Salesforce founder Marc Benioff’s investment firm TIME Ventures has led a $40 million funding round for Orange, NSW, based agri-tech start-up Loam Bio, formerly Soil Carbon.
TIME Ventures was supported in the round by new and existing investors including Main Sequence Ventures, Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures, the federal government-funded Clean Energy Finance Corporation, California-based food and agriculture venture capital firm Acre Venture Partners, Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures and Ottawa-based decarbonisation venture fund Thistledown Capital.
Loam has developed a microbial coating for seeds that helps crops stably retain carbon in soil while also boosting soil health and crop yields.
Benioff said: “We’re in a climate emergency. While reducing emissions around the world is paramount, Loam, with its powerful vision and promising technology, has great potential to play an important part in decarbonising the planet.”
Loam chief executive and co-founder Guy Hudson said: “The time for our technology is now. Microbial carbon removal promises to be a key climate change solution because it is cheap, long-term and scalable.
“Using our naturally-derived products on crops across the globe will give the world the time it needs to adjust to a low carbon economy. The entire annual US aviation emissions could be removed if our seed coating was applied to America’s soybean crop.
“Backing from some of the world’s key technology founders and investors is an incredible catalyst for global-scale carbon removal.”
Main Sequence Ventures partner Mike Zimmerman said: “Agriculture holds the power to reverse climate change. Loam combines breakthrough science with a highly scalable business model, enabling the industry to help sustain the planet while feeding our growing population.”
Chris Liu of Horizons Ventures said: “We believe Loam’s microbial platform is a rare and unique nature-based solution that can supercharge the decarbonisation of the global economy. It has the potential to draw down carbon at gigatonne scale with the speed and urgency that is required.”
The CEFC is an investor through its specialist Clean Energy Innovation Fund. Executive Director Ben Gust said: “The innovative technology that Loam has developed has the potential to significantly decarbonise the atmosphere and improve water retention in soils. This could revolutionise farming methods by improving soil health, building stronger resistance to drought in a changing climate, and playing an important part in accelerating the transition towards net zero emissions.”
Sam Kass, Partner at Acre Venture Partners said: “Although it couldn’t be more clear that we are running out of time to dramatically reduce our global footprint, we have not found solutions that can sequester significant levels of carbon on a time horizon that meets the urgency of the moment. Loam Bio’s nature-based solution will sequester substantial amounts of soil-based carbon with increased permanence, drive real economic value for growers and is scalable around the globe.”
Loam Bio co-founder and chief product officer Tegan Nock said the company’s team was not discouraged by politicians’ slow realization of the need to set high carbon reduction goals.
“The growers we’re working with aren’t waiting for policy and regulatory shifts, they’re leading the way and showing the role agriculture can play in this space,” she said.
Last year, Loam Bio raised $10 million in seed funding in a round led by Horizons Ventures, the venture firm set up by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing. Grok Ventures, California-based Lowercarbon Capital and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation backed that round.
Loam Bio’s technology is based on the work of former University of Sydney professor Peter McGhee.
Agronomist Guy Webb and farmers Mick Wettenhall and Frank Oly first learned about the concept they now call ‘microbe-mediated carbon sequestration’ when they attended a talk by Professor McGee.
With McGee retiring in 2016, the trio decided to acquire the intellectual property produced by his research. They then set up a non-profit organisation, SoilCQuest, to carry out further research. After some successful trials, they decided they would need to set up commercial business to attract investment to further develop and commercialise the technology.
In 2019 they teamed up with Guy Hudson, who previously ran SpakLabs’ Cultiv8 agrifoodtech accelerator and fund, and agriculture policy specialist Tegan Nock to launch Soil Carbon Co.
Image: Loam Bio co-founder Tegan Nock with a test slide of the company’s technology.