Foray Bioscience, a pioneering company in biotech agriculture, is making significant strides in plant propagation technologies. Recently, they announced a partnership with West Coast Chestnut, a tissue culture nursery, as they seek funding for their next phase of expansion.

Founded in 2022, Foray utilizes in-vitro plant cell cultures to grow plant parts in controlled laboratory environments. According to Ashley Beckwith, the founder and CEO, Foray is focused on developing what they refer to as “fabricated seeds.” These seeds are essentially encapsulated plant embryos that can germinate just like conventional seeds, ultimately producing whole plants.

“A single cell contains all the necessary genetic information to grow any part of a plant,” Beckwith explained. The company leverages biotechnology to direct these cells towards becoming specific products or seeds.

Foray’s innovative approach is bolstered by an AI-driven platform named Pando. This system predicts optimal growth conditions for plant parts to achieve desired outcomes. Beckwith indicated that a public version of this platform will be available soon.

“Pando acts like Google Maps for plant science,” said Beckwith. “You start with your current location and your desired outcome, and Pando synthesizes global knowledge to provide real-time guidance.”

Accelerating Plant Variety Development with Biotech and AI

The technology developed by Foray addresses urgent agricultural challenges. These include the need to enhance the speed of research and development cycles and to create plant varieties that are more resilient to climate change and other environmental stresses.

“Agriculture is constantly facing new challenges,” Beckwith noted, referencing unpredictable weather patterns and emerging pathogens. “The traditional route of bringing a new, specialized plant to market often takes decades, which we can no longer afford.”

Time is a significant factor in the overall cost of seed development. Bringing a new cultivar to market requires thousands of plants, which can necessitate multiple generations of growth for sufficient seed collection. Foray’s innovative process aims to drastically reduce this timeline.

A New Era for Chestnut Cultivation

Foray has kicked off 2026 by securing its inaugural commercial partnership with West Coast Chestnut. This collaboration will focus on the development of fabricated seeds tailored for specific regional chestnut varieties in the Pacific Northwest.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Foray to explore innovative ways to scale chestnut propagation,” expressed Sawyer Clark of West Coast Chestnut. “After years of tissue culturing various chestnut cultivars, we recognize that while the method is effective, it is also slow and capital-intensive. Fabricated seeds present an opportunity to revolutionize propagation in a manner that is faster and more predictable.”