About Us

Proprietary technology for discovery of novel crop protection products

About AgPlenus

At AgPlenus, we are pioneers in the field of agricultural sciences and AI for agriculture. We dedicate our efforts to revolutionizing crop protection solutions. Utilizing a target-based approach, we design novel products with novel Modes of Action (MoAs) to address global agricultural challenges. Committed to sustainable products, our interdisciplinary team merges cutting-edge AI-driven technology with scientific expertise, aiming to ensure a more resilient and productive future for farmers worldwide.

Our Vision

Novel, sustainable crop protection products

Discover and design novel crop protection products allowing food security for the rapidly growing world population.

Our Mission

AI and science to boost innovative crop protection development

Accelerate the development of target-based, novel crop protection products, harnessing AI for agriculture, and utilizing a cutting-edge computational engine based on AI, combined with a deep understanding of biology and chemistry.

The market challenges

With the rapidly growing population and the need to significantly increase food production, the call for effective and sustainable crop protection products is louder than ever. Although agro chemical pesticides are a proven economical approach to increase crop yields, this field is undergoing challenging changes.

Pests have become more and more resistant to existing chemistries and Modes of Action (MoAs). The development of new products is long and expensive and companies face an ever growing list of environmental regulatory requirements.

This leads to lack of innovation in this field, a problem that AgPlenus seeks to resolve.

Spraying pesticide with tractor ar agriculture field.

Key crop protection product development challenges

Developers of new crop protection products face two major challenges.

First, one must define the target protein. To find the right target protein from thousands of proteins in the relevant plant is challenging. Once the target protein is selected, a new MoA needs to be designed, with an effective small molecule inhibitor that modulates or stops the activity of the target protein, without resulting in adverse cross-reactivity in the crop.

The second challenge lies in the identification, optimization and design of the small molecule inhibitor. To find a novel inhibitor that effectively and selectively affects that target protein one must screen billions of compounds.

Management

Ofer Haviv, Chief Executive Officer & Chairperson of the Board

Mr. Ofer Haviv holds the position of Evogene’s President and CEO as of late 2004. Prior to that he held the positions of company COO and CFO from 2002 to 2004 and was involved in Evogene’s spin-off from Compugen in 2002. At Compugen, he held the position of Director of Finance and Treasurer of Compugen (NASDAQ: CGEN) for four years, during which time the company completed two private placements and an IPO on NASDAQ

Mr. Haviv holds a B.A. degree in Economics and Accounting from Faculty of Management, Tel Aviv University and is a Certified Public Accountant in Israel.

Merav Beiman PhD, Vice President R&D

Merav Beiman PhD, Executive Vice President R&D

Dr. Merav Beiman, with over 25 years of experience, is a seasoned leader in biopharmaceutical and Agtech industries. As VP of R&D at AgPlenus, she leads innovative crop protection discovery using AI. Previously, as CEO of ImmPACT-Bio, she drove advancements in CAR-T therapy. At Ferring Pharmaceuticals, she supervised global CMC teams. Merav holds a B.Sc., M.Sc. in Life Sciences from Tel-Aviv University, and a Ph.D. in Genetics from the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Dr. Ilia Zhidkov

Ilia Zhidkov, PhD, Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Ilia Zhidkov was appointed as Evogene’s Chief Technology Officer in January 2026. Dr. Zhidkov joined Evogene in 2011 as a Bioinformatician in the Computational Genomics Department and has held various managerial positions in the company over the years.

Dr. Zhidkov holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from Ben Gurion University.

Polina Ravzin

Polina Ravzin, Vice President of Finance

Ms. Polina Ravzin serves as Vice President of Finance at Evogene, bringing over 20 years of experience leading finance and operational functions in public and private companies. Ms. Ravzin has extensive expertise in capital raising, due diligence processes, mergers and acquisitions, budgeting and financial planning, and provides strong accounting and managerial leadership in support of the companies’ strategic objectives.

