Overview
Giacomo Bastianelli is CEO and co-founder of Rainbow Crops, which he co-founded in April 2025, and is based in Belgium. Since 2017 he has also been managing director of PROG VENTURES. He was entrepreneur in residence at VIB from September 2023 to April 2025 and mentors for biotope by VIB and Agrilife Studio, having also been a business mentor at Techstars between October 2023 and April 2024.
He co-founded Meiogenix in November 2010, serving as its CEO until March 2020 and remaining a co-founder until March 2022. He was co-founder and CEO of SCI-BRAIN from 2017 to 2024, of Lounjee from 2017 to 2023, and of Travellution from 2011 to 2014, and was interim CEO of BliNK Therapeutics in 2015. He led Key Neurosciences as CEO from 2011 to 2012 and sat on its board until 2016. At Kurma Partners he worked as an analyst and venture builder from 2009, later as an advisor, until 2020.
He has lectured at the University of Bologna and for Marie Curie Networks. He was a PhD fellow at the Institut Pasteur, where he completed a doctorate in structural bioinformatics, and holds master's degrees from UC San Diego and the Università di Bologna.
Career history
In the news
- The pressure on crop breeding is increasing. Climate volatility, disease and resource constraints are making traits such as yield stability and resilience increasingly important. At the same time, advances in AI and genome engineering are creating new ways to tackle the complex genetics behind them. The question is how we translate those advances into better-performing crops, faster. It’s a conversation we’re looking forward to continuing at World Agri-Tech in London, where our CEO and Co-founder Giacomo Bastianelli will be meeting
- If you’re a founder building innovative solutions for planetary health, check out the new call for applications from biotope by VIB. They offer bespoke support and an early-stage ticket of €350k for teams with a unique, biotech-based solution (TRL 3-5). Whether you have (pending) IP or are refining your proof-of-concept, it’s worth a look. Applications close on September 25th. You can apply here: https://lnkd.in/ehFEKJR7 #planetaryhealth #biotope #vib #deeptech #funding
- For decades, crop improvement has focused on achieving the highest possible yield. Today, farmers face a very different challenge. Heatwaves, drought, changing rainfall patterns and other environmental stresses mean that yield stability is becoming just as valuable as maximum yield. A crop that performs consistently under variable conditions reduces risk, strengthens food security and helps farming businesses plan with greater confidence. That's why engineering complex traits such as resilience and input efficiency is
- The conversation around gene editing in Europe and around the world is changing. As regulatory frameworks continue to evolve, the opportunity to accelerate crop innovation has never been greater. We're pleased to be featured by Science|Business, where our CEO Giacomo Bastianelli discusses how Rainbow Crops is combining AI and multiplex genome editing to help seed companies develop more resilient, higher-performing crops and why regulatory progress is helping unlock the next phase of agricultural innovation. For agriculture,
- Rainbow Crops is adding new colors to its team 🤩
- Just over a year ago, I sat down with Alex Shandrovsky to talk about Rainbow Crops’ pre-seed round. I recently joined him again - this time to discuss closing a €9.7M seed round and securing a $7M grant from the Gates Foundation. We spoke about some of the parts of fundraising that founders rarely discuss openly. A few ideas from the conversation: 1) Treat every investor interaction as one shot. The teaser and pitch deck are only the tip of the iceberg. Underneath them, there must be a detailed and credible plan that can withstand
- A new chapter begins for Rainbow Crops... We are very grateful that the right people, partners and investors have come together around this vision, giving us the resources to keep building and hopefully play a meaningful role in the future of agriculture. A huge thank you to our investors LIFTT, LIFTT EuroInvest, Agri Investment Fund, PINC, Corteva Agriscience / Corteva Catalyst, Maia Ventures, and VIB for their trust and support. We are very excited to partner with you through this journey and build something meaningful
Related profiles
This page shows public professional information only, each fact cited. Is this you? send a correction, or ask for removal within 24 hours, no questions asked.