Bioversity International
The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT is a CGIAR non-profit agricultural research organization that maintains the world's largest genebanks for banana, beans, cassava, and tropical forages, and develops AI-enabled digital tools serving smallholder farmers, national research systems, and institutions across Africa, the Americas, and Asia.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersRome, Italy
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Bioversity International does
The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (commonly referenced as Bioversity International) is a non-profit agricultural research organization formed in 2019 through the merger of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the Alliance operates as a CGIAR research center and serves research institutions, national agricultural systems (notably Kenya's KALRO), and smallholder farmers across Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Its core scientific assets are the world's largest genebank collections for banana, beans, cassava, and tropical forages, maintained at the International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre in Belgium and the Future Seeds facility in Colombia.
The Alliance has built a portfolio of digital agricultural tools atop this scientific base, including MyFarmTrees (a blockchain-verified platform for native tree planting by smallholder farmers), NDIZI (an AI system prioritizing farmer input in crop breeding), CattleFlow (economic decision-support for cattle systems), CafeClima (climate-smart coffee cultivation), and a Digital Meteorological Bulletin. More recently, in October 2025, it launched the Rumen Digital Twin — an AI foundation model developed with BiomEdit and Yale University and backed by nearly $2 million from the Bezos Earth Fund — to identify feed interventions reducing cattle methane emissions by up to 75%. Research themes span climate action, agrobiodiversity, digital inclusion, food environments, multifunctional landscapes, and crops for nutrition and health.
Revenue is generated through institutional research funding and grants coordinated via the CGIAR system, bilateral foundation awards, and government contracts rather than commercial pricing. Outputs, tools, and innovations are made available at no cost to partner organizations and beneficiaries. The 251-500 staff support research infrastructure (genebanks, laboratories), regional offices in Kenya, Colombia, Peru, and the Philippines, and formal partnerships with academic institutions (Yale, University of Göttingen) and private-sector entities (BiomEdit). The organization recently launched its 2026-2030 Strategy, positioning itself for accelerated food and land systems transformation.
Bioversity International firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Bioversity International
- Legal name
- Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
- Website
- https://bioversityinternational.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT is a CGIAR non-profit agricultural research organization that maintains the world's largest genebanks for banana, beans, cassava, and tropical forages, and develops AI-enabled digital tools serving smallholder farmers, national research systems, and institutions across Africa, the Americas, and Asia.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Bioversity International industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Agricultural Research Services
- NAICS
- Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting (11)
- SIC
- Agricultural Services (700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Sustainable Agriculture, Food Systems & Land Management (BPADALAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Agriculture & Food Security Development (BPAGABAB), Agroforestry & Perennial Cropping Systems (EUABABAD), Remote Sensing & Imagery Analytics (Satellite, Drone, Aerial) (AFABAMAB), Nature & Biodiversity Reporting (TNFD, natural capital) (EUAHAJAM)
Keywords
Where Bioversity International is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Rome
- HQ country
- Italy
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Bioversity International business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Research Funding and Grants: Funded primarily through CGIAR global research partnership and donor-funded projects. Revenue generated through international development grants, research contracts, and institutional partnerships rather than commercial product sales.
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels4 records
Bioversity International product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Bioversity International operates as the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, an international non-profit agricultural research organization. It maintains the world's largest genebank collections of banana, beans, cassava, and tropical forages, and develops digital decision-support tools (MyFarmTrees, CattleFlow, CafeClima, Digital Meteorological Bulletin, NDIZI AI) for smallholder farmers, research institutions, and government agencies focused on agricultural biodiversity, climate adaptation, and food security.
Product overview
The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT operates as a multi-product research organization focused on agricultural and environmental science. The portfolio includes digital agricultural tools (MyFarmTrees with blockchain verification, Digital Meteorological Bulletin, CafeClima for coffee systems, CattleFlow for cattle systems) and core services (Genebanks with the world's largest collections of bananas, beans, cassava and tropical forages, including the Future Seeds facility and International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre, plus research Laboratories). Research themes span climate action, agrobiodiversity, digital inclusion, food environments, multifunctional landscapes, crops for nutrition and health, and gender/youth inclusion across crops including bananas, beans, cassava, rice, and tropical forages.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Future Seeds: Genebank facility housing the world's largest collections of plant genetic resources for banana, beans, cassava, and tropical forages.
