Burrill's $100M+ agbio play

Burrill & Co.'s planned $110 million Burrill Agbio Capital Fund promises to bring some attention (and money) to agbio, a sector that has been consolidated by the giants and largely orphaned by U.S. investors in recent years. The fund raised $75 million in its first closing, with Bayer Corp., Hoechst-Schering AgrEvo GmbH and Transamerica Business Credit Corp. each providing $25 million (B12). CEO G. Steven Burrill hopes to raise an additional $35 million by June 30.

The fund will invest in companies with technologies applicable to the agriculture, food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. According to Burrill, there are several fundable technologies that have been shelved or put on the back burner as a result of agbio's consolidation...