Bindwell, founded by 18-year-old Tyler Rose and 19-year-old Navvye Anand, announced the completion of a $6 million seed round led by General Catalyst and A Capital, with individual investment from Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator. The company abandoned its plan to sell AI tools to agrochemical giants and instead shifted to developing its own pesticide molecules for licensing. The valuation and terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Bindwell introduced target design concepts from drug discovery into pesticide development. Its AI suite can scan the entire known compound library in six hours, identifying protein sites that are effective only against target pests and safe for humans and beneficial insects through Foldwell structure prediction, PLAPT protein-ligand interaction, and APPT protein-protein interaction models, then generating candidate molecules. The company claims its screening speed is four times faster than DeepMind's AlphaFold3, and APPT has 1.7 times higher accuracy on the Affinity Benchmark v5.5.

The two founders met at the Wolfram Summer Research Project at the end of 2023. The original model PLAPT had already been used in cancer treatment research and was cited in "Nature Scientific Reports." In early 2024, they applied the same method to pesticide discovery and joined the YC W25 batch in winter of the same year. Initially, they tried to sell their AI platform to traditional agrochemical companies, but no one accepted it. After discussions with Graham, they changed to a self-developed and self-marketed model, and soon received personal investment and strategic guidance.

According to data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, global pesticide use has doubled over the past three decades, yet about 40% of crops are still lost due to pests and diseases, and pest resistance continues to rise. Bindwell states that its AI can reduce the traditional trial-and-error process requiring the synthesis of thousands of compounds to just dozens. It has verified molecular activity in the San Carlos laboratory in the United States and is collaborating with third-party institutions for bioassays. It is currently discussing licensing and field trials with multiple global agrochemical companies and stakeholders in China and India, and expects to reach its first commercial agreement within a year.

The company now has four full-time employees and outsources synthesis and testing. Previously, it received pre-seed funding from Character Capital, with SV Angel also participating in this round. Bindwell plans to use the new funds to expand its R&D team, accelerate the preparation of the first molecule's toxicological and environmental compliance data package, and lay the groundwork for regulatory submissions in 2026.