Bioinsecticide Pioneer Vestaron Relocates Corporate Headquarters to the Triangle

October 22, 2019 – (Durham, North Carolina) – Vestaron Corporation, a Michigan-based discovery company focused on developing environmentally friendly peptide-based bioinsecticides has just moved its corporate headquarters to RTP to be closer to the pulse of the U.S. crop protection industry.

Vestaron has been in research and product development for more than 14 years, hiring current CEO Anna Rath 18 months ago to help bring the company’s first products to full commercialization in the United States, as well as to seek additional capital and strategic partnerships.

The company’s Spear® family of bioinsecticides is based on a naturally occurring peptide and produced using its proprietary fermentation platform, to control some of the most troublesome pests that attack high-value crops. Particularly noteworthy with the Spear products is they use a new mode-of-action to control pests, making these products a new way to effectively address the growing problem of insect resistance to existing traditional synthetic insecticides.

“Vestaron is at an exciting crossroad,” Rath says. “We have in place the key executives, field staff, manufacturing and commercial capabilities to market and meet demands of the Spear product line.”

Rath adds that there are additional peptide-based products in development that are nearing the field-testing stage, an important step to commercialization. “This affirms our commitment to revolutionizing agricultural inputs and helping growers solve complex insect resistance issues.”

In June 2019, Vestaron secured a $40 million Series B that Rath says will allow Vestaron to further expand its current offerings internationally, as well as fund further R&D, product development and customer support.

Rath concludes: “The work Vestaron is conducting addresses three key points critical to the future of crop protection; controlling pests resistant to current products, environmental and worker safety concerns, and consumer mindfulness about how their food is produced.”

Vestaron’s new North Carolina office at 600 Park Offices Drive will house employees in corporate leadership, operations, and marketing.  The Kalamazoo, Michigan, facility remains in place for research and development.

About Vestaron 
Vestaron is a company dedicated to improving the safety, efficacy and sustainability of crop protection through migration from synthetic pesticides to peptide-based biopesticides. Vestaron is initially focused on a class of peptides that kill insect pests efficiently, but are safe for humans, beneficial insects and the environment. As part of this, the company has developed a proprietary platform for peptide optimization, fermentation-based peptide production and in planta expression that will allow it to develop a wide variety of biologic crop protection and trait solutions. Vestaron is the winner of the inaugural 2015 Bernard Blum Award for novel biocontrol solutions.