Participated · Series A · Sep 2024

Eion develops and deploys enhanced rock weathering (ERW) on agricultural lands, applying olivine and routine farming practices to capture carbon while balancing soil pH. The company holds an industry-first patent for directly measuring carbon removed by mineral weathering in soils using immobile trace elements, and relies on routine soil samples and standard equipment to monitor removal and soil conditions. Led by CEO Anastasia Pavlovic, Eion emphasizes integrating with existing agricultural systems to scale without compromising safety or rigor. The company is focused on commercial deployment, delivering against new contracts, and continuing R&D to improve measurement and application methods. Eion is targeting to deliver 10 million tons of permanent carbon removal annually starting in 2030 and aims to create stable jobs in rural communities. Eion commercializes CarbonLock, a pulverized olivine soil amendment that sequesters CO2 via enhanced rock weathering (one ton applied can absorb one ton of CO2). The olivine is mined in Norway, shipped to Mobile, Alabama, crushed to increase surface area, and applied to fields typically once every two years at roughly two tons per acre. CarbonLock also acts as an agricultural lime, reducing soil acidity, which helps farmer adoption. Eion validates sequestration by tracking the fate of olivine through measurements of magnesium and rare earth elements and monitors for heavy metals like nickel and chromium. The company is finalizing its methodology, expanding operations, and planning to build a mill to scale production. Current revenues have been supported by carbon-credit buyers such as Stripe’s climate program; Eion is exploring additional revenue sources including payments from farmers or food brands, potential federal cost-sharing, and has an off-take agreement with mineral supplier Sibelco.

Participated · Series B · Jan 2023

EarthOptics leverages advances in soil-sensing technologies, genomics, and data science to deliver predictive insights into chemical, physical, and biological soil properties. It combines lab-based analysis with field-based sensors to give farmers and ranchers actionable recommendations to optimize spending and unlock sustainable farming opportunities. The company completed a strategic merger with Pattern Ag, combining EarthOptics’ proprietary field-based sensing technologies with Pattern Ag’s lab-based analysis to offer comprehensive soil data. Led by CEO Lars Dyrud, EarthOptics operates offices in Raleigh, North Carolina; Emeryville, California; Arlington and Blacksburg, Virginia; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Fayetteville, Arkansas, and maintains two laboratories in Emeryville and Memphis, Tennessee. The company intends to use new funding to accelerate technological innovation, broaden its geographic reach, and consolidate its position as an authoritative source for soil insights. EarthOptics develops next-generation soil-sensing technologies that combine ground-based sensors, satellites, physical soil samples, machine learning models, and agronomic expertise to deliver detailed soil measurements. The company's platform provides insights to help farmers optimize fertilizer applications, inform tillage decisions, and quantify carbon sequestration. EarthOptics plans to use its latest funding to expand access to its tools and deliver hyper-accurate soil insights. Founded in 2018 and based in Arlington, VA, the company serves growers and ranchers seeking data-driven land-management decisions. The company is led by CEO Lars Dyrud. The article reports a recent financing that will support its growth and product expansion efforts. EarthOptics has developed an imaging suite that uses ground-penetrating radar and electromagnetic induction to produce deep maps of soil physical and chemical composition. Its commercial products, GroundOwl and C-Mapper (C for carbon), reconcile no-contact sensor data with traditional lab samples via machine learning trained on tens of thousands of ground-truth measurements. The hardware can be mounted on ordinary tractors or trucks and pulls readings every few feet, reducing physical sampling from hundreds of samples to dozens. The company’s outputs can be used to create meter-scale treatment maps or to feed variable-depth robotic field machinery such as smart tillers. Management positions the product as a cheaper, faster, and more precise alternative to traditional soil sampling and as foundational data for automated and robotic farming. Financially, EarthOptics raised a $10.3M A round to scale its two existing products and to develop a moisture-mapping product.