News arrives from Berkeley and Pivot Bio that the company has raised $430 million in its Series D venture round, led by DCVC and Temasek, bringing the total equity raised to more than $600 million. Last we saw, the company was valued at $1.6 billion — now, even more. The nitrogen rationale You might ask, as we do, why is the absence of nitrogen worth more than nitrogen? After all, Pivot Bio replaces nitrogen with nothing — or, to be more exact, microbes that obtain free nitrogen from the air and share it corn, wheat or rice. Applying nitrogen fertilizer for corn production is one of the most costly aspects of raising corn — says here the cost in 2021 averages $93 per acre. And, it’s big business — $197 billion globally, that is, synthetic fertilizers.