UK biotech Cytotrait has raised £3 million in seed funding to accelerate the development of new agricultural traits aimed at improving food security and sustainability. The round was led by Northern Gritstone, with participation from the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (managed by Future Planet Capital) and the Northern Universities Ventures Fund, managed by Parkwalk Advisors in collaboration with Northern Gritstone.
Before this seed round, the company secured £498,000 from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to develop its technology for reliable hybrid seed production in wheat, one of the world’s most widely cultivated crops.
The investment will help Cytotrait expand early data generated from its proprietary Mutant Organelle Selection System (MOSS) technology. The fresh capital will also enable Cytotrait to expand its research programmes into several major crop species, including wheat, maize, potato and canola, targeting both European and North American markets.
These initiatives will explore improvements in crop yields and resilience, while also introducing new food traits and enhancing the potential for carbon sequestration in agricultural systems.
A new approach to long-standing crop engineering challenges
Global agriculture faces growing pressure to produce more food while reducing environmental impact. Yet improving crop traits through conventional genetic engineering remains complex and slow, often limited by inconsistent gene expression and biological constraints within plant cells.
Cytotrait’s MOSS technology is designed to overcome these limitations by targeting organelles, chloroplasts and mitochondria inside plant cells. The system introduces genes or edits into these organelles and rapidly achieves homoplasmy, meaning every organelle within the plant cell carries the desired genetic change.
This approach allows traits to be expressed locally and at very high levels, sometimes with thousands of copies of a gene per cell. The result is more reliable trait development, with a lower risk of transgene phytotoxicity, easier backcrossing, efficient containment, and simplified regulatory pathways compared with traditional crop modification methods.
From university research to global crop applications
Cytotrait originated as a spinout from the University of Manchester, founded by Junwei Ji and supported by its commercialisation arm, University of Manchester Innovation Factory.
The company is also a graduate of NG Studios, Northern Gritstone’s venture-building programme focused on deep-tech spinouts.
Engineering crops for productivity and sustainability
Beyond increasing harvest output, Cytotrait’s technology opens opportunities for broader improvements across the food system. The ability to engineer traits with strong, controlled expression could help crops better withstand pests, diseases and environmental stress.
It also enables the development of hybrid crops and new food characteristics, while potentially reducing environmental impacts through improved carbon capture within plant systems. These capabilities position the technology as a tool not only for agricultural productivity but also for climate-conscious farming practices.
Cytotrait has begun advancing enhanced-trait programmes across several major crops, aiming to translate laboratory breakthroughs into field-ready innovations.
As pressure on global food systems intensifies, solutions that can boost yield while supporting sustainable farming are becoming increasingly urgent. Cytotrait’s organelle-targeting technology offers a new route to engineer crops more precisely, potentially reshaping how future food production balances productivity with environmental responsibility.
Dr Junwei Ji, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Cytotrait, commented: “Food security and sustainability are two of our most pressing global challenges, and issues that we must be prepared to face today to ensure we are ready to meet the needs of tomorrow. We developed MOSS with those challenges in mind – a unique crop engineering solution capable of streamlining regulatory pathways and generating crops with new, enhanced, and more carbon-conscious traits. Thank you to our investors, whose support reaffirms our belief in the potential of MOSS to bring about a new frontier in crop technology.”
Duncan Johnson, CEO, Northern Gritstone, said: Cytotrait is a prime example of the world-class innovation from the North of England’s universities and the ambitious founders and teams we see on our venture building program, NG Studios. Northern Gritstone is very pleased to be working with Dr Ji and the team and look forward to positive results from this first tranche of new development programmes.”
“MOSS is truly a breakthrough in the field of crop technology, allowing us to precisely engineer characteristics that can not only enhance yield and resilience, but also help to drive a more sustainable future for modern agriculture,” said Dr Tim Brears, Executive Chair. He continued: “We’re extremely proud of everything our team has already accomplished, and thankful to our investors, whose support will enable us to expand our pipeline and explore the applications of MOSS in some of the world’s major crop types.”
Hassan Mahmudul, Investment Manager, UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund, remarked: “UKI2S invests in companies developing novel engineering biology solutions to tackle large, global challenges. We are delighted to welcome Cytotrait to our growing agritech portfolio, recognising the strength of its platform technology, which has the potential to unlock high-value trait expression at levels significantly beyond what is achievable through conventional nuclear genome engineering.”
