Portrait No. 001
Fatma Kaplan
CEO, Co-founder
Pheronym, Inc.
Raised — $3.5 million ($0.9 million investment, $2.6 milion from grants, fellowship prototype revenue)
I come from a farming family and understand farmers’ challenges to grow food to feed the world population. Agricultural inputs like fertilizers and pesticides make a big difference in their yield. However, many pests developed resistance along with degradation of 50% topsoil. Farmers need effective solutions that control pests, nurture the topsoil with less carbon footprint to grow more food and fiber. As a daughter of a farmer, I have the right education, skills and motivation to develop this new technology. I have a PhD and postdoctoral training in plant molecular biology and chemistry. I identified the first mate finding pheromone from C. elegans, the microscopic roundworms that enabled key Nobel Prize winning discoveries in medicine. Pheromones are communication signals that have been used successfully for above ground insect pests with minimal footprint in our environment. The new pheromones from roundworms have applications to control pests below ground.
In her words
“For my industry, I would like this technology to enable farmers to produce food while controlling pests and nurturing their topsoil and leave a healthy soil and planet for future generations.”
Chapter I
The toughest challenges you've faced as a founder.
No women founder gets away from discrimination scratch free. Even the most privileged one experiences one of the following during their lifetime: being immigrant, having an accent, having kids, having ethnic names (first, last or both), being born in the wrong country, ethnicity, being too young and old all at the same time, ambitious, underestimated, having an opinion and more. Some of us experience more than others. I have experienced all the above at different stages of my career, funding being the toughest one. Success starts with accepting that discrimination is real. It is an invisible handicap that no one believes even if you tell them. Everyone can be a victim. It is imperative to reduce the number of discrimination factors in the list above during funding evaluation process. I targeted funding sources that had a clear guideline on what funding is for and how the proposal is evaluated. For example, federal or state grants which have clear guidelines and evaluation procedures based on merit. When proposals are reviewed, people judge the proposal not my accent, age, name, ethnicity etc.
Chapter II
Your vision.
Farmers have the challenging task of growing food and fiber to feed the growing world population. Without pest control, farmers would lose 30-80% of their crops. Despite the use of synthetic pesticides, farmers are still losing $300 billion in crops annually to pests and diseases. Furthermore, agriculture releases 17 gigatons of CO2 equivalent, 31% of the total emissions annually. Ninety-nine percent of synthetic pesticides are derived from fossil fuels, so traditional pesticides alone are not the solution. To make matters worse, 50% of the topsoil is degraded. Farmers need effective solutions that nurture the topsoil with less carbon footprint to grow more food and fiber. We are using a new kind of pheromone to control agricultural pests in the soil. Our pheromones improve planetary health by offering farmers a smart pest control solution that reduces greenhouse gases and increases biodiversity/nurtures the top soil—all without compromising food production.
Chapter III
The impact you want to leave behind — for your industry, your community, and the women who come next.
I want every girl or women in the future to be able to say, “If she can do it, I can too”. It is very important for women to have role models where they can imagine it is possible. For my industry, I would like this technology to enable farmers to produce food while controlling pests and nurturing their topsoil and leave a healthy soil and planet for future generations. For my community, I would like them to have an option for affordable organically grown food for a healthy quality life.