Bugs beware! Bio-Gene secures $2.1 million to advance its insect-busting tech

Bio-Gene Technology Limited announced on Monday it has successfully secured $2.1 million from sophisticated and professional investors, giving its insect-fighting arsenal a significant financial boost.

The company isn’t just creating another bug spray for your kitchen cabinet. Bio-Gene is developing insecticides based on compounds found in nature that can outsmart resistant pests.

Around 40 per cent of the world’s crops lost to pests every year, equivalent to over 1.3bn tonnes of food, and insects growing increasingly resistant to conventional treatments.

“Funds raised in this Placement, and under the planned SPP, will assist Bio-Gene to undertake key safety studies that will be a significant component of our application for regulatory approval of Flavocide active constituent in Australia,” said Tim Grogan, Bio-Gene’s Managing Director and CEO, who added that regulatory approval would mark a crucial milestone in the company’s strategy.

The capital raised will primarily fund safety studies for Flavocide – one of Bio-Gene’s products that has a unique mode of action not present in any other commercial product today, tackling bugs in ways they haven’t seen before, making it harder for them to develop resistance.

Bio-Gene isn’t putting all its eggs in one botanical basket. The company is also advancing Qcide, a natural oil product containing tasmanone as the active constituent… extracted from the leaves of a rare cultivar of an Australian eucalypt, the Gympie Messmate.

Bio-Gene will launch a Share Purchase Plan allowing eligible investors to buy up to $15,000 in shares at the same price as the placement – $0.023 per share. The SPP is expected to kick off on May 12 and close on May 26.

Picture: credit LinkedIn