Pairwise Licenses Fulcrum® CRISPR Platform to Wild Bioscience Fulcrum® tools to support AI-driven crop trait development

Pairwise, a global innovator in agriculture, today announced a licensing agreement with Wild Bioscience Ltd. (Wild Bio) granting the company access to Pairwise’s Fulcrum® genome editing tools. Under the agreement, Wild Bio will integrate Fulcrum® tools into its research and development pipeline to design and develop more resilient crops for a changing climate.

Wild Bio applies artificial intelligence and evolutionary biology to identify and design beneficial plant traits, pairing computational discovery with commercial genetics to accelerate crop improvement. Through this collaboration, Wild Bio will leverage Pairwise’s CRISPR-based genome editing tools to translate AI-driven trait insights into elite crop varieties. The license applies to a range of row crops that Wild Bio operates across for its yield enhancement and carbon removal projects.  

“At Wild Bio, our goal is to develop resilient crops for a changing planet – sustainably improving yields while reducing agricultural footprints,” said Dr. Ross Hendron, CEO of Wild Bioscience. “We focus on rapidly translating AI-driven trait discovery into elite crop genetics spanning multiple species. Pairwise’s plant-optimized genome editing approach expands our toolkit for efficiently deploying our traits across crops.”  

“Pairwise built Fulcrum® to enable innovators across agriculture to realize the full potential of precision breeding,” said Dr. Tom Adams, CEO of Pairwise. “By licensing our platform to partners like Wild Bio, we are extending access to advanced editing tools that help accelerate trait development, and by extension, our mission to make a healthier world, by making plants easier to grow and eat.”

The Pairwise Fulcrum® platform includes proprietary gene editing tools, enzymes, and trait libraries that enable precise genetic changes, unlocking plants’ inherent potential and significantly accelerating the development of impactful crop traits compared to traditional breeding methods. The licensing will cover research and commercial purposes.

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About Wild Bioscience

Wild Bioscience Ltd. is an agricultural biotechnology company applying evolutionary biology and artificial intelligence to develop resilient, high-performance crops for a changing planet. Founded in 2021 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford, the company was established by Dr. Ross Hendron and Prof. Steve Kelly and is backed by the Ellison Institute Oxford, Oxford Science Enterprises, Braavos Capital, and the University of Oxford. For more information, visit www.wildbioscience.com.

About Pairwise

Pairwise is agriculture’s gene editing powerhouse, building a healthier world through partnership and plant innovation. Co-founded by early pioneers of CRISPR, Pairwise’s Fulcrum® Platform accelerates the development of climate-resilient, nutritious, and sustainable crops. As a trusted partner to global industry leaders and nonprofit institutions, Pairwise helps breeders move faster while transforming food and agriculture for farmers, consumers, and the planet. Founded in 2017 and based in Durham, NC, Pairwise is committed to delivering innovation that makes food easier to grow and better to eat. For more information, visit www.pairwise.com.

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Below is an update originally shared with our newsletter audience, capturing recent progress across Pairwise’s products, platform, and policy momentum.

Early Market Validation of Our Berry Business

This year marked an important milestone for the power of our Fulcrum® platform: the first outdoor field trials for blackberry. These trials allow us to observe performance across two distinct growing environments, the US and Colombia, and begin translating our genetics into real-world production settings. Learnings from this season will help shape the broader field program planned for the coming years.​

Early observations from both sites have been incredibly encouraging. Our high-density production system has the potential to reshape economics in the caneberry category. The compact blackberry may not only reduce land use but also increase yields by 50+% based on our greenhouse trials. While still early in the outdoor field trials, the initial signals give us confidence in our path toward future commercialization and in reaching the next set of technical and commercial milestones in 2026.​

This year, we hit another powerful milestone: the first commercial sale of edited blackberries in the world. In Colombia, working with a Production Partner and Retailers, the berries have been sold to consumers, who have responded positively to the fruit. Each clamshell includes a QR code that links consumers directly to information on blackberries and the technology behind them, ensuring transparency and helping introduce consumers to the benefits of innovation in fresh produce. This early market validation adds to our confidence in the significant berry opportunities ahead.

The Innovation is Real, Translational and Accelerating

One of the newest additions to our greenhouses is our seedless blackberry — a juicy, delicious berry without the tough seeds that pops in your mouth. This incredible berry represents a true game-changer for specialty crops. Again and again in the market, we’ve seen that seedlessness outperforms; people love convenient, snackable fruits.

This thesis is also a core part of the joint venture we launched with Sun World International in September, where together we’re working to create the world’s first pitless cherry. Traditionally, breeding something like this could take a century. We believe we can achieve it in a decade. (See Bloomberg article about our partnership here).

Innovation in agriculture has historically run on century-long timelines. We're demonstrating in real time that doesn't have to be the case. Our platform approach to AgTech enables the architecture of continuous innovation. When we compress breeding cycles and translate traits across crops, we open possibilities that weren't feasible in entire categories – from sustainability and disease tolerance to nutrition and yield. The sky, not the edge of the field, is the limit.

