Pivot Bio is celebrating the grand opening of its new office in the Iowa State University Research Park.
Pivot Bio held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house Thursday at its new Iowa-based location at 2710 South Loop Drive in Ames. Mark Reisinger serves as Vice President of Commercial Operations.
?It?s been a long time coming,? said Reisinger. ?The company is 10 years old. We?ve been commercial for three years and have been looking for a location that is close to our customers and also close to some of the top researchers in the United States. Iowa State just happened to be a perfect fit for us.?
Reisinger says Pivot Bio has transformed the way fertilizer is used by the world?s farmers.
?Within the next 10 years, we want to replace synthetic nitrogen,? said Reisinger. ?We want the nitrogen that farmers use on corn, wheat, sorghum and other crops to be a product that doesn?t leach, that doesn?t denitrify, and instead of applying to the soil you apply to the plant. That?s what our product is today.?
In July, Pivot Bio launched its new second-generation product PROVEN 40. Reisinger says PROVEN 40 is the only microbial product available to U.S. corn growers that applies nitrogen everyday throughout the growing season, with peak nitrogen production when the crops need it most.
?Pivot Bio PROVEN has been on the market for three years,? said Reisinger. ?In each of the first three years we had a wonderful customer response. We sold out. We?ve just introduced Pivot Bio PROVEN 40, one of the reasons we built this customer success center. We?ve increased the amount of nitrogen we are offering from 25 pounds to 40. We believe we have other innovations that will be coming in the pipeline soon. Having a center like this is going to be a tremendous asset for us.?
Reisinger adds it?s been a very successful summer for the company. In addition to the launch of a new product and the grand opening of its new facility in Ames, Pivot Bio also secured $430 million in Series D funding.
?The funding round was tremendous,? said Reisinger. ?It gave us the ability to accelerate our development on the commercial side. It?s the largest single raise in the history of agriculture because it?s all equity financing. There?s no debt involved in this. This is investors saying ?hey, we like your science. We think there is a lot of opportunity for this product and we?re going to get behind you.??
Speakers at Thurday?s ceremony included Ames Chamber of Commerce CEO Dan Culhane, IEDA Director Debi Durham, Iowa Ag Deputy Secretary Julie Kenney, Iowa State University President Dr. Wendy Wintersteen, and Pivot Bio CEO Karsten Temme.
A full video interview with Reisinger can be viewed below.
