Inari cuts ribbon on $20M West Lafayette expansion
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Boston-based biotech company Inari Agriculture cut the ribbon Wednesday on a $20 million expansion of its West Lafayette operations.
The company said the new 42,000-square-foot facility will further accelerate the development and commercialization of higher-yielding seeds to meet market demand.
Inari has developed the SEEDesign platform, which utilizes artificial intelligence and advanced multiplex gene editing to develop enhanced soybean, corn and wheat seeds that it says will increase crop yields.
“This expansion ushers in an exciting new phase for Inari as we scale up to deliver our breakthrough products to seed customers,” CEO Ponsi Trivisvavet said in a news release. “Not only does it optimize and accelerate our operations, the expanded capacity and capabilities allow us to address more crops and crop varieties.”
West Lafayette is home to Inari’s product development and commercial operations, which are based on research conducted at the company’s Boston-area headquarters and location in Ghent, Belgium.
With the new facility open, Inari operates a total of 146,000 square feet of space across three buildings in West Lafayette. The expansion, construction for which began in the fall of 2022, more the doubles the site’s greenhouse facilities and provides additional office and warehouse space.
Inari currently employs more than 300 people around the world, nearly half of which are located in West Lafayette. The company said its Indiana workforce has grown 10% over the past 12 months, averaging more than 40 hires in West Lafayette in each of the last two full years.
The project’s completion comes about six months after Inari closed on a $103 million funding raise.