Global Adoption of Fulcrum® Platform Continues

Over the past six months, we've signed agreements with organizations that continue to validate the value of genome editing and Pairwise’s Fulcrum® platform. Each one of these is proof that our proprietary CRISPR platform is becoming an essential infrastructure. These include:

• Academic licenses signed with Kansas State, University of Wisconsin and University of Florida (UF/IFAS)
• International Rice Research Institute: Global research to support rice as a staple crop
• Mars: Research in cacao (See CNBC article here)
• Genus: Validation of our technology beyond plant applications – a first!
• Enza Zaden: A Netherlands-based global vegetable seed company that is using Fulcrum in its research, reflecting growing adoption of genome editing/NGTs in Europe (See the Packer article here)

Here is a snapshot of our current licensing footprint:

Game-Changing Policy Progress in the EU

A policy agreement was reached, paving the way for opening the European market to edited plant varieties for both cultivation and import. A final vote still needs to occur, which is expected in late Q1/early Q2 of 2026, but the policy the European Council and the European Parliament agreed upon creates a category for these plants to enter the market with no patent restrictions, food labeling, or traceability requirements. After the vote, the European Commission will embark upon writing the regulations, which is expected to take approximately 24 months. We eagerly await the opening of the European market!

This is only part of our work. Catch us at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in SF March 17-18, 2026 and find future updates of our whereabouts on LinkedIn.

Enkhuizen, the Netherlands, and Durham, North Carolina (November 17, 2025) — Enza Zaden, a global leader in vegetable breeding that develops and supplies innovative vegetable seeds for growers worldwide, today announced a strategic agreement to license Pairwise’s Fulcrum® Platform, a suite of precision plant breeding tools.

“At Enza Zaden, our mission is to grant people everywhere access to healthy vegetables by developing high-quality varieties and seeds,” said Jaap Mazereeuw, CEO of Enza Zaden. “This collaboration reflects our commitment to breakthrough plant science and responsible innovation to benefit growers, consumers, and the environment. Pairwise’s Fulcrum® Platform equips us with advanced tools for research, strengthening our ongoing focus on sustainability and creating value for our customers.”

Enza Zaden is currently focused on evaluating gene editing for research purposes in vegetable crops. While the agreement covers both research and potential future commercialization, Enza Zaden has no immediate plans for a commercial launch. Any future commercialization will depend on regulatory developments, market readiness, and company strategy. Enza Zaden supports regulatory developments that enable responsible use of gene editing and will consider commercialization when legislation, market readiness, and company strategy are aligned.

“Enza Zaden has a long tradition of developing innovative vegetable varieties. We’re proud to support them in accelerating the natural potential of crops with cutting-edge tools," said Tom Adams, CEO of Pairwise. "Gene editing is a precise, modern breeding method that complements traditional approaches, enabling breeders to achieve results faster while addressing key challenges like sustainability and disease resistance. Gene editing represents a vital tool for advancing resilient, climate-smart crops that align with sustainable agriculture goals.”

Pairwise’s Fulcrum® Platform is becoming the preferred CRISPR toolbox across the agriculture value chain, proven to work in diverse crop types. By integrating advanced gene editing tools with a strong intellectual property portfolio, the platform enables accelerated agricultural innovation worldwide.

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About Enza Zaden

Enza Zaden is a family-owned, international vegetable-breeding company with headquarters in Enkhuizen, the Netherlands. Founded in 1938, the company develops innovative, high-quality vegetable varieties and seeds for more than 30 crops. Each year, Enza Zaden introduces around 100 new varieties that help growers worldwide produce healthy, diverse, and sustainable food. With research facilities and subsidiaries across the globe, Enza Zaden is committed to innovation, sustainability, and ensuring access to healthy vegetables for people everywhere.

Enza Zaden’s portfolio includes more than 30 vegetable crops, from lettuce and tomato to cucumber, broccoli, and onions. Branded product concepts such as Eazyleaf® multi-leaf lettuce, Tribelli® sweet peppers, easyQs® mini cucumbers, and TomAzur® blight-resistant tomatoes showcase the company’s ability to connect advanced science with practical solutions for growers and consumers. For more information, visit www.enzazaden.com.

About Pairwise

Pairwise is agriculture’s gene editing powerhouse, building a healthier world through partnership and plant innovation. Co-founded by the inventors of CRISPR, our Fulcrum® Platform accelerates the development of climate-resilient, nutritious, and sustainable crops. As trusted partners to global industry leaders and nonprofit institutions, we help breeders move faster while transforming food and agriculture for farmers, consumers, and the planet. Founded in 2017 and based in Durham, NC, Pairwise is committed to delivering innovations that make food easier to grow and better to eat. For more information, visit www.pairwise.com.