- International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC)
- MyFarmTrees
- NDIZI
- CattleFlow
- CafeClima
- Digital Meteorological Bulletin
Quantifiable outcome
- 59% yield increase with grafted fine-flavor cacao trees compared to non-grafted controls after three years
Companies that use Bioversity International
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Bioversity International technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Feature7 records
Bioversity International partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- University of GöttingencoreLed international research team studying grafting techniques on native fine-flavor cacao variety 'Blanco de Piura' in Peru. Research demonstrates that native cacao can match productivity of commercial clones while retaining higher market prices.
- BiomEditcorePartnership to develop the Rumen Digital Twin, an AI foundation model for reducing methane emissions in cattle. The project will train the model on data from more than 20,000 ruminants across 25+ countries with the goal of reducing methane emissions by up to 75% compared to untargeted approaches.
- Yale UniversitycoreAcademic research partner in the Rumen Digital Twin project for methane reduction strategies in cattle, contributing research expertise and resources.
- CGIARflagshipAlliance of Bioversity International and CIAT is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR serves as the parent organization providing institutional framework and funding coordination.
- KALRO (Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization)coreSpatial analytics collaboration informing policymaking in Kenya through dialogue and joint research initiatives.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Bioversity International competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center): Sister CGIAR research center headquartered in Mexico focused on maize and wheat breeding and agronomy; directly comparable as a CGIAR system peer with similar non-profit research mandate, donor funding model, and global breeding/genebank operations.
- IRRI (International Rice Research Institute): CGIAR research center focused on rice genetic improvement, holding the world's largest rice genebank; directly comparable given shared CGIAR system membership, genebank stewardship, and smallholder-focused breeding programs.
- World Agroforestry (ICRAF): CGIAR center focused on agroforestry, trees, and landscape restoration; directly comparable given shared CGIAR system membership and overlapping agroforestry/smallholder-restoration themes with Bioversity's MyFarmTrees work.
- International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA): CGIAR center focused on tropical agriculture in Africa, including banana, cassava, yam, and maize — directly comparable as a CGIAR peer with overlapping crop mandate (especially banana and cassava) and African research footprint.
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI): CGIAR center focused on food policy, economics, and spatial analytics; comparable given shared CGIAR system membership and overlapping policy/analytical work such as the Alliance's KALRO spatial analytics collaboration.
- ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics): CGIAR center focused on dryland crops including sorghum, millet, chickpea, pigeonpea, and groundnut; directly comparable as a CGIAR peer with similar genebank mandate and developing-country farmer focus.
- Crop Trust: International non-profit that supports the world's genebanks, including those of CGIAR centers; directly comparable as a peer in plant genetic resource conservation and the global genebank funding/coordination ecosystem.
Others
- Bezos Earth Fund: Major climate-and-nature funder that awarded nearly $2M to the Alliance; included as an adjacent ecosystem participant illustrating the donor ecosystem on which the Alliance's research funding depends.
- World Food Programme (WFP): UN food-assistance agency; adjacent peer as part of the broader UN food security ecosystem, sharing donor constituencies and food-security mandates though operating in emergency response rather than research.
Broad incumbents
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations: UN specialized agency coordinating international efforts to defeat hunger; broadly comparable as a larger, more established international organization with a related agricultural development mandate and CGIAR system coordination role.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Bioversity International social profiles
Digital presenceBioversity International financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Bioversity International leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Bioversity International subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries4 records
Bioversity International funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors2 records
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Bioversity International M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Bioversity International
What does Bioversity International do?
Bioversity International operates as the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, an international non-profit agricultural research organization. It maintains the world's largest genebank collections of banana, beans, cassava, and tropical forages, and develops digital decision-support tools (MyFarmTrees, CattleFlow, CafeClima, Digital Meteorological Bulletin, NDIZI AI) for smallholder farmers, research institutions, and government agencies focused on agricultural biodiversity, climate adaptation, and food security.
Is Bioversity International a public or private company?
Bioversity International is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Bioversity International founded?
Bioversity International was founded in 2019. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Bioversity International based?
Bioversity International is headquartered in Rome, Italy, in the Europe region.
How does Bioversity International make money?
One revenue line is on record: research Funding and Grants.
Who are Bioversity International's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center), IRRI (International Rice Research Institute), World Agroforestry (ICRAF), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) and Crop Trust. Others are Bezos Earth Fund and World Food Programme (WFP). Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Bioversity International have an API?
No public API is recorded for Bioversity International.
What industry is Bioversity International in?
Bioversity International's product category is Agricultural Research Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPADALAG, Sustainable Agriculture, Food Systems & Land Management, with a secondary code of BPAGABAB, Agriculture & Food Security Development. Its NAICS code is 11 and its SIC code is 700.