Plant Bioscience

Name

Plant Bioscience

Legal name

Plant Bioscience Limited

Website

https://pbltechnology.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Norwich

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Licensing Revenue: PBL generates revenue by licensing technologies to industrial partners worldwide. The company shares revenues generated from commercialization with source institutions after deducting external patent costs. Licensing arrangements can be exclusive or non-exclusive, with exclusive rights granted where licensees commit to timely evaluation and diligent commercial development.
2. Revenue Sharing from Commercialization: PBL operates on a contingent basis - taking a portion of future commercial revenues shared with the original source institution. The company covers patent costs and may inject funds directly for proof-of-concept or technology development work.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Plant Bioscience Limited (PBL Technology) is a specialist technology transfer and intellectual property licensing company that invests in, protects and commercialises plant, food and microbial bioscience innovations sourced from public research institutions worldwide. It identifies research outputs, prosecutes patents, funds proof-of-concept work, and licenses the resulting protected technologies to industrial partners in agriculture, food, nutrition, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. PBL also creates spin-out ventures around selected technologies and runs the TEC Club subscription service giving industry partners early evaluation access to new innovations.

Product overview

PBL Technology operates as a technology transfer and licensing organization that manages intellectual property from public research institutions worldwide. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of technologies across three main sectors: Agriculture (including Crop Genetics, Crop Treatments, Precision Agriculture, and Promoters/R&D Tools), Food & Nutrition (including wheat technologies, starch modifications, and the Dynamic Gastric Model), and Health & Biotech (including the CPMV-HT protein expression system, molecular pharming, and therapeutic technologies). Key products include the Dynamic Gastric Model for food and pharmaceutical research, High Glucoraphanin Broccoli (Beneforte), and various CRISPR-enabled breeding technologies. The company also operates the TEC Club, a subscription service providing early evaluation access to technologies for commercial partners. Technologies are licensed to industry partners who invest in development and commercialization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dynamic Gastric Model (DGM) A bench-top, computer-controlled in vitro system that simulates digestion in the human stomach, enabling accurate prediction of food and drug behaviour during gastric digestion. Licensed to pharmaceutical, CRO and academic customers (e.g. Bioneer A/S) for pharmaceutical services and contract R&D within drug development.
• CPMV-HT Protein Expression System High-level plant-based protein expression system for molecular pharming applications, enabling production of proteins in plant hosts. Available for licensing to biotech and pharmaceutical industry partners.
• High Glucoraphanin Broccoli (Beneforte) Nutritionally improved fresh broccoli variety with enhanced glucoraphanin content developed through conventional breeding techniques, licensed to commercial vegetable breeders and food companies.
• QS-21 Production Technology Plant-based production technology for the immune-boosting adjuvant compound QS-21 (traditionally sourced from the Chilean Soapbark tree), licensed to vaccine adjuvant developers and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
• Waterless Dry Sheets Waterless technology platform enabling sustainable health and personal care products without traditional water-based formulations, available for licensing to personal care and consumer health companies.
• Reduced Gliadin Wheat RNAi-based wheat platform producing grain with drastically reduced gliadin fraction, plus follow-on high-lysine and genome-edited variants. Licensed to wheat breeders, millers and food manufacturers for celiac-friendly and improved-nutrition applications.
• BLINK - Enhanced Photosynthetic Efficiency / Yield Plant genetics trait technology delivering enhanced photosynthetic efficiency and yield in crops, available for licensing to seed companies and crop breeders.
• Novel Plant Starches (MRC1) Plant genetics platform enabling flexible starch modification through simple genetic mutation, producing novel starches for food, nutrition and industrial applications; available for licensing.
• Healthy Triticeae Starches (PARC6) Plant genetics technology producing Triticeae (wheat/barley) starches with increased starch granule size and lower glycemic index, available for licensing to food and ingredient companies.
• PHS1 Wheat/Barley Starch Wheat and barley starch technology producing grain with reduced B-granule starch content, available for licensing to ingredient and food manufacturers.
• TEC Club (Technology Evaluation Concept) Subscription-based programme giving commercial development partners early evaluation access to PBL's pipeline technologies before general release, reducing paperwork and upfront payments. Targeted at industrial licensees across agriculture, food, nutrition and biotech sectors.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 40% of patented technologies generate some form of revenues - extremely high success rate when benchmarked against other public sector technology transfer organisations
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Hudson River BiotechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026Collaboration focused on accelerating deployment of CRISPR-enabled traits in tomato and strawberry breeding programs. Validated trait concepts from PBL's portfolio will be combined with HRB's BioMaas deployment platform for transgene-free CRISPR breeding and single-cell regeneration. Aims to help breeders access and implement new traits more rapidly within commercial breeding programs.
• BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2004BBSRC became a one-third shareholder of PBL in 2004, endorsing the company's position as a key channel for new biotechnologies emerging from public funding. BBSRC is part of UK Research and Innovation, the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience.
• John Innes CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1994Joint and equal owner of PBL along with The Sainsbury Laboratory and BBSRC. John Innes Centre is an independent and world-leading international centre of excellence in plant science, genetics and microbiology. PBL was originally established by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory.
