Wild Bioscience, a University of Oxford spinout focused on climate-resilient crops, has expanded its operations at Milton Park, Oxfordshire, following a £45 million Series A investment led by the Ellison Institute of Technology, with continued support from Oxford Science Enterprises, Braavos and the University of Oxford.
The investment has enabled a significant expansion of the company's laboratory and office facilities at Milton Park, where Wild Bioscience has been growing organically since 2021. The company has signed a new lease and increased its footprint by 4,560 square feet to a total of 16,000 square feet across buildings at 115 and 127 Olympic Avenue — including a newly fitted office and CL2 gene-editing laboratory. The expansion has enabled the company to triple its plant output within a matter of months.
Wild Bioscience uses AI-driven modelling alongside molecular biology to identify and harness traits found in wild plant species, accelerating the development of crops that can withstand increasingly volatile climate conditions while improving yields and reducing carbon intensity. The company is currently focused on precision-bred wheat — the world's most widely grown crop.
Further investment is being deployed to convert existing office space into bespoke crop growth facilities, which will significantly increase controlled environment capacity and allow the business to test crops across a wider range of conditions and accelerate seed production for field trials.
The company has also strengthened its commercial pathway through a growing network of global partnerships, including collaborations with The Traits Company, the strategic biotech arm of GDM, KWS, Dyson Farming and Pairwise Plants.
Two senior appointments have been made alongside the expansion. Lisa Flashner, chief operating officer at the Ellison Institute of Technology, has joined the board as a non-executive director. Dr Stuart Harrison has joined as chief business officer, following a 24-year career at Syngenta in senior global leadership roles across research and development partnerships, product development and venture investment.
Ross Hendron, chief executive and co-founder of Wild Bioscience, said: “Since founding Wild Bio, we've been building a powerful design engine to create resilient crops. AI is now dramatically accelerating that capability, but to realise its full potential we need to scale pipelines that turn predictions into validated crop products and feed real-world results back to continuously improve our models. This expansion in infrastructure, team, and technology is a key step in developing the engineering loop that bridges computational design and plant biology.”
Tom Booker, asset manager of Milton Park at Federated Hermes Real Estate, said: “Wild Bioscience's continued growth is a strong example of how companies can start, scale and specialise at Milton Park. Their expansion reflects both the strength of their science and the momentum behind the business, supported by significant recent investment, the addition of senior leadership and a clear pathway to commercialisation.”
Wild Bioscience is part of a growing cluster of science and technology companies at Milton Park — a key site within the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor.
Source: Wild Bioscience · 24 April 2026