Forrest Innovations has selected St. Louis, MO to be the site for its U.S. headquarters.  The Israeli agtech company focuses on two main issues- reducing mosquito-carried disease and overcoming a bacteria threatening the citrus industry.  This is the third Israeli company to choose St. Louis in the past seven months.

St. Louis’ success in cultivating bioscience and innovation ecosystem businesses is due to the efforts of BioSTL.  Israel is one of the world’s largest resources of commercially-promising innovation, especially in the areas of agritech, medical technologies, and cyber-security.  These areas complement St. Louis’ strengths, thus BioSTL’s St. Louis-Israel Innovation Connection (SLIIC) was created to meet the need Israeli business have for a U.S. presence.

“St. Louis is renowned for its leadership in plant science and top notch scientific personnel, offering us a wonderful opportunity for recruiting highly qualified employees. St. Louis also provides a great platform for promoting innovation and collaboration. We are very happy to become the latest members of this promising community,” said Nitzan Paldi, CEO of Forrest Innovations.

“Although we anticipated the strengths of our St. Louis ecosystem would resonate with Israeli companies, the pace of success has exceeded all expectations,” said Donn Rubin, president and CEO of BioSTL. “It’s not surprising that our early momentum has been in agtech, an area where St. Louis shines, with remarkable corporate and research partners, talent and specialized facilities.”

Prior to Forrest Innovations’ decision, Kaiima Bio-Agritech (November) and Evogene (February) each announced establishment of their U.S. base in St. Louis.
Building on the momentum, a delegation from St. Louis, including representatives from BioSTL, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, KWS, Monsanto, Missouri Partnership and St. Louis Regional Chamber visited Israel last month to amplify St. Louis’ story and increase awareness of the region as a preferred relocation site.