Monsanto and Microsoft announce biotech project

American biotech company Monsanto Co and Microsoft Corp have announced a partnership to invest in agricultural technology startups in Brazil.

Monsanto will join a Brazilian investment fund with up to 300m reais (€85m), managed by Microsoft, evaluating ideas for new digital tools to be applied to agricultural production in the country, executives said.

Selected ideas will receive initial funding of up to 1.5m reais (€415,000) for early development.