Yngvi Bio’s ‘Protein Container’ Pesticide Takes Aim at White Grub Pests

01 November 2026, Copenhagen, DK: A Copenhagen biotechnology startup called Yngvi Bio is developing a biological pesticide platform built from protein structures borrowed from soil bacteria, aiming to give farmers a non-chemical way to fight white grubs, the root-feeding beetle larvae responsible for extensive damage to grassland, turf and some row crops worldwide. The company’s co-founders described the technology and its development plans in a recent interview, published October 26, 2026.

Yngvi Bio was founded in 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark, growing out of research at the University of Copenhagen. Eva Maria Rebrova, the company’s chief executive and a protein scientist, and Kenneth Veland Halberg, its chief science officer and an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen who studies insect physiology, are co-founders.

The platform centers on what Halberg calls “protein containers,” structures modeled on systems some soil bacteria use naturally to attack insects and other microbes. Halberg uses a rocket analogy to explain how it works: a protein body carries a pesticide payload, or cargo, while separate protein “legs” attached to the body determine which insect the particle will target. The legs unfold and bind to a specific protein on the surface of cells inside the target insect, triggering release of the cargo. Because the legs and the cargo are modular, the same basic platform can in principle be reconfigured to target other pests simply by swapping which legs and payload are used, rather than requiring an entirely new active ingredient for every new target.

The company argues the approach offers more precision than broad-spectrum neurotoxic insecticides, which can affect species beyond the intended target and can lose effectiveness as insects develop resistance over time. Because the targeting mechanism, the legs, can be changed independently of the toxic payload, the founders say the platform could be adapted relatively quickly if pests start to develop resistance, compared with developing an entirely new chemical compound from scratch.

First target: an underground pest complex

Yngvi Bio’s first commercial target is the white grub complex, a group the founders estimate includes roughly 15,000 beetle species whose larvae live underground and feed on plant roots, a common problem in pastures, turf and grassland systems. Rather than launching first in a major row-crop market, the company plans to bring its first product to market in grassland and turf applications in New Zealand, where Rebrova said an industry partner holding roughly 80 percent of the local market is interested in a non-chemical alternative. The company said the two chemical insecticides most widely used against white grubs in New Zealand are being phased out, with bans due to take effect by 2028, leaving growers there without a chemical option.

Rebrova said the company plans to begin a three-year field trial in New Zealand this coming spring, with Halberg estimating commercial entry into that market around the first quarter of 2029. Rebrova separately noted that full pesticide approval in the European Union typically takes six to eight years, a timeline that helps explain why the company is targeting a smaller, faster-moving market first before pursuing larger regions such as the EU or North America.

So far, the company says laboratory prototypes of the platform have shown promising efficacy in early testing, though it has not published detailed trial data or methodology for outside review. A smaller trial in Denmark has confirmed that a seed-treatment version of the formulation is compatible with seed from an unnamed partner, an early step toward using the technology as a seed coating rather than only a soil or spray application.

Roots in insect physiology and drug delivery

The underlying science draws on Halberg’s research into insect physiology, including how beetles regulate water and salt balance in their bodies, combined with Rebrova’s background in engineering proteins for targeted drug delivery in human medicine, a field where similar container-and-targeting approaches are used to direct treatments to specific cells in the body. Yngvi Bio has drawn early institutional backing on the strength of that combination. The Novo Nordisk Foundation awarded the company’s research group a 5 million Danish kroner Synergy Grant in June 2025 to develop what it called nature-inspired, programmable nano-injectors, and the BioInnovation Institute’s Venture House committed an additional 1.3 million euros in September 2026 as part of an 18-month startup acceleration program.

Biological pesticides, derived from living organisms or natural compounds rather than synthetic chemistry, have drawn growing investment across the industry as regulators tighten rules on older chemical classes and as resistance erodes the effectiveness of existing products. Yngvi Bio’s approach is still years from a commercial launch, and its white grub results so far come from laboratory prototypes rather than field trials, but the modular design the founders describe, in which targeting and payload can each be swapped independently, is among the features drawing early attention from investors looking at next-generation biological crop protection.

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