Every year, pests and pathogens cause 17-30% crop losses worldwide. At the same time, the use of chemical pesticides favours the development of resistance, contributes to the decline in biodiversity and contaminates the soil.

Founder Georg Schaumann is convinced that the SenseUP products, which are made from renewable resources, can contribute to solving these global problems: ‘With the market for insecticides and fungicides expected to reach 44 billion US dollars by 2030, there is significant potential for new technologies that offer safer and more sustainable solutions’.

Pesticide made from bacteria and RNA

Since 2019, the start-up has been working on scaling up fermentation processes for biological crop protection in agriculture. The result is a biopesticide based on Corynebacterium and double-stranded RNA. The patented multi-product platform and precision fermentation enable cost-effective production on an industrial scale.

SenseUP is part of the BioökonomieREVIER innovation cluster in the research network for a model region for bioeconomy in the Rhenish mining area and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) with funds for structural change in the Rhenish mining area.

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