Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ ↗
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The Claim

Bill Gates personally donated $50 million to Terrana Biosciences to support the development of RNA-modified crops.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

This claim is false. The $50 million invested in Terrana Biosciences came from Flagship Pioneering, a biotech venture firm — not from Bill Gates personally or the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation's own grants database shows no funding to Terrana. Snopes investigated this exact rumor and found no evidence of a Gates connection, and Flagship Pioneering's spokesperson explicitly denied it. The claim originated from unsourced social media posts that misattributed the funding source.

Caveats

  • The $50 million was committed by Flagship Pioneering, not Bill Gates — multiple credible sources (Fundz, AgFunderNews) explicitly name Flagship as the funder.
  • Snopes investigated this exact claim and found no evidence connecting Gates to Terrana; Flagship Pioneering's spokesperson explicitly denied the rumor.
  • The only source supporting the Gates attribution is an unsourced YouTube video, which is not a credible basis for a $50 million financial claim.

The Receipts

  1. Committed Grants | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    Gates Foundation

  2. Announcing Investments in mRNA Vaccine Innovation in Africa

    Gates Foundation

  3. BIO Ventures for Global Health Announces Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant to Expand Biotech Industry's Role in Fight Against Neglected Diseases

    Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

  4. Digging into claim Bill Gates got approval to 'secretly' spray RNA on crops | Snopes.com

    Snopes.com

  5. Terrana Biosciences $50 Million series a 2025-07-03 - Fundz

    Fundz

  6. Why Bayer and the Gates Foundation are using CRISPR to reduce food's climate impact

    Farm Progress

  7. Flagship Pioneering's new RNA-based crop protection company could provide 'a huge way to deal with climate change' - AgFunderNews

    AgFunderNews

  8. Terrana Biosciences

    Terrana Biosciences

  9. Bill Gates has donated $50 million to a new company called Terrana...

    YouTube

Filed Under

Bill GatesTerrana Biosciences

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