Tropic acquires global plant propagation business Rahan Meristem to accelerate the commercial roll-out of its new banana varieties
Tropic, a pioneering tropical seeds company based at Norwich Research Park, has acquired Rahan Meristem, a leading international banana plant propagation company with operations across Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.
The acquisition provides Tropic with large-scale plant production and distribution capacity in the world’s major banana-exporting regions, accelerating the commercial roll-out of its next-generation banana varieties and establishing the first fully integrated banana genetics company, spanning variety development, propagation and grower supply.
Tropic was founded in 2016 and is dedicated to developing healthier, more robust and higher-performing varieties of tropical crops. Prior to the acquisition of Rahan it had grown to employ around 160 people.
Bananas are one of the world’s most important agricultural crops with more than 20m tonnes exported annually. Global commercial production relies almost entirely on a single variety, the Cavendish, leaving growers exposed to disease pressure, supply-chain disruption and major threats including Panama disease TR4.
Tropic uses advanced gene-editing and breeding technologies to develop improved banana varieties that retain the agronomic performance and consumer qualities of Cavendish bananas, while introducing valuable new traits including disease resistance, reduced browning, extended shelf life and higher yields. These new banana varieties help growers improve productivity and resilience while delivering better-quality fruit and reducing waste across the supply chain.
Following its recent $105 million Series C funding round and the launch of the first commercially viable new banana varieties in more than 75 years, Tropic is now focused on scaling-up global production and grower adoption. The Rahan Meristem acquisition provides it with the propagation capacity, operational expertise and regional presence needed to accelerate commercial deployment worldwide. Rahan’s existing grower relationships across the major banana-producing regions provide direct routes to market for Tropic’s new varieties.
Tropic’s CEO, Gilad Gershon, said: “Welcoming Rahan and its team into Tropic creates a remarkable joint business with the operational scale and global reach to deliver critical banana innovations to growers worldwide. Together, we can help growers improve resilience and productivity while delivering better-quality fruit and reduced waste for consumers and supply chains.”
Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership, said: “Norwich Research Park is proud to have supported Tropic from an early stage with access to specialist skills and technology platforms at the John Innes Centre. Seeing the company grow, over the last decade, has been exciting and inspiring for everyone on the campus from the research community to the new entrepreneurs ambitious for their own success.
The calibre of the Tropic team is something that I would like to take the opportunity to recognise here. A company does not move from start-up to high growth, through several ‘valley of death’ moments, without an astute and courageous leadership team. This new acquisition, combined with its latest £100m Series C funding, makes them true trail blazers.
I am of course hoping that this is the start of things to come with so many new and exciting startups taking residence at Norwich Research Park. Many congratulations to the Tropic team for achieving this crucial next step in revolutionising the banana market.”
