A fertilizer startup is turning almond shells into something farmers want to use. Nitricity, a climate-tech startup, has secured $50 million in a Series B fundraising, attracting some high-profile backers to the round. With the proceeds, the company plans to scale its organic liquid nitrogen fertilizer, Ash Tea, made from recycled almond shells, air, water and renewable power. Co-led by Europe’s World Fund and existing backer Khosla Ventures, the round also extended to Chipotle’s Cultivate Next venture fund, King Philanthropies, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, EIP and Fine Structure Ventures.
On the heels of the capital injection, Nitricity is now breaking ground on an innovative plant in Delhi, California, with output sold out through 2028 under binding offtake agreements. Proceeds from the round will also be directed toward a U.S. build-out and European expansion, including local sourcing of agricultural byproducts, such as wood and olive-oil waste, and additional R&D to extend into crops like corn and wheat.
Nitricity is disrupting sustainable agriculture with Ash Tea, its flagship liquid organic nitrogen fertilizer derived from a blend of recycled organic almond shells, air, water and renewable energy. The company says Ash Tea matches the cost of conventional commercial organic fertilizers while delivering better environmental benefits, including zero pathogens and no animal-derived ingredients, making it a cleaner, greener choice for growers. Farmers are seeing results, with field trials producing yield boosts of up to 30 percent alongside accelerated flourishing plants in the early season.
Nitricity Co-Founder and CEO Dr. Nicolas Pinkowski stated, “This is an inflection point for Nitricity. We’re scaling across the U.S. and we’re very excited to expand into Europe in a serious and assertive way. The European market for our organic fertilizer is even larger than in the U.S., and demand is only growing against a backdrop of European governments looking to boost resilience and create circular agriculture economies. We offer an exceptional organic, circular solution for the market.”
Set to come online in 2026, Nitricity’s innovative plant in Delhi, California marks the company’s jump to commercial scale, boosting output roughly a hundredfold to produce cost-competitive organic nitrogen. The entire initial capacity is committed under binding offtake agreements with local organic growers through 2028. Backed by Elemental Impact and Trellis Climate, the Merced County facility is expected to create roughly two-dozen jobs, with a groundbreaking held last month.
As the World Fund’s inaugural U.S. investment, the organization’s principal Dr. Nadine Geiser said, “The Haber-Bosch process typically sees around 60-70 percent of nitrogen applied to crops get lost. This cannot continue. Our calculations show Nitricity’s brilliant, price-competitive sustainable, organic alternative provides an <92 percent reduction in emissions on average. As the EU looks to meet sustainability and organic requirements, demand for Nitricity’s solution is only rising, and we are proud to be supporting Nicolas and the team as they scale into Europe and beyond.”
Chipotle President, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer Curt Garner commented, “Nitricity’s commitment to producing fertilizer that is optimized for farmers compliments Chipotle’s approach to Food with Integrity. Since our initial investment in 2023, we’ve seen continued innovation and believe the new facility and expanded team will enable Nitricity to scale their climate-smart technology and support growers globally.”
Rajesh Swaminathan, Partner at Khosla Ventures, said: “Fertilizer production hasn’t changed in over a century — it’s complex, expensive, and vulnerable to global supply shocks. Nitricity is taking a fundamentally different approach with a modular system that turns almond shells, air and water directly into organic fertilizer. Since investing in 2022, Nico and the team have made impressive progress, securing premium offtake agreements and preparing to break ground on a first-of-a-kind plant. This kind of innovation is what it takes to transform the global agriculture system.”
With the capital injection, Nitricity is moving from pilot to platform, scaling production across the U.S., planting a flag in Europe and growing its team with new hires. Near term, the company is adding capacity in the western U.S. to stay close to its core organic growers and push deeper into high-value fruit markets, while launching pilot and field trials in Europe.
Its playbook is to source regional agricultural byproducts, such as wood residues and waste from olive-oil processing, to power fertilizer production near the farms that use it. Fresh capital will also fund R&D to increase efficiency and extend beyond almonds and specialty crops into large acreage like corn and wheat.
The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. All information or other material herein is not to be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.