Boomitra Raises $4M to Accelerate Carbon Removal Through Agriculture on Global Scale

Founded by Indian American serial entrepreneur Aadith Moorthy, Boomitra is in the process of generating and certifying more than 10 million tons of carbon removals this year. (boomitra.com photo)

India-West Staff Reporter

Boomitra June 23 announced an investment of $4 million, which the company will use as it continues working on accelerating carbon removal from the atmosphere on a global scale, through agricultural soils.

It operates an international soil carbon market where corporations and governments are able to get the lowest-cost internationally-certified carbon removal credits and farmers around the world are incentivized to increase soil organic carbon, sequestering CO2, the news release noted.

Boomitra was founded as ConserWater in 2016 by founder and CEO Aadith Moorthy. To date, Boomitra works with ground partners across more than 2 million acres and many thousands of farmers, on every inhabited continent – and is in the process of generating and certifying more than 10 million tons of carbon removals this year.

“It is just the beginning for Boomitra – we are now positioned to create and quantify millions of tons of real carbon removals. And we are now officially open for business – sign up on our website to buy carbon removals at any scale and support farmers worldwide!” said Moorthy, an Indian American serial entrepreneur in AI/ML and a Knight-Hennessy Scholar, with an MS from Stanford and BS double major from Caltech.

According to the UN, soil carbon sequestration is one of the lowest cost carbon removal techniques and can sequester 20 percent of humanity’s yearly carbon footprint. However, it is largely stymied by the requirements of soil sampling and lab testing on a field-level to measure soil carbon, Boomitra said.

Boomitra has built a satellite and Artificial Intelligence based technology over the past four years to directly measure soil carbon levels without using any sensors or soil sampling – this technology enables soil carbon sequestration to be scaled on a global level.

It also enables farmers of all sizes throughout the world to participate and increase their incomes – improving their livelihoods, the release added.

This funding round was led by Yara Growth Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Yara International, the world’s largest fertilizer company.

Other participants in the round included Chevron Technology Ventures, the CVC arm of Chevron Corporation; Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo!; and billionaire sustainability investors Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor, the release noted.

“Something holding back the carbon markets in agriculture is how expensive and laborious it is to certify credits in a field,” says Erkki Aaltonen, head of Yara Growth Ventures. “Boomitra’s remote technology and marketplace have the opportunity to categorically change the way agri-carbon credits are monitored, packaged, and sold. All while enabling small holder farmers with as few as two hectares to make money while sequestering carbon. We’re proud to help the team scale in this next phase of their journey.”

Aaltonen will also be joining Boomitra’s Board of Directors.

In the near future, Boomitra seeks to enable farmers to be a key part of the solution to addressing climate change, the company said.