London-based agri-tech company, Concert Bio, is helping soilless food growers get better harvests using the natural power of microbes - tiny organisms that support plant health. By introducing these microbes into modern systems where crops are grown without soil - known as hydroponic systems - the company is helping plants grow faster, healthier and with fewer chemicals. With dedicated business growth support from Innovate UK, Concert Bio has secured £2.3 million in funding, formed seven international partnerships and created seven new jobs.
In hydroponic systems, crops are grown in water or nutrient-rich solutions instead of soil. These controlled environments can be highly efficient, but they miss one of nature’s most important ingredients: the microbes in soil that help plants absorb nutrients, fight off disease and thrive.
Concert Bio has developed a solution to that problem. Its technology identifies the right combination of beneficial microbes for specific crops and adds them to hydroponic systems in the right way and at the right time. This gives plants the same natural biological support they’d get from healthy soil – even though they aren’t grown in it.
Dr Paul Rutten, Founder and CEO of Concert Bio, explains: “We’re enabling greenhouse growers to harness the enormous potential of the microbiome to increase their crop yield and quality.
“By identifying and creating beneficial microbe products, we help greenhouses further reduce their dependence on chemical inputs and accelerate the industry’s development of more sustainable, resilient food production – something that’s increasingly important in the face of climate change and soil degradation.”
Tailored support and global networks drive growth
Concert Bio began working with Innovate UK Business Growth in September 2023 after being accepted onto the Global Business Innovation Programme (GBIP) to the Netherlands – a global leader in greenhouse and hydroponic farming. The visit focused on innovation in agriculture and gave Concert Bio access to new contacts, insights and commercial opportunities.
Working with Innovation and Growth Specialist, Paul Heritage, with support from GBIP Lead, Hardeep Samra, a tailored business growth action plan was developed to strengthen its commercial strategy, including identifying sources of funding, building key partnerships and preparing for launch.
A major step forward came when Concert Bio was accepted into StartLife, a respected Dutch programme that helps new agricultural businesses grow. This gave the company added credibility and helped form relationships with growers and agri-tech providers such as Duijvestijn Tomaten, PlantLab and Harvest House.
With support from these partners, the company went on to deliver more than 15 commercial trials across the UK and Europe. These trials showed average yield improvements of 9.9% in leafy greens and 15.2% in tomatoes – results considered exceptional by commercial growers and significantly above industry averages.
Dr Rutten says: “The GBIP to the Netherlands was transformative for us. The Netherlands is the heart of the horticulture industry, and our visit there as part of the programme opened doors to the world’s pre-eminent players in the space, leading to trials, collaborations, commercial agreements and even a joint white paper and webinar with Jiffy Group. The programme gave us both validation and visibility on an international stage.
“The holy grail for commercial trials is showing that a product works in the Netherlands. The Dutch are famous for being the best in the business in greenhouses.”
Funding unlocks commercial rollout
With promising results from trials, the next step was turning the science into a product growers could use. Following a recommendation from Innovate UK Business Growth, Concert Bio successfully applied for a £1 million Innovate UK Novel low-emission production systems: Investor Partnerships grant in November 2023. This was matched by £1.3 million in private investment, giving the business the resources to grow its team and prepare for launch.
In September 2024, the company was awarded a £15,000 Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) and Catapult grant for microbial scale-up and formulation through Innovate UK Business Growth, supporting its manufacturing setup in partnership with the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI).
Its first patented product, Overture™, launched in December 2024 is already improving crop yields and generating early sales. The company’s first commercial customer, JEPCO (Glebe) – the UK’s largest hydroponic lettuce grower – brought in £26,000 of revenue in the product’s first month.
A UK-grown business with global reach
With seven new hires and seven international partnerships secured, Concert Bio is now scaling up to meet growing demand in the UK and across Europe. In November 2024, the company co-authored a White Paper with Jiffy B.V., a Dutch company that supplies materials used to grow plants commercially, exploring how microbes can support future food production.
Dr Rutten concludes: “Innovate UK Business Growth helped us achieve what every deep-tech start-up beginning their commercial journey needs -traction with customers. Working together with their team, we went from a new and largely unknown name in the industry to signing commercial agreements with top-tier growers across the EU and US.”
By helping growers produce more food using fewer resources, Concert Bio’s innovation supports sustainable farming and contributes to economic growth through job creation and green innovation.
Innovate UK Business Growth helped us achieve what every deep-tech start-up beginning their commercial journey needs – traction with customers.
Dr Paul Rutten, Founder and CEO of Concert Bio