Wageningen, The Netherlands, Rehovot, Israel
January 16, 2017
Today, the Crop Innovation Company KeyGene and Phenome Networks announce that they have signed an agreement
to establish a strategic partnership in the growing market of breeding and big data genomics software. In the
collaboration, Phenome Networks provides a license to KeyGene to its plant breeding software (PhenomeOne) to
support KeyGene’s breeding of rubber-producing dandelion plants. Simultaneously, KeyGene provides a license to
Phenome Networks to use its CropPediaTM genomics platform for big data integration and analysis in rice. Both parties
will promote each other’s software products during interactions with their business partners in the seed industry who
are interested in breeding management and genome data integration and lead discovery.
In addition, Phenome Networks and KeyGene will explore joint development of novel software modules that will
combine and expand the capabilities of PhenomeOne (by Phenome Networks) and CropPedia (by KeyGene). This
will enable seed companies to link traditional breeding to genomic data with state-of-the-art lead discovery software,
to accelerate and boost the precision of breeding.
Yaniv Semel, co-founder and CEO of Phenome Networks commented on the partnership: “We have been very
impressed by the capabilities of CropPedia. This is a comprehensive solution for both visualization and analysis of
genomic data. It complements well the genomic aspect of our breeding management solution – PhenomeOne. KeyGene
is a well know and innovative company in the seed and breeding industry and we are honored to collaborate with
them“.
Arjen J. van Tunen, CEO of KeyGene: “PhenomeOne is an impressive software solution to execute and manage plant
breeding processes. It is nicely complementary to our CropPedia. We have evaluated it extensively and concluded
that this is the best system to manage our dandelion breeding program. The collaboration with Phenome Networks
will enable both parties to combine and further develop their breakthrough software solutions that integrate
traditional breeding with genomics. This is surely something our customers are looking for and that provide new tools
to breed innovative, healthy and sustainable crop varieties that meet the future demands of our societies“.
About KeyGene
The crop innovation company
KeyGene is the go-to AgBiotech company for higher crop yield & quality. With our intellectual capital, solution-driven approach and collaborative spirit, we work for the future of global agriculture with partners in the AgriFood sector. Using our proprietary technologies and non-GM approaches, we support customers with the development of new and improved crops. Our goal is to help
organizations with their toughest R&D challenges, combining our cutting edge breeding technologies, bioinformatics & data science expertise, and plant-based trait platforms.www.keygene.com
About Phenome Networks
Phenome Networks Ltd provides a state of the art bioinformatics platform that organizes the wealth of genotype-to-phenotype
data generated in the plant breeding process and genetic research in commercial companies and academic institutes. The
platform allows extracting knowledge and insights that accelerate plant breeding. The burst of genotyping technologies in recent
years has the potential to transform the way traditional breeding is conducted. The company’s strategy is to supply novel
statistical methods and algorithms to assist its customers in coping with these changes and translating big data problems into smart decisions. www.phenome-networks.com/
KeyGene
Jenny Peters
PR Officer
+31 317 466 866
Keygenepr@keygene.com
Twitter: KeyGeneInfo
Phenome Networks
Yaniv Semel
CEO
+972-8-9302374
yaniv@phenome-networks.com