Everyone at Glaia is on a mission. A mission to help growers deal with rising costs, to improve food production processes and to help reduce global CO2 emissions.

 

We’re all Driven

We’re committed to making a real difference in the world, with a reliable, proven product that deploys microscopic improvements for monumental impact. We are:

  • Driven to discover

  • Driven to innovate

  • Driven to honesty

  • Driven to act

And we know there’s always more improvements to make.

 

Our Team

 
 

David is a co-inventor of the sugar-dot technology and majorly contributed to the advancement when he was a post-doc at Bristol Uni. David also has experience in the agrochemical industry and worked previously at BASF. Recently, as part of his fellowship at the Quantum Technology Enterprise Centre, he was trained in business management.

David is now looking after the strategy and management of Glaia.

 
 

Dr daviD benito

Founder, CEO

 

Imke is an experienced scientist trained in carbohydrate chemistry and its applications in biology. While at Bristol Uni, Imke was already working on carbohydrate-based nanomaterials and is an expert in the synthesis and functionalisation of these materials.

Imke’s main responsibility is the Research and Development of Glaia’s technology.

Dr Imke Sittel

Founder, CSO

 

JP Dorgan is a valued industry expert within the UK and Irish agritech industry with a farming background and over 25 years experience in the food and farming sector.

JP has excellent commercial and technical understanding of the UK's and overseas’ agri-tech, food & farming supply chains.

JP leads the commercialisation of Glaia’s products.

JP Dorgan

Commercial Director

 
 
 

David is the CEO of Agrimetics and the co-founder of GrainSense. Throughout his career David has held senior managerial positions in multiple agritech-based companies. Plant scientist by background, David has got experience in life sciences from start-ups to multinational, including agricultural technology, bioinformatics, stem cells, systems biology, genomics and proteomics. Also, David has his own consultancy business where he advises businesses across the life sciences on fund raising, company strategy, business development and market opportunities among others.

Dr DAvid Flanders

Chair

 

Brian L. Clevinger, Ph.D. is a managing director of The Yield Lab Europe, an agriculture technology fund. He has had over 40 years of experience with all phases of commercial development of life science technology including management of multiple startups. He has served on the boards, often chairman, of over 30 early stage technology startups. He earned his Ph.D. in immunology from Indiana University and was a NIH post-doctoral fellow at Washington University. He was a tenured faculty member of Washington University as well.

Dr Brian Clevinger

Investor Director

 

Johnathan is an active angel investor with a portfolio of 22 frontier science and technology companies. Johnathan is a NED and board observer for several companies in his portfolio. Johnathan is co-founder of Science Angel Syndicate, founded in 2021 with a mission to source world-class scientific discoveries, provide unique scientific due diligence and help investors to identify exceptional investment opportunities. Johnathan holds a PhD from the University of Bristol in Organic Chemistry and is a Chartered Chemist of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Johnathan was part of the science team who patented (WO/2018/167503) a platform technology that could unlock the ability to create the world’s first glucose responsive insulin. The commercial journey was realised through University of Bristol spin-out Ziylo, which was acquired in August 2018 by Novo Nordisk A/S in a staged M&A for up to £623m.

dr johnathan matlock

Investor Director

 
 
 

Simone is a passionate Chemist with a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry and a keen interest for horticulture and sustainability.

Simone leads Glaia’s in-house R&D for product development.

Dr Simone Gillbard

R&D Scientist

 

Adrian is a Chartered Accountant, with over 25 years CFO experience in various technology businesses. He is currently CFO for a number of VC backed companies.

Adrian Watson

Finance

 
 

Advisors

 

Keith is an agronomist with more than 35 years of experience in this sector. Former technical director at Velcourt who now provides expert support to companies in the agri-tech space.

Keith Norman

Agronomy

 

Tracy is a Professor at the University of Essex in the Plant Productivity group. Tracy has over 20 years of experience in photosynthesis research and is a member of the RIPE project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve global food production.

Prof. Tracy Lawson

Science

 
 
 
 

Supported by the biggest names in agri science & technology