Applied Carbon, a technology company designing automated biochar production machines that convert in-field agricultural crop waste into biochar, today announced it has raised a $21.5 million Series A. The funding round was led by TO VC, with participation from Congruent Ventures, Grantham Foundation, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, S2G Ventures, Overture.vc, Wireframe Ventures, Autodesk Foundation, Anglo American, Susquehanna Foundation, US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good, and Elemental Accelerator. The funding will be used to deploy a fleet of biochar machines across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, delivering high durability carbon removal and agricultural services. The company was also recently named as a top-20 global finalist in the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition and as a semifinalist in the Department of Energy's (DOE) CO2 Removal Purchase Pilot Prize.
Applied Carbon, formerly known as Climate Robotics, has developed a mobile, in-field solution that picks up agricultural crop residue left after harvesting and converts it into biochar in a single pass. The resulting biochar product is deposited back onto the field, simultaneously increasing soil health, improving agronomic productivity, reducing lime and fertilizer requirements, and providing a durable carbon removal and storage solution.
Applied Carbon's technology utilizes a high-tech, fully self-contained trailer pulled behind a tractor that collects crop residue, processes it into biochar via high temperature pyrolysis before quenching it with water and supplementing it with nutrients and microbes as desired by the farmer. The final biochar product exits the machine and is spread directly onto the field, eliminating bulk material transport and drastically reducing its cost per ton. The machine can also operate in an efficient edge-of-field configuration for added flexibility to address diverse crop wastes all year long.
In addition to the agricultural benefits, the biochar produced by Applied Carbon's technology represents an immense carbon removal opportunity. Research indicates that carbon removed via biochar is one of the safest and most permanent atmospheric carbon removal methods currently available. In 2023, over 90% of the durable carbon removal sold to commercial buyers came from biochar, a trend that is expected to continue. Applied Carbon's biochar technology, coupled with the company's precision automation and data monitoring system, offers best-in-class carbon removal monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV), qualities that are critical for transparent engagement with large-scale carbon removal buyers.
Before rebranding from Climate Robotics to Applied Carbon in June to better align with the operational motivation of the company, the company was named as a top 20 finalist in XPRIZE's four-year, $100 million global Carbon Removal Competition. Additionally, the company was named a semi-finalist and awarded $50k to scale its CO2 removal solution through the Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Removal Purchase Pilot Prize program in May.
