Mycea

What Mycea does

Mycea SAS is a French deep-tech company founded in 2018 and headquartered at Biopôle Euromédecine in Montpellier, developing natural biofungicides for sustainable crop protection. Its core asset is a proprietary discovery platform built on a curated collection of over 750 wild forest fungal strains that has generated more than 2,000 screened extracts, advancing five lead candidates — two of which are in second-year, multi-site, multi-crop field validation against targets including grapevine downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola), potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans), apple scab, and wheat rust. Production is based on scalable liquid bio-production in bioreactors, with an 8,000-liter industrial scale-up already executed in partnership with ARD, and the platform claims full efficacy at five times lower concentrations than market standards.

The business operates on a pre-revenue model with no disclosed commercial sales today. Mycea plans to commercialize through industrial partnerships rather than a proprietary sales force, targeting regulatory approval first in Europe and subsequently in Latin America, where progressive withdrawal of chemical fungicides is generating demand for biocontrol alternatives. Its go-to-market combines event-driven visibility (e.g., CIMA 2025 scientific presentation), earned media in French business and trade press, and active participation in French biocontrol and deep-tech federations (IBMA France, France Biocontrole, ABBA, France Deeptech, Bpifrance). The company has raised €8 million from strategic investor Vol-V (2022), which also holds the board chair, and is preparing a Series A round to fund regulatory pathways.

The team of approximately 15 includes co-founder and Science & Tech CEO Dominique Barry-Etienne (35+ years in fungal physiology), Business & Partnerships CEO Aline Bsaibes (former CEO of French AgTech firm ITK), and senior advisor Thierry Merckling (40+ years in plant protection, ex-AgraQuest and Bayer biosolutions). Mycea applies machine learning through an INRIA partnership to optimize bioreactor production parameters, a capability credited with reducing discovery timelines from four to two years. In 2025 the company spun off Amoterra as an independent entity to commercialize its soil biodiversity regeneration activity (Mycoterroir), allowing Mycea to focus exclusively on biocontrol for international agricultural markets.

Name

Mycea

Legal name

Mycea

Website

https://mycea.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Mycea is a French deep-tech company developing natural biofungicides derived from a proprietary library of 750+ wild forest fungal strains for sustainable crop protection, targeting diseases in vineyards, potatoes, fruit, and cereals through industrial partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Biological Crop Protection (Biocontrol / Biofungicides)

NAICS

Pesticide and Other Agricultural Chemical Manufacturing (32532), Pesticide and Other Agricultural Chemical Manufacturing (325320)

SIC

Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYAFABAEAF

Botanical Biopesticides & Plant Extracts (Essential Oils, Neem, Pyrethrins)

Agriculture & Food Production/Agricultural Inputs & Agrochemicals/Biologicals & Biopesticides (Microbials, Botanicals, Beneficial Insects)

Keywords

• Biological crop protection
• Fungal biofungicides
• Biocontrol solutions
• Crop disease management
• Agricultural biotechnology

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint-gély-du-fesc

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Biocontrol Products for Crop Protection: Mycea develops and plans to commercialize natural biocontrol solutions derived from forest fungi extracts. The company is preparing regulatory filings in Europe and Latin America and seeking industrial partnerships for commercialization. Products target major crop diseases including grapevine downy mildew, potato late blight, apple scab, and wheat rust.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Mycea develops natural biocontrol (biofungicide) products derived from fermented extracts of wild forest fungi to protect crops against major fungal and oomycete diseases. The company's proprietary discovery platform spans 750+ fungal strains and 2,000+ screened extracts, producing fermented biofungicide candidates for grapevine downy mildew, potato late blight, apple scab, and wheat rust. The company is preparing regulatory filings in Europe and Latin America and seeking industrial partners for commercialization.

Product overview

Mycea operates as a deep-tech company with a platform-based approach centered on its proprietary collection of 750+ wild forest fungal strains and 2,000+ active extracts. The core Mycea Biocontrol Platform is designed to discover and develop natural fungal extract-based biofungicides for crop protection, targeting major diseases like downy mildews and late blights. In 2025, the company spun off Amoterra as an independent company to commercialize its soil biodiversity regeneration activity (Mycoterroir service), allowing Mycea to focus exclusively on its biocontrol business for international agricultural markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mycea Biocontrol Platform
• Biofungicide Pipeline Candidates (5 lead candidates, 2 advanced)

