# Karsten Temme

> Karsten Temme is the co-founder and chief innovation officer of Pivot Bio. A bioengineer trained at Iowa and in the UCSF-UC Berkeley joint graduate program, he helped develop microbial nitrogen products for cereal crops and served as the company’s first CEO before changing roles in 2023. His current work explores the Future Acre and agriculture in 2050.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Pivot Bio
- **Organizations:** Pivot Bio, X-Wires Communications
- **Education:** BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa, MS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa, PhD, Bioengineering, University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley Joint Graduate Group
- **Known for:** Named inventor on more than 200 patents or patent applications, including over 90 granted, according to Pivot Bio’s leadership biography., Helped commercialize nitrogen-fixing microbial crop nutrition., Led Pivot Bio as its first CEO; the company reported revenue above $100 million for FY2023.

## Career timeline

- **2002** — Founded X-Wires Communications, serving Coralville and rural Iowa City communities.
- **2011** — Co-founded Pivot Bio with Alvin Tamsir.
- **2021** — Pivot Bio raised a $430 million Series D while Temme was CEO.
- **2022** — Wrote about launching seed-applied microbial nitrogen.
- **2023** — Became chief innovation officer on August 29 as Chris Abbott became CEO.
- **2025** — Spoke at TED Countdown in Nairobi on June 18.
- **2026** — TED released his talk on YouTube on March 12.

## Achievements

- Named inventor on more than 200 patents or patent applications, including over 90 granted, according to Pivot Bio’s leadership biography.
- Helped commercialize nitrogen-fixing microbial crop nutrition.
- Led Pivot Bio as its first CEO; the company reported revenue above $100 million for FY2023.
- Won student entrepreneurship awards for X-Wires with his business partners.

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — TED published The Tiny Organisms Transforming Farming on YouTube on March 12, from his June 18, 2025 Nairobi talk.
- **2025-06** — Presented at the TED Countdown Summit in Nairobi.
- **2025-02** — TEDx Talks published The future of fertilizer on February 5.

## Links

- Website: https://www.karstentemme.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karstentemme
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/karsten

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/karsten-temme
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11