Rainbow Crops is a VIB-UGent spin-out commercialising Trait Foundry, a closed-loop platform for engineering polygenic crop traits such as yield stability, drought and heat resilience and input efficiency that conventional breeding cannot reach. The loop runs in three steps: AI predicts which gene combinations drive a complex trait, built on a large graph linking genes to genes and genes to traits from public datasets, literature and proprietary data; multiplex gene editing plus breeding creates populations carrying those combinations, targeting 50 to 100 genes at a time rather than a handful; and high-throughput phenotyping and omics measure performance and feed results back into the model. The company is moving beyond gene knockouts to editing regulatory elements that tune expression up or down. It licenses platform output to seed and breeding companies, earning royalties plus upfront R&D and milestone fees.
Funding
Rainbow Crops raised a €9.7 million seed round announced on 16 June 2026, reported as $11.25 million, led by LIFTT EuroInvest with participation from AIF, PINC, VIB, Maia Ventures and Corteva Catalyst.