Oxford-based Moa Technology raises €25.9 million to tackle herbicide-resistant weeds

Moa Technology (Moa), an agricultural biotech company based in Oxford, has secured €25.9 million (£22.2 million) in a Series C funding round. The round was co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Supernova Invest. New investors include Agri Investment Fund, GrainInnovate (managed by Artesian on behalf of the Grain Research Development Corporation), Infinity Investment Partners, and Magdalen College, Oxford. Existing investors such as Lansdowne Partners, Parkwalk, and Oxford University Innovation also participated.

Founded in 2017 by Professor Liam Dolan and Dr. Clément Champion, Moa spun out of the University of Oxford's Department of Plant Sciences. The company claims to combine its own intellectual property, scientific platforms, and vast amounts of proprietary data, powered by AI and machine learning, to discover new ways to control weeds faster and more accurately. Using specially miniaturized plants, its discovery platforms find potential new modes of action at unprecedented scale, speed, and cost.

Moa explains that a mode of action (MoA) is how a herbicide works; a novel MoA causes fundamentally different changes at the cellular level. Overuse of a few modes of action over decades has led to weed resistance, similar to antibiotic resistance. Moa says it has already discovered over 80 novel mode of action areas. In 2025, the company introduced Moa Amplifiers™, which are not herbicidal on their own but can reduce the concentration of herbicides needed.

Over the past 24 months, Moa has formed R&D collaborations with four leading companies—Nufarm, Gowan, Certis Belchim, and Corteva Agriscience—to develop novel solutions for farmers. The company plans to use the new capital to bring its three most advanced programmes significantly closer to commercialization, build its pipeline of early-stage novel herbicides, and further develop the Moa Amplifiers programme. Martin Fiennes of Oxford Science Enterprises said, "When we helped spin Moa out in 2017, we saw its platform had a unique approach to address the need for herbicides capable of breaking resistance. The success of the platform's discoveries in lab and field trials has confirmed Moa is on track." Dr. Virginia Corless, CEO, noted that this fundraising marks a major milestone, validating progress in both the lab and commercial partnerships. The equity investment will be supplemented by milestone payments from current and future industry partners.