Carbonaught, an Australian startup revolutionizing the agriculture industry with an innovative carbon capture fertilizing solution, has received financial backing from Better Bite Ventures, a venture capital firm located in Singapore.
This investment comes after a significant financial boost earlier this year, when the promising startup was awarded an A$74,800 ($50,000) grant from the Government of Queensland as part of its Ignite Spark funding scheme.
The funding for Carbonaught is part of a financing program launched by Better Bite, intended for climate-tackling food startups at different stages of development. The latest investment round of this program is focused on backing sustainable innovations in rice production, palm oil, cocoa and coffee, food waste, as well as fertilizers.
Founded in 2021 by a team that combines advanced technical, scientific, and business knowledge, Carbonaught’s fertilizing solution offers notable climate benefits.
Utilizing the method of enhanced rock weathering, a process in which ground basalt rocks are spread onto surfaces to catalyze chemical reactions between rocks, water, and air, their technology helps remove CO2 from the atmosphere, storing it in rocks.
This approach speeds up the otherwise naturally occurring process where rain combines with atmospheric carbon to form carbonic acid, a substance that then falls on rocks and soil, where the gas mineralizes and is stored as solid carbonate.
Increasing the contact between the rain and the rocks, the weathering method employed by Carbonaught leads to a reaction in which the carbonic acid melts the basalt to release soil nutrients like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium, providing nutrition to growing plants and reducing soil acidity.
Relevant: Enhanced Rock Weathering Shows Outstanding Results In US Corn Belt
While this method absorbs carbon dioxide, removing it permanently into stable carbon minerals, it also offers an efficient substitute to conventional synthetic fertilizers, and it contributes to non-permanent carbon removal as the nutrients released during the weathering process stimulate microbial growth that ultimately accumulates soil organic carbon.
Currently, Carbonaught is testing its technology in the U.S. and Australia, applying its weathering technique on a sugarcane farm, banana plantations, and orange orchards, and evaluating its potential on an avocado and macadamia farm.
Read more: New Map Shows Locations of Enhanced Rock Weathering Projects Worldwide
