Cool Planet, an agtech company and engineered biocarbon product developer, announced a successful close on an additional $20 million in funding as an extension of the company’s previous Series A round led by its two top investors, Agustín Coppel and North Bridge Venture Partners.
Founded in 2009 in Colorado, and led by president and CEO Jim Loar, Cool Planet began as a biofuel producer but is now developing and commercializing Cool Terra, an engineered Biocarbon™ product that delivers a platform of solutions to the agricultural sector by improving soil health, efficiency, and structure, with the potential to increase agricultural yields by more than 12 percent through the retention of moisture and nutrients at the root zone. And when integrated into production systems by farmers, this award-winning, carbon-negative soil amendment has been shown to generate more than a 3:1 return on investment for growers. With the goal of creating products that address the global concerns of soil health, food security, and sustainability, Cool Planet also is in the process of developing animal nutrition, microbial, and early plant establishment products.
In March of this year, the company completed its 100th field trial designed to test the efficiency of Cool Terra®, making it the most thoroughly studied biochar-based soil amendment on the market. All trials were conducted by third-party research groups and universities on more than 40 crops over a five-season period.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates the confidence that our investors have in both our transformative technology as well as our leadership position in the burgeoning soil health industry,” said Loar. “Soil health has become one of our country’s most important sustainability issues, and this capital will help us reach more growers with our technology and help us fulfill our mission of providing growers and producers with practical, science-based tools that improve grower productivity and profitability.”
Extended Relationship
This is yet another return to Cool Planet for Agustín Coppel and North Bridge Venture Partners. In September 2016 the two co-anchored a $9 million round of funding that itself was a follow-on to a previous $9 million round filed with the SEC.
This was followed in March 2017 when the two investors co-led a $19.3 million Series A for the company, to which this latest funding will be an extension.
Cool Planet plans to use the new capital to support an increase in overall production of Cool Terra® amid growing demand. It also will help fund the immediate construction of its commercial production facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, which will serve as its manufacturing hub. Additionally, the funds will be utilized to support the company’s R&D initiatives and commercialization efforts for its Engineered Biocarbon™ for farmers growing alfalfa, tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, and potatoes, as well as the animal nutrition and early plant establishment industries.
“The excitement for Cool Terra® continues to grow and this funding will allow us to ramp up production and to continue to invest in R&D,” said Mark Lohmann, Cool Planet’s CFO and EVP of Strategy. “We are especially pleased by the continued support from Agustín Coppel and North Bridge as well as our ongoing partnership with the Central Louisiana Regional Port that has enabled us to begin building our world-class facility in Alexandria.”
-Lynda Kiernan