Chromatin, Inc. today announced that it raised $7.3 million in a Series B round of financing that included several new investors as well as the return of the founding investment consortium.

"Clearly the confidence is there among our investors who see the great commercial potential for our mini-chromosome technology and our ability to execute," said Mich Hein, president and CEO of Chromatin. "This funding will enable us to ramp up staff and facilities and accelerate growth in core programs. We will also continue to pursue IP prosecution and acquisition and will support our partnerships."

New investors in the latest round of financing included the National Corn Growers Association, Illinois Ventures and Unilever Technology Ventures. Returning investors included Burrill & Company, Venture Investors and Foragen.

Chromatin's proprietary mini-chromosome technology can rapidly deliver multi-gene clusters designed to ensure stable and consistent gene expression in plants. Currently, the pace of crop improvement through biotechnology is hindered severely because a successful method for the simultaneous and controlled introduction of a large number of genes does not exist. Chromatin's technology effectively addresses this problem, and the successful development of mini-chromosomes could lead to crops having improved properties, such as resistance to disease, greater salt and drought tolerance, and more nutritional value.

Mini-chromosomes could decrease time to market for new traits by 50 percent and increase crop yields by 25 percent. Chromatin is currently focusing its work on corn, canola, cotton and several other commercially important plants.

"Chromatin's leadership has shown its ability to reach milestones demonstrating the company is on track for the successful commercialization of this technology," said Kathryn Hyer, of Illinois Ventures. "The mini-chromosome technology itself has the potential to eliminate the barriers for improved food crops, as well as the development of pharmaceuticals, textiles and other important products."

Chromatin, Inc. develops and markets novel proprietary technology that enables entire chromosomes to be designed and incorporated into plant cells. These engineered chromosomes make it possible for the first time to simultaneously introduce multiple genes into a plant cell while maintaining precise control of gene expression. Chromatin is employing these new genetic tools to design and market products that confer commercially valuable traits in plants, including improved nutritional and health characteristics, and can be used for industrial, agricultural and pharmaceutical product development.