Having worked in the ag-tech space, there are few heavies in the room that are happy to just wait out the IP limits on promising technology held by a startup/co

Having worked in the ag-tech space, there are few heavies in the room that are happy to just wait out the IP limits on promising technology held by a startup/competitor who hasn't figured out how to monetize it yet. This is exactly what Driscoll's has done here. They never invested much themselves, and now that the rights are going for fire-sale prices, they'll step in and start developing themselves. I have a pretty good guess about who will be working to extend the tech. Monsanto, Driscoll's, Simplot, these are companies that have decades of proven revenue that is not going away until humanity evolves photosynthesis directly. They can afford to wait it out until the price drops, and they'll only clamor to acquire a "promising startup" when they think the price can't get any lower. IP protection here specifically serves to prevent e.g. Monsanto from eating ZipGrow or whoever's lunch.