In 2011, he and his grad school lab-mate, Alvin Tamsir, started Pivot Bio, helped by a grant from the Gates Foundation, to try and turn the research into a commercial opportunity. Fast forward a decade, and the Berkeley, California-based company has tens of millions in revenue (Temme declines to be specific) for microbial products that can replace synthetic fertilizers on the big cereal crops, including corn and wheat.

In a sign of just how big this opportunity is, Pivot Bio said on Monday that it had raised $430 million led by venture firm DCVC and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings. The new investment brings the agricultural technology startup’s funding to more than $600 million at a valuation of nearly $2 billion.

“I don’t think there’s ever been something like that in agriculture,” Temme, the company’s 41-year-old CEO, says of the massive cash influx. “We are starting to see where innovation can disrupt sectors of this industry.”