Traditional insecticides face two big challenges. Pests such as aphids can become resistant faster than new chemicals are approved, with over 1,000 cases reported. In some regions, insect populations have fallen by 70 to 75% in recent decades. Since over 75% of food crops depend on insect pollination, the methods meant to protect crops are now threatening their survival.
Agriodor was co-founded by Alain Thibault and Dr Ené Leppik in 2019 in Rennes as a spin-off from INRAE, France’s national agricultural research institute, to develop a new approach that uses natural plant scents to guide insect behaviour rather than poison them.
The company’s platform uses semiochemicals, which are molecules that help insects sense their environment. Agrochemicals work in two types: kairomones, which attract insects, and allomones, which plants use to repel pests. Its technology creates these scents and blends them into products that target specific pests without harming beneficial insects such as pollinators and ladybirds.
Today, this French agtech startup announced a €15 million in Series A funding, led by the Environmental and Solidarity Revolution Fund, managed by Crédit Mutuel Impact. Other backers include Région Sud Investissement, CAAP Création (Crédit Agricole Alpes-Provence), Capagro, CapHorn, and SWEN Capital Partners.
In 2026, Agriodor was the first company to use an allomone commercially in row crops. They applied it in French sugar beet fields to target Myzus persicae, the green aphid that spreads beet yellows virus. Their product, INSIOR® Gr A, is distributed in France by Syngenta. Syngenta’s 2025 field trials showed a 40% reduction in green aphid numbers compared to untreated fields, supporting both the science and the business partnership.
“Working with French sugar beet growers has been extremely structuring from a technical standpoint. This is a highly demanding system, with strong advisory frameworks. One key lesson is that efficacy alone is not sufficient; products must be easy to integrate into existing farming practices. Application constraints, equipment compatibility, and timing within crop protection programs are critical,” shares Leppik with Tech Funding News.
Its competitors include Koppert Biological Systems, BioFirst/Biobest, Syngenta, BASF, and Bayer. Agriodor’s use of allomones in sugar beet fields is a breakthrough, creating a new product category with no direct competitors.
Agriodor has 42 employees, including 8 PhDs, and holds 8 patents across 3 patent families. The company partners with established crop protection firms to speed up regulatory approval.
The €15 million will help Agriodor expand its product range beyond sugar beet to target pests such as fruit flies, whiteflies, and thrips, which together represent markets worth over $4 billion.
The funding will also support growth in Europe, Latin America, and North America. Agriodor plans to use AI to advance its research in chemical ecology and to strengthen its 15 R&D partnerships in Europe, China, and Brazil.
“In 5–10 years, success would mean demonstrating that allelochemical-based solutions can deliver consistent agronomic performance at scale, while also contributing to a measurable reduction in the use of conventional insecticides. On the ecological side, we would expect to see better preservation of beneficial insect populations in treated fields,” Leppik concludes.
