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Tropic

 

Company overview

Tropic is a pioneering tropical seeds agri-biotech company that spun-in to Norwich Research Park in 2017 and has grown from just three people to now employing over 160 at its Norwich headquarters at the Park’s Innovation Centre. It uses gene editing techniques to improve crops grown in tropical regions of the world such as bananas and rice, as well as closer to home with sugar beet.

Gene editing enables scientists to make precise, targeted changes to plants’ DNA to make them resistant to disease, last longer or improve yields. Although highly complex, this process simply accelerates the results of more traditional crossbreeding techniques which can take many years.

In 2025, the House of Lords passed the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act which has opened up a new world of opportunity for researchers and biotech companies. The Act allows for the gene editing of plants and crops in England, something Tropic has been pioneering for several years.

The challenge

Bananas are the most popular fruit in the world; hundreds of billions are grown and eaten each year. They are highly nutritious, a great source of vitamins, minerals and energy and of course are delicious.

It is estimated that 1.4m bananas are thrown away daily in UK households alone, because their skin blackens and the flesh browns quickly once peeled. Before they even reach supermarket shelves, up to 50% of bananas are thrown away.

Bananas are harvested when they are green and kept refrigerated during transportation before being ripened when they reach their destination. Many get damaged enroute and a single damaged banana can cause the whole container to turn brown and unusable by the time they arrive. And when they are ripened and hit the shops, bananas only last a few days.

However, bananas are sterile and don’t produce seeds which means they can’t be cross bred to produce new varieties, like you can with apples, for instance, and so any improvements need to be made by editing the banana’s DNA. This is a perfectly safe but highly complex process that has taken years for Tropic to develop. Now that the Precision Breeding Act has been approved in England it will open up great opportunities for bringing improved products to consumers.

The proposition

Tropic recently announced that it has developed a variety of the world’s most consumed Cavendish banana that will stay fresh for longer. After it is peeled and sliced, the flesh remains yellow and firm, for more than 24 hours – with the same taste and flavour we all know and love. This will help to cut down food waste, make growing and distributing bananas more cost efficient, help to preserve the banana industry and open up new markets for bananas to be used in products such as packaged fruit salads and snack pots found in supermarkets and cafes.

What next?

The impacts of this breakthrough are immense. Adopting this new variety of the Cavendish banana will cut down food waste, make growing and distributing bananas more cost efficient, help to preserve the banana industry and open up new markets for bananas to be used in.

Because the new variety will remain fresh and firm after peeling, it means that not only will you be able to return to a peeled banana in your home, but you’ll also start to find them in fruit salads, snackpots, desserts, milkshakes and smoothies sold in shops, cafes and restaurants. The team at Tropic have also found that this new banana is not affected by being kept alongside other fruits, specifically kiwi and melon.

Precision bred products are already available in the US, Canada, Japan and many other countries, Tropic has started work to get these new bananas on the shelves around the world and expect them to be available in the next year to consumers in England. The global banana industry is huge but it needs to be made more efficient by reducing waste, extending crop life and helping to create more disease-resistant varieties.

Tropic have also developed an extended shelf-life variety that increases the fruits green life by an additional twelve days. These bananas will be able to be harvested later, will grow bigger, will bruise less and will be able to be shipped over longer distances and time periods. The innovation will lower emissions and bring benefits to growers such as those in South America who will then be able to ship their harvests further distances. It’s expected that this variety will reduce waste in the supply chain by up to 50%, significantly improving the sustainability of the banana.

Furthermore, Tropic is developing varieties that are naturally resistant to two fast-spreading diseases, which represent an existential threat to the banana industry. Panama Disease (TR4) is a soil-borne fungal pathogen persisting in infected soils for up to 50 years. The disease impacts Cavendish and other bananas, killing plants and rendering plantations unusable. Black Sigatoka Disease (BSD) is also a fungal disease, now found in all the major growing regions and causing yield losses of up to 50%. Tropic is developing naturally resistant varieties that can withstand these devastating diseases, which will not only reduce pesticide use and wastage, but ensure the long-term availability of the world’s most consumed fruit.

Tropic is also working on improving disease-resistance and improving crop yields with rice and has many partnerships and collaborations in globally vital crops with companies around the world. Tropic is working on a project with British Sugar, the John Innes Centre (JIC) and the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO) (JIC and BBRO also based at Norwich Research Park) to develop sugar beet varieties that can sustainably withstand viral diseases, doing away with the need for environmentally damaging pesticides.

Timeline

2016

  • Tropic is founded in late 2016, by co-founders Gilad Gershon and Eyal Maori

 

2017

  • Tropic makes its home at Norwich Research Park, with 3 members of staff working from a lab space at the John Innes Centre
  • Tropic develop its proprietary GEiGS® (Gene Editing induced Gene Silencing) technology platform, combining the benefits of both gene editing and RNA interference (RNAi) to enable the development of non-transgenic yet hereditary gene silencing applications

 

2018

  • Tropic raises $10 million in Series A funding from a global group of AgTech and BioTech investors
  • Expanding its workforce and operations, Tropic moves into 2300 sq ft of lab and office accommodation at the Innovation Centre on the Park

 

2020

  • Tropic completes a $28.5 million Series B round of equity funding, led by Temasek, a global investment company
  • Tropic announce collaborations with BASF, Genus Plc and others to licence Tropic’s GEiGS® technology platform to develop new crop varieties

 

2023

  • Collaboration between British Sugar, John Innes Centre and BBRO to use Tropic’s GEiGS® in sugar beet is launched
  • Tropic launch a collaboration with Corteva to develop disease resistance traits in corn and soybean

 

2025

  • Tropic now employs over 160 people at its Norwich headquarters at the Park’s Innovation Centre
  • Company growth has meant that 16,000 sq ft of laboratory and office accommodation and Controlled Environment Room (CER), has been secured including the Innovation Centre and Centrum
  • Dr Jack Peart, Chief Development Officer is a guest speaker at the Norwich Research Park Enterprise Tuesday conference where he outlined its aim to become a leading force in tropical agriculture by utilising gene editing
  • Tropic commercially launch their non-browning banana, the first new banana variety in more than 75 years, which is named one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2025