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
- Advances in gene editing are accelerating trait development, while evolving regulation is creating greater clarity around how new crops can reach farmers. Both will be firmly on the agenda at the Euroseeds Congress in Valencia, 25–28 October. Our CEO and Co-Founder, Giacomo Bastianelli, will be there to discuss crop genetics, resilience and where plant breeding goes next. Attending? Get in touch to arrange a conversation. #Euroseeds2026 #GeneEditing #CropGenetics
- Drought resilience, heat tolerance and yield stability are not typically controlled by a single gene and they emerge from networks of genes working together. In a piece with Harry Duran from iGrow News, our CEO and Co-Founder Giacomo Bastianelli explains how Rainbow Crops is combining AI, multiplex genome editing, breeding and high-throughput phenotyping to tackle that complexity more systematically. He also discusses our work on maize, sorghum and rice, the role of field validation, and why collaboration with seed and breeding
- Proud to see Rainbow Crops among the spin-offs emerging from Ghent University and VIB. It’s a great reminder of what investment in excellent basic and translational science can lead to. Keep it going!
- Proud to see Rainbow Crops among the spin-offs emerging from Ghent University and VIB. It’s a great reminder of what investment in excellent basic and translational science can lead to. Keep it going!
- For seed companies, advances in crop genetics create both an opportunity and a challenge: how do you access new capabilities without having to build everything in-house? As AI and genome engineering continue to advance, partnerships can provide a faster route to applying these technologies to real breeding challenges. It’s a topic our CEO and Co-founder Giacomo Bastianelli is looking forward to discussing at the Euroseeds Congress in Valencia this October. If you’re attending and exploring new approaches to complex traits, crop
- You can’t change resilience by looking at a single gene, and making an impact doesn’t happen in isolation. We are partnering with Vylor, the advanced seed and genetics company that will spin off from Corteva Agriscience on October 1, 2026, to advance the next generation of gene-edited corn traits. This collaboration brings together Vylor’s expertise in advanced seed genetics and our AI-supported Trait Foundry™ platform, combining multiplex genome editing, precision breeding, and automated phenotyping. Together, we will explore
- 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
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