BioLumic Is Reimagining Agriculture by Programming Better Seed Traits with Light

All Gro Alliance System photos courtesy of BioLumic.

At Prime Coalition, we empower donors to advance untapped climate solutions with speed and scale. Our catalytic capital programs are designed to support technologies that are too early, too risky, or too unconventional for traditional investors but critical to solving the climate crisis.

Among them is BioLumic, an Azolla Fund I portfolio company, managed by Azolla Ventures. This New Zealand-based company uses the abundance of light to unlock entirely new pathways for seed performance, food system resilience, and emissions reduction.

Programming Plants With Light

BioLumic’s approach doesn’t rely on gene editing, synthetic chemicals, or long regulatory timelines. Instead, it taps into something both fundamental and transformative: plants’ natural ability to respond to light. With their proprietary xTraits™ platform, BioLumic delivers short, precise light signals to seeds, activating beneficial traits already encoded in the plant’s genome. The result is a seed that’s biologically upgraded from the start without altering its DNA or requiring changes to how it’s grown.

“We’re controlling gene expression with light,” said founder and Chief Science Officer Jason Wargent in an interview with Aimee Nielson at Seed World. “We’re activating entire pathways that already exist in the plant, and we’re doing it instantly.” 

In addition to programming plants with light for enhanced crop traits, they are also aiming to use this innovation to tackle cow and rice methane emissions. In fact, Azolla Ventures’ investment in BioLumic is specifically focused on two methane moonshots: one to increase lipid content in forage grasses to reduce enteric methane emissions and the other to make rice seedlings more vigorous in order to avoid paddy flooding, which also contributes 10% of global anthropogenic methane emissions. Enteric methane from ruminant digestion and methane from flooded rice paddies account for nearly half of global agricultural methane emissions. BioLumic is directly targeting both. In forage grass, xTraits™ increase lipid content — a proven strategy to lower enteric methane emissions by improving rumen efficiency. In rice, stronger early seedling vigor enables dry direct-seeded rice (DDSR) practices, avoiding methane-producing flooded conditions. These two “methane moonshots” represent some of the most scalable, near-term pathways to agricultural decarbonization — and BioLumic is delivering them without genetic modification or costly additives.

Johanna Wolfson, Co-founder and General Partner of Azolla Ventures, told us, "What we're excited about is the multi-faceted application of this technology, specifically in hard-to-abate areas of agricultural methane emissions. Demonstration of commercial viability in row crops is an important stepping stone to leveraging this technology to tackle methane moonshots."

The outcomes are compelling across nearly every metric of agricultural and climate performance. In field and greenhouse trials, BioLumic has demonstrated significant yield gains in corn, rice, and soybeans, increased plant immunity, and larger root systems that support drought resilience, nutrient use efficiency, and carbon sequestration.

Conventional trait development through genetic modification or gene editing typically takes 7–10 years, costs tens of millions of dollars, and faces regulatory or public resistance in many global markets. BioLumic’s light-activated xTraits™ can be developed and deployed in under 3 years, without regulatory delays or high development costs, and without changing farming practices.

From Lab to Field: Scaling a New Trait Platform

These results are not just scientifically impressive; they’re operationally efficient. BioLumic treats seeds at the parent level, and large-scale field trials this season will give insights into how the performance benefits are inherited by the next generation of commercial seed, which has the potential to streamline deployment at scale. Their technology is already being commercialized through partnerships with Gro Alliance and Breeder Direct, with seed activated in 2024 now entering growers’ hands for the first time.

In early 2025, BioLumic extended its  Series B round, bringing the total to $21MM and adding new strategic partners. The raise signaled growing enthusiasm for non-genetically modified trait innovation that can be deployed faster, more cost-effectively, and with greater flexibility than traditional approaches.

“This is a major commercial milestone that validates BioLumic’s light-activated trait platform as a scalable, non-GMO innovation with global applications,” said Wargent in a March 2025 press release announcing the company’s partnership with Gro Alliance.

Photo of Steve Sibulkin, CEO of BioLumic

In parallel with its rapid technical advances, BioLumic has also expanded its operations to the U.S. and New Zealand, with plans to scale further into India, the EU, and South America. Its applications are being explored across a range of crops and climate zones, from methane-smart forage grasses to rice systems that reduce the need for flooding and enable more climate-friendly practices.

As the company scales, we asked Steve Sibulkin, BioLumic’s CEO, to reflect on their journey:

“We’re not just improving seed performance — we’re creating an entirely new operating system for trait delivery,” said Steve Sibulkin, CEO of BioLumic. “By programming gene expression with light, we’ve built a platform that’s faster, more scalable, and climate-ready — without the regulatory and environmental trade-offs."

The Role of Catalytic Capital

For Prime, BioLumic’s work represents the system-shifting potential that catalytic capital is uniquely positioned to advance. Agricultural innovation has historically been slow, costly, and highly regulated, which is a challenge for early-stage companies working outside traditional paradigms. So the advancement of Biolumic is illustrative of how Azolla Fund I can accelerate breakthrough platforms like BioLumic, not only as a seed technology company but as a platform capable of reimagining how we think about trait activation, crop performance, and emissions reduction.

What’s clear is that BioLumic’s light-based technology doesn’t just illuminate what’s possible in seeds. It’s lighting the way toward a more adaptive, lower-emissions food system. It’s also a powerful reminder of why Prime’s catalytic capital programs back bold science early.