Prior to joining Evogene, Ms. Ravzin served as Controller and Assistant to the CFO at DSIT Solutions Ltd. and Acorn Energy Inc. (NASDAQ/OTCQB: ACFN), where she supported financial strategy, corporate governance, and growth initiatives.

Ms. Ravzin holds a B.A. in Accounting and Economics from Tel Aviv University, graduating with high honors, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Israel.

Liat Foigel

Liat Foigel Wejgman,Vice President of Human Resources

Ms. Liat Foigel Wejgman was appointed Vice President Human Resources in January 2022, previously serving as Director of Human Resources from 2018. Ms. Foigel Wejgman joined Evogene in 2015 and has held various positions in the company over the years. Prior to joining Evogene Ms. Foigel Wejgman worked in human resource positions at an online trading leading company.

Ms. Foigel Wejgman holds a B.A. degree in Social Science with a major in Technological Marketing from Sapir College.

SAB Members

bill-img

Bill Jorgensen, PhD, SAB member

Bill Jorgensen, a Sterling Professor of Chemistry at Yale since 1990, is renowned for his computational work on force fields (OPLS), organic and enzymatic reactions in solution, molecular recognition, and protein-ligand binding. His group excels in de novo drug design and synthesis, utilizing free-energy perturbation calculations for efficient lead optimization. Bill’s distinguished career includes the ACS Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, the ACS Hildebrand Award, the Tetrahedron Prize, and the Arthur C. Cope Award. He is a member of several prestigious academies (International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and US National Academy of Sciences) and was the founding Editor of the ACS Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation  (2005-2021)

hanoch-img

Hanoch Senderowitz, PhD, SAB member

Hanoch Senderowitz, is a professor of computational chemistry at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. He earned his Ph.D. in computational organic chemistry with Professor Benzion Fuchs at Tel Aviv University and completed his Fulbright post-doctoral training with Professor Clark Still at Columbia University. He worked at Peptor Ltd. and EPIX Pharmaceuticals as Executive Director of Computational Development. In 2009, he joined Bar-Ilan University, leading the laboratory for molecular modeling, computer-aided drug design, and chemoinformatics. His research focuses on molecular modeling and machine learning in drug design, chemoinformatics, materials-informatics, agro-informatics, and forensic-informatics

Merav is a seasoned leader in the biopharmaceutical and Agtech industries, bringing extensive managerial experience to her roles. Her career includes significant positions such as her current role as VP of R&D at AgPlenus, where she oversees innovative crop protection discovery utilizing AI. Previously, as CEO of ImmPACT-Bio, she effectively implemented scientific and business strategies, culminating in a successful Series A fundraising and advancements in CAR-T therapy development. At Ferring Pharmaceuticals, her leadership involved directing global teams for CMC activities and contributing to due diligence processes for new technologies.

Merav holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Life Sciences from Tel-Aviv University and a Ph.D. in Genetics from the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Mirit Ram is the Vice President of Portfolio Management at AgPlenus, a position she has held since 2018. She brings over 15 years of experience in the agriculture industry, specializing in solutions and portfolio management.

Before joining AgPlenus, Mirit served as Project Management Director at Evogene and worked in the Innovation Center at FMC as a Project Manager and scientist . She holds a BSc and an MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Technion.

Brian Ember is the Chief Business Officer at AgPlenus having had multiple leadership roles within the organization over the past two plus years. Brian has held various positions in agriculture over the past 16 years in both research and business functions and with multinationals (Syngenta and BASF) as well as startups (Agrimetis, Biotalys). Brian has a BS in Chemistry from the University of Florida, a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Georgia, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Gelvan is CEO of AgPlenus. With over three decades of experience in life-science and technology companies, Dr. Gelvan brings exceptional leadership and strategic vision. Dr. Gelvan has founded and managed companies, and has 20 years of experience in venture capital. Before joining AgPlenus, Dr. Gelvan established a number of AI-based companies in the healthcare field. Dan holds a BA and MA in Economics from The Hebrew University and a PhD in Business Economics from Roskilde University, Denmark.