A year after raising $4 million in pre-seed funding, California agtech start-up TerraBlaster closed an oversubscribed seed round with $12.5 million that will fuel further research and development, including more field trials across the Midwest.
Founded early last year by agtech veteran Jorge Heraud, TerraBlaster’s technology is based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for measuring soil fertility. Historically, LIBS technology is used in material labs to detect the presence of certain elements, like how much carbon is in steel, Heraud told AgNavigator.
TerraBlaster is bringing LIBS to farmers and agronomists through a tractor-pulled implement called Blaster 1000, which opens shallow trenches in the soil to measure soil fertility using LIBS, Heraud explained. Blaster 1000 make V-shaped trenches, which allow the implement to fire a laser down to the root zone, vaporizing a tiny amount of soil and recording the light to determine soil fertility, he added.
Then, agronomists and farmers receive their soil health data in a .CSV file, and the technology can provide “16 times more information than a lab,” since it measures in 80-by-80-foot areas, compared to soil samples at a 2.5-acre grid, Heraud said. Soil characteristics can vary every 70-90 feet, making TerraBlaster more accurate, he added.
TerraBlaster plans to open presale ordering for the implement later this year with first deliveries expected in spring 2027. While the start-up has not determined the price for its technology, TerraBlaster wants to make it comparable to what is paid for traditional soil testing but provides deeper insights, Heraud noted.
“The typical charge from the lab is about between somewhere around $4-5 per acre. So, that’s more or less where we want to be but come in with this high resolution. We measure more things. We have this again measurement that is that measures stratification and highly accurate,” he added.
Better data, better nutrient-use efficiency
TerraBlaster will use the seed funding to continue R&D efforts, including field trials in the Midwest, and developing ways to bring the technology to tractors, planters, and combines, Heraud explained.
The seed round was led by Ulu Ventures with participation from Ag Startup Engine, Artesian, Builders Vision, Khosla Ventures, Reservoir, Sunna, and Trailhead Capital.
This comes as farmers across the globe are searching for ways to use fertilizer more efficiently, amid supply chain volatility spurred on by the Iran war. By using more accurate soil measurement, farmers can apply fertilizer more precisely, generating on average $45 per acre of in combined cost savings and yield improvements, Heraud noted.
“For the same amount of expenditure, you can get higher yields because you’re putting the fertilizer in the right places, and that’s very good for farmers. It stretches every dollar that they spend on fertilizer,” he elaborated.
