Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Cibus Merges With Calyxt

San Diego-based agricultural technology startup Cibus, which is led by Rory Riggs, is merging with Roseville, MN-based Calyxt, the two companies announced Tuesday morning. The deal was strutured as an all-stock transaction. Financial terms of the merger were not announced. The merged company said it will focus on agriculture-based gene editing, focused on trait development and next-generation plant breeding. The newly merged company will have its headquarters in San Diego. Cibus founder Riggs will become Chairman and CEO of the newly merged company, which will trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Cibus was backed by Fidelity Management and Research Company, Alexandria Venture Investments and Cormorant Asset Management. Riggs is a longtime biotech veteran, having been involved in such companies as Synvisc, Royalty Pharma, Fibrogen and Sugen, along with Biomatrix, where he was until the company was sold to Genzyme/Sanofi.