• The Sainsbury LaboratorycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1994Joint and equal owner of PBL along with John Innes Centre and BBSRC. The Sainsbury Laboratory is a world-leading research institute working on the science of plant-microbe interactions. It co-founded PBL in 1994 through the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
• Chinese Research Institutions (Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology CAS, CAAS, etc.)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL has been actively representing Chinese research institutions since 2009, managing selected innovations. Chinese partners include Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology (CAS), Institute of Crop Sciences (CAAS), Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Nanjing Agricultural University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and others.
• UK and European Research InstitutionsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL works with UK institutions including John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory, Quadram Institute, Rothamsted Research, and universities across the UK. European partners include KU Leuven and VIB (Belgium), University of Aarhus (Denmark), INRA (France), CSIC, CNB (Spain), and others.
• US Research InstitutionsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL works with US institutions including Florida State University, Iowa State University, North Carolina State University, Stanford University, Texas A&M University, University of Wyoming, Virginia Tech, and Yale University.
• Hothouse TherapeuticsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL venture harnessing the power of plants to produce natural chemicals for next-generation drugs to protect humans against disease. Based on research from John Innes Centre.
• CCI Photonics LimitedminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL venture developing diagnostic medical devices to provide clinicians with fast and accurate identification of antimicrobial resistant infections, aiding antibiotic prescription.
• Plenty SenseminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL venture that developed in-soil continuous nitrate sensors providing farmers and agronomists with ability to monitor nitrate during crop growing season and adjust nitrogen fertilisation.
• Norfolk Plant SciencesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL venture that developed genetically modified purple-fleshed tomatoes containing high levels of antioxidants and anthocyanins normally found in fruits such as blueberries and blackberries.
• InspiralisminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL venture supplying topoisomerases, ligases and helicases including assay kits, substrates and screening services to pharmaceutical industry and academia for drug development and research.
• The Smarter Food CompanyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL venture - consumer product development company established to develop foods with proven health benefits.
• iDna GeneticsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL venture providing genetic analytical laboratory services and research for plant breeding and seeds industry.
• Novacta BiosystemsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPBL venture - drug discovery and development company using pathway engineering and chemistry to optimise activity of natural products for treatment of infectious diseases.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• IP Group plc: UK-listed IP commercialization firm that takes equity and royalty positions in early-stage university spinouts, with a similar mission of converting public-sector research into commercial outcomes. Operates an analogous contingent / equity-sharing model, but at materially greater scale across multiple sectors.
• Cambridge Enterprise: The University of Cambridge's technology transfer office, providing IP protection, licensing and venture formation for academic research. Directly comparable to PBL in business model (services for life-science and broader research commercialization), though anchored to Cambridge's research base rather than plant/microbial specialty.
• Oxford University Innovation: The University of Oxford's technology transfer company, handling patent prosecution, licensing and spin-out formation for Oxford research. Closely comparable to PBL in mandate and structure, sharing a UK academic-TTO heritage and life-sciences emphasis.
• UCL Business: UCL's technology transfer arm, commercializing IP and supporting spin-outs from one of the UK's largest biomedical research bases. Directly comparable to PBL as a UK university TTO with significant life-science and biotech activity.
• Edinburgh Innovations: The University of Edinburgh's technology transfer office, providing patenting, licensing and commercialization services for research outputs. Closely comparable to PBL as a UK academic TTO operating in life sciences.
• Imperial College Innovations: Imperial College London's technology transfer function, supporting commercialization and spin-out formation from engineering and life-science research. Comparable to PBL as a UK university TTO with substantial biotech and biomedical IP.

Broad incumbents

• WARF (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation): One of the oldest and largest US university-affiliated technology transfer organizations, managing patent portfolios and licensing research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Comparable to PBL in the contingent-revenue IP licensing model but materially larger and broader in scope.
• Research Corporation for Science Advancement: US non-profit foundation supporting academic scientific research and commercialization of university IP for over a century. Comparable to PBL as a long-tenured research-funded IP commercialization organization, though operating on a foundation rather than fee/revenue-share model.

Regional players

• Max Planck Innovation GmbH: The technology transfer office of the Max Planck Society, responsible for patenting and licensing innovations from Max Planck Institutes. Comparable to PBL as a non-profit research-to-industry TTO, but focused on physical/engineering sciences and based in Germany.
• EMBL Enterprise Management Technology Transfer: The technology transfer arm of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), supporting commercialization of molecular biology research from a pan-European intergovernmental institute. Comparable as a life-science-specialist TTO operating across borders.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pbl-technology

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Plant Bioscience