The round takes Cotierra’s total funding since inception to approximately $4.75 million and was co-led by PINC, the venture arm of international food and beverage company Paulig, and Carbon Removal Partners.
Zürcher Kantonalbank, Carbon Drawdown Initiative, better ventures, GOTA Ventures, Hungry4Impact and Triple Impact Ventures also participated alongside climate and impact-focused angel investors.
Turning agricultural waste into an asset
Cotierra is targeting a challenge common across tropical agriculture: large quantities of residual biomass are generated in geographically dispersed locations, while farmers are simultaneously grappling with deteriorating soil health and greater exposure to extreme weather.
Its proposition is to process that agricultural residue close to where it is produced rather than relying on large, centralised facilities.
Cotierra combines decentralised biochar reactors with a digital platform for operating, monitoring and verifying production. Residual biomass is converted into biochar and returned to agricultural soils, with the company claiming benefits spanning farmer productivity and resilience, supply-chain emissions reductions and carbon removal.
Having initially proven the approach within coffee supply chains, Cotierra now plans to use the new funding to turn its field deployments into a repeatable, integrated hardware and software product. It says it has built a strong order backlog and is expanding into other tropical commodities including cocoa, cotton and citrus.
“We have shown that decentralised biochar offers a highly effective pathway to decarbonise and strengthen tropical agricultural value chains where biomass is widely dispersed,” said CEO and co-founder Thomas Käslin.
“Now we are making it simple, reliable and scalable.”
Commercial traction catches investors’ attention
Importantly, investors are pointing not simply to Cotierra’s carbon-removal potential but to the commercial traction it has achieved with the agricultural supply chain.
Karl Swensson, investment director at PINC, said Cotierra’s progress with coffee traders was a particular attraction for Paulig, given the food company’s exposure to agricultural supply chains.
“What stood out to us about Cotierra is the strong traction the company has achieved with coffee traders through a solution that delivers value for farmers, traders and coffee companies alike,” he said.
PINC believes decentralised biochar could contribute to both emissions reductions and greater resilience in coffee-producing regions, forming part of a wider portfolio of technologies supporting Paulig’s climate ambitions.
Carbon Removal Partners, meanwhile, is a returning investor.
Founder and partner Max Zeller said that since its initial investment, Cotierra had moved from a “strong technical concept” to proven field results and gained commercial traction with some of the world’s largest coffee producers.
