Agriodor secures €15M funding round led by Crédit Mutuel Impact.

      The INRAE spin-off based in Rennes utilizes combinations of volatile organic compounds to either repel or attract pest insects while ensuring no harm comes to pollinators, soil, or human health. Its initial product, aimed at sugar beet aphids, received regulatory approval in France in March 2026 and is distributed by Syngenta.

      Agriodor, a French deeptech startup focused on olfactory biocontrol, has secured €15 million in funding through a round led by Crédit Mutuel Impact. This Rennes-based company, established in 2019 as a spin-off from France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), creates blends of natural volatile organic compounds that take advantage of insects' olfactory sensitivity to deter pest species from crops while preserving pollinators, beneficial insects, and human health.

      The method employed by Agriodor addresses a key behavior in insect biology: nearly 80% of the world’s invasive insect pests rely on scent to find host plants for feeding, mating, and laying eggs. By examining the compounds released by plants that insects avoid and producing those molecules synthetically, the company creates fragrances that confuse or repel specific pest species.

      These formulations can be used as attractants (kairomones, which draw insects into traps) or repellents (allomones, which drive them away), or they can be combined in a push-pull strategy that utilizes both methods simultaneously. The products come in the form of granules that can be mechanically spread across fields, making them suitable for existing farming equipment.

      The company’s most developed product targets Myzus persicae, the green aphid known for transmitting yellowing disease to sugar beet, a crop that lost its primary chemical protection after the ban on neonicotinoids in France and Europe. Agriodor’s olfactory repellent, branded as INSIOR® Gr A in collaboration with Syngenta, received French regulatory approval for field trials in March 2026. Trials conducted by Syngenta in 2025 indicated a 40% decrease in green aphid populations compared to untreated areas.

      This product functions through three simultaneous mechanisms: it repels the winged aphids that colonize fields, disrupts their feeding habits, and decreases their reproductive capacity by limiting their energy intake.

      Before this funding round, Agriodor had raised around €8 million through two funding phases: a €5 million round in May 2023 from Capagro, Cap Horn, BNP Paribas Développement, SWEN Capital Partners, and Breizh Up; followed by an additional €3 million from the same investors in February 2024.

      In December 2025, Le Journal des Entreprises reported that Agriodor was specifically seeking €15 million to develop three new products for different crops, expand its geographic reach to include tropical regions, and establish new global distribution partnerships.

      The company is based in Rennes and is focusing on the US and Brazilian markets, where biocontrol regulations have a significantly quicker approval process compared to Europe—18 to 24 months for market authorization compared to as long as seven years in the EU.

      Co-founder and CEO is Alain Thibault, while Dr. Ené Leppik, a chemical ecologist whose doctoral work on the bean weevil at INRAE laid the scientific groundwork for the company, serves as CTO. Crédit Mutuel Impact is the impact investment division of Crédit Mutuel, France’s second-largest banking group, which has its origins in agriculture and maintains a strong agricultural background. As an investor focused on sustainable agriculture, leading a round for a biocontrol startup that is providing alternatives to banned insecticides aligns well with Crédit Mutuel’s commitments to sustainable food systems.