Progress to date
GotaBlanca 500® is registered and approved for use in Costa Rica for field and greenhouse applications. Through lab and field testing, we have demonstrated that our products are effective in managing more than 40 of the most harmful and commercially relevant pathogens in the world.
GotaBlanca has demonstrated field-effectiveness on the most difficult pathogens in coffee, bananas (pre and post-harvest), flowers, tubers, and a variety of vegetable and fruit crops. Field tests are consistently showing results that match or exceed the effectiveness (and cost-effectiveness) of more toxic incumbent products.
ClearLeaf has registered in Costa Rica GotaBlanca -Soil® - a highly effective treatment for soil-borne pathogens, including fusarium – a devastating tropical soil fungus.
ClearLeaf is launching new products in the coming months, including a Home & Garden version of GotaBlanca and one that is expected to revolutionize the plant tissue culture (micropropagation) industry.
ClearLeaf has moved its corporate headquarters to the U.S. to better protect our rapidly increasing base of intellectual property, to provide an ideal location for future investors, and to be closer to a major target market.
Patents
GotaBlanca® combines two different innovative technological approaches that together change fungal and bacterial management strategies in a wide range of agricultural sectors for both pre and post-harvest applications. ClearLeaf filed patents on these technologies through WIPO PCT and the US Patent & Trademark Office in 2019 – and has advanced to national and regional phases of this patent filing covering more than 100 countries.
In 2020, ClearLeaf filed for a related patent to cover the methods and compositions to prevent and reduce contamination in the plant tissue culture (micropropagation) processes.
Regulatory
ClearLeaf is working with a range of strategies, expert consulting firms, and commercial partners to bring forward product registrations in key markets. Agricultural chemical markets are developed by securing product registrations, validating product effectiveness to the satisfaction of key local market leaders, and generating demand from end clients and distribution partners. ClearLeaf is engaging key clients first and working with them to bring in ideal distributors and then securing optimal product registrations. We are executing that strategy across numerous country markets and with multiple crops within, and across, those markets.
ClearLeaf expects to secure registrations and enter Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panamá, in early 2022.
Organic certifications
GotaBlanca® is certified organic for Europe (CE N° 889/2008), Japan (JAS/MAFF), and Costa Rica (MAG 29782). This certification will quickly raise GotaBlanca®´s visibility and status for sales in different crop industries in the coming months, and immediately open numerous Nespresso supplier farms. While organic producers present a tiny portion of total agricultural output, organic product certification provides a powerful signal to conventional producers who are seeking lower-impact products.
Development
We have passed the product development phase. Currently what we do is just customized modifications to the formulation to serve specific markets, for example by modifying our adherence strategy (in particular to adjust for rain intensity and quantity) and the amount of active ingredient (for particularly resisant pathogens). We have developed a product line with the versatility to adapt to the customer’s needs and provide a customized solution, without the need to reverting to a development phase.
Sales
We have signed an exclusive partnership with Colono Agropecuario for distribution in Costa Rica and Central America. Our products are now available widely across Costa Rica in 37 agricultural sales points, as well as through direct channels. ClearLeaf has a team of technical sales specialists to support our distributor and push forward our expansion.
Financing
We have successfully completed our round of seed money round for USD 500,000 at the beginning of 2020 and we are expecting to close our Seed Plus Round at the end of 2021.