From pre-harvest diseases on farms through storage periods of up to 6-7 months, to final disinfection before consumption, bacteriophages can be utilized at each stage. Basically, bacterial diseases exist throughout the entire agricultural-food chain—from farm to fork.
The company currently focuses on pre-harvest and storage stages, but future applications in final food disinfection are also envisioned. That is, field and storage applications. Basically, bacteriophages can infect all pathways and treat in all ways, but currently they’re focusing on pre-harvest and post-harvest.
The importance of potato technology demonstration lies in this crop’s susceptibility to bacterial diseases in both pre-harvest and post-harvest stages, allowing comprehensive verification of bacteriophage technology effects. Following laboratory-level success, they’re now transitioning to greenhouse trials. These trials test conditions mimicking both actual farm environments and storage environments.
Building on potato success, the company plans expansion to multiple high-value crops.
We’re not just focusing on potatoes. Potatoes are just proof-of-concept—proof that our technology works. (Vidal)
Target crops span widely, including rice blight, citrus greening disease, Xylella fastidiosa threatening olives and grapes, and bacterial diseases in tomatoes—diseases causing serious global agricultural impact. In the next round, they want to tackle rice blight, citrus greening, and Xylella fastidiosa, which affects olive trees and over 500 plants, with olives and vineyards being the main high-value products.
They will soon start greenhouse trials mimicking actual storage environments: dark rooms, 4°C or 18°C (depending on region), and ventilation systems. In greenhouse trials, they really want to test proving it works on plants again and also functions under actual storage conditions.
The company’s modular design philosophy enables efficient development of multiple crop-specific products from a single technology platform. This scalability represents decisive competitive advantage for global expansion and market growth. The ability to address bacterial diseases affecting over 500 plant species means customization for specific crop characteristics is possible while keeping core technology standardized, significantly reducing development costs and time.
Important in technology demonstration is that UV resistance improvements actually function. When comparing natural bacteriophages with the company’s engineered versions under identical conditions, theirs survive much longer—already good improvement showing what they’re accomplishing.
Independence as Strategic Advantage
Greenleaf Bio’s technology stems from completely independent development, not university licensing. Co-founders Lara Selles and George Taylor earned synthetic biology PhDs from Imperial College London, then continued collaborative research as postdocs in the same laboratory. Subsequently, Lara Selles obtained a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) Fellowship in Japan, while Taylor gained experience at two startups: Multus and Better Dairy.
This technology doesn’t come from any university. We are completely independent. Basically, my co-founder and I met during our PhDs. We both earned PhDs in synthetic biology at Imperial College. (Vidal)
The entrepreneurial motivation came from discovering serious challenges in agriculture.
My PhD project was conducted with a company half-funded by Syngenta, a major agri-pharma company, and I could see them recently struggling to get chemical approvals due to all regulations, while also showing more interest in biological agents. (Vidal)
Market research revealed that while many options exist for fungicides, insecticides, and fertilizers, solutions for bacterial diseases are extremely limited. There are lots of things for fungicides, lots for insecticides, and many fertilizers, but almost nothing for bacteria. Existing solutions are limited to antibiotics and heavy metal compounds, with the former losing effectiveness due to resistance issues and the latter severely restricted due to high toxicity.
The greatest advantage of independent development is having complete control over technology development. This avoids problems faced by traditional university spin-offs: licensing constraints, stakeholder coordination in joint development, and complex intellectual property relationships. This enables rapid technology improvement and product development responsive to market needs.
For commercialization strategy, Greenleaf Bio employs flexible approaches adapted to market characteristics and regulatory environments.
Ideally, we would license to big companies. The reason for that is they can mix with fertilizers and they already know about a lot of formulations that we are not experts on. Also, they have all the production chain, so it’s very easy to fit in. (Vidal)
The ideal scenario involves licensing to major agricultural chemical companies like Syngenta, Corteva, and Bayer. This approach enables efficient global expansion even for resource-limited startups. Leveraging major companies’ existing distribution networks, manufacturing facilities, and regulatory capabilities allows rapid market penetration.
However, with sufficient funding, direct final product sales are also envisioned. In this case, building direct cooperative relationships with government agricultural agencies and cooperatives becomes important. Cooperation with Japan’s JA and similar organizations in other countries is extremely important for having direct contact with farmers.
Regional expansion strategies are also clearly differentiated. Genetically modified bacteriophages target primarily US and South American markets. Enhanced products are directed mainly toward the US and South America because they’re more open to modified organisms. Meanwhile, products isolated from nature and pursuing optimal combinations can be sold worldwide, including Europe and Japan.
Japanese market development proceeds actively despite geographical constraints in Okinawa. When Lara Selles visited Tokyo, she could meet about 15 investors in one day, but no such environment exists in Okinawa. This experience demonstrates the density and efficiency of business networks in Japan’s major metropolitan areas.
Investor selection prioritizes strategic value beyond mere funding. They seek investors who are experts in specialized fields, providing customer introductions, industry networks, technical advice—value beyond just money.
The Future of Sustainable Agriculture
Greenleaf Bio’s technology platform holds broad application potential beyond agriculture.
The main core of our company is this big database and machine learning that generates more bacteriophages. So after this, we can target any bacterial disease. That means human diseases, animal diseases in aquaculture, in farming—we can translate this technology to any other sector. (Vidal)
Currently focusing on crop protection is a strategic choice. Using agricultural success as a foundation, they plan technology transfer to healthcare, livestock, and aquaculture. Bacteriophage technology’s versatility theoretically enables addressing any disease involving bacteria.
Team composition also plans gradual expansion from the current two-person structure. As funding progresses, they’ll prioritize hiring plant biologists and technicians to streamline laboratory work. Simultaneously, university cooperation agreements enable efficient research resource utilization.
We’re working with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on projects targeting food pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella. Since we’re dealing with human pathogens, special facilities are required, but such cooperation accelerates our research. (Vidal)
The company’s long-term goal is achieving both food security and environmental protection through solving agricultural disease problems. They aim to establish technology supporting global food production sustainably while reducing chemical pesticide dependence and maintaining soil and ecosystem health.
This company’s approach of solving social challenges through technological innovation represents an ideal model for modern startups. Linking scientific progress to both commercial success and social impact, contributing to global problem-solving—this embodies the value creation form that next-generation agricultural technology companies should pursue.
The company’s technology platform possesses versatility not limited to specific crops or regions. Since bacteriophages’ basic mechanisms are determined by bacterial species, they’re applicable regardless of plant type. Once technology is established, they can rapidly respond to diverse crops and regional agricultural challenges. This characteristic becomes an important competitive advantage in global markets.
Depending on the greenhouse trial results, the company plans transitioning to the next stage: field trials. Field trials will verify bacteriophage effectiveness and safety in actual farm environments, conducting final technology demonstration toward commercialization. Success at this stage will determine the pathway to product market launch and full-scale business development.
Greenleaf Bio’s challenge represents a grand endeavor fusing cutting-edge science with humanity’s oldest industry—agriculture. Armed with advanced technologies of bacteriophages and synthetic biology, the company tackles fundamental challenges facing global agriculture. Their success could mark a crucial turning point in building sustainable food production systems and protecting the global environment.
The company’s global strategy, beginning with Japanese market development, may herald the start of revolutionary change that creates new currents in agricultural technology innovation, benefiting farmers and consumers worldwide.
Growthstock Pulse 