Quantifiable outcome

• Full efficacy achieved with 5x lower concentrations compared to standard application rates
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• ARDcoreTechnology or IntegrationARD is Mycea's partner for production scale-up. A first 8,000-liter scale-up has already been successfully completed, and a second scale-up is underway. ARD provides industrial fermentation expertise and capacity.
• INRIAcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership with INRIA developing predictive models of fungal growth. INRIA's expertise in computational modeling helps optimize bio-reactor production by developing models that predict optimal parameters for maximum, cost-effective extract production.
• Vegepolys ValleysupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerVegepolys Valley is a plant industry competitiveness cluster. Mycea collaborates with the network for innovation and development in the plant sector.
• VégéphylsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerVégéphyl organized the CIMA 2025 International Conference on Plant Diseases where Mycea presented its scientific advances.
• IBMA FrancesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA) France - industry association for biocontrol manufacturers that Mycea participates in.
• France BiocontrolesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrance Biocontrole is a professional federation where Dominique Barry-Etienne brought Mycea to contribute to the ecosystem's momentum.
• France DeeptechsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrance Deeptech association that Mycea was admitted to in 2026, alongside companies working in gene therapy, bioproduction, and microelectronics.
• CNRSsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) - listed among Mycea's collaborations and partnerships.
• CIRADsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench agricultural research institution for development (CIRAD) - listed among Mycea's collaborations and partnerships.
• ABBAsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation biocontrôle et biostimulation pour l'agroécologie (ABBA) - professional federation where Dominique Barry-Etienne contributes to the ecosystem.
• Agrisud Ouest InnovationsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerInnovation cluster for agriculture in southwest France - listed among Mycea's collaborations and partnerships.
• B4CsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed among Mycea's collaborations and partnerships in the biocontrol ecosystem.
• Contract Research Organizations (CROs)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAccredited CROs conducting multi-site field trials with Mycea in several European countries, validating efficacy against major crop diseases with dose-response data and rigorous comparison against untreated controls and standard references.
• Académie du BiocontrôlesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerThierry Merckling serves as board member and trainer for the Academy of Biocontrol and Integrated Biological Protection, contributing expertise to the broader biocontrol ecosystem.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Symborg: Spanish AgBiotech developing microbial-based biostimulants and biocontrol products for specialty crops. Comparable to Mycea in microbial/fungal-derived crop inputs, Iberian/Montpellier regional context, and go-to-market through ag-input distributors.
• Marrone Bio Innovations: US-based (now part of Bioceres Crop Solutions) biopesticide company with a commercial pipeline of microbial-derived biofungicides and bioinsecticides. Direct peer in microbial-origin crop protection products targeting specialty and row crops.
• Eden Research: UK-based company developing sustainable biocontrol and plastic-free crop protection products from natural plant-derived chemistries. Comparable as a small European listed player commercializing bio-based fungicides and nematicides through distribution partners.
• AgBiTech: Australia-based biopesticide company producing baculovirus-based bioinsecticides. Comparable as a deep-tech ag biologicals company with industrial-scale fermentation, registration pipelines, and distribution via established ag-input channels.
• Seipasa: Spanish biocontrol company specializing in botanical and microbial solutions for crop protection. Comparable as a European natural-origin biocontrol specialist focused on fruits, vegetables and row crops with regulatory dossiers in EU and LATAM.
• Biotalys: Belgian AgBiotech developing protein-based biocontrol agents from natural origin for crop protection. Closest analog to Mycea: a small-cap European deep-tech building a pipeline of biological alternatives to synthetic fungicides, with similar regulatory pathways and partner-led commercialization.

Emerging players

• Indigo Ag: US AgBiotech using microbial seed treatments and biostimulants to improve crop yields. Comparable in microbial-based crop input innovation and platform R&D orientation, though focused on soil/seed microbiome rather than foliar biofungicides.
• Pivot Bio: US AgBiotech developing microbial nitrogen-fixing products for row crops. Comparable as a venture-backed microbial crop-input company with platform R&D, multi-state field validation, and a Series A-to-growth trajectory in biological alternatives to chemicals.

Broad incumbents

• Biobest Group: Belgian global leader in biological control (pollination, beneficial insects, biopesticides). Comparable in biocontrol products targeting specialty crop growers, with established global distribution that smaller players like Mycea seek to plug into.
• Lallemand Plant Care: Division of Lallemand, a large Canadian yeast/fungi specialist offering microbial-based plant care products (biostimulants, biocontrol). Comparable in fungal-microbial production know-how and industrial fermentation at scale, but as part of a much broader bio-industry portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mycea-biocontrol

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 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 Mycea