What do iconic Valley investors Zachary Bogue and Chris Sacca have in common? They’re both trying to stop cows from burping methane. No, really. And Soccer Investments has just raised $20 million to do just that. What gives?
With the conclusion of COP28, the global conference on the climate crisis, methane is on the ClimateTech agenda for investors and startups.
Emissions from livestock are the main source of agricultural methane, accounting for about one-third of all methane. emissions, and most of them aren’t from the parts of the cow you’d expect. In fact, it is from cow burp.
When cows process their feed, they literally exhale methane gas as part of their rumination process, allowing them to digest grass and hay that other animals, including us, cannot.
And it’s these emissions that agritech and biotech companies are now starting to target. There is a lot of pressure to do so. In fact, six major companies in the dairy industry recently pledged The company plans to start disclosing its methane emissions, and other companies are expected to join the plan. And one of the bigger topics at his recent COP meeting was a promise to reduce methane emissions. is growing rapidly.
Methane gas is by far the worst of all greenhouse gases, and like methane it is much worse than CO2. trap more heat The amount per molecule in the atmosphere is greater than carbon dioxide.
This gas stays in the atmosphere for about 12 years, whereas carbon dioxide lasts for hundreds of years, but over 20 years it is about 80 times more heating than carbon dioxide, and over 100 years it is 27 times more heating. according to to the Expert Panel on Livestock Methane in 2023.
Its reduction is therefore considered key to fighting the climate crisis. In fact, there is even a satellite-based “Methane Alert and Response System” (MARS). announced by the United Nations last year.
And a major UN report says “urgent measures” are needed to reduce methane to keep global warming within limits. manageable limit.
British companies now think they can tackle this problem.
British biotech startup Mootral Raised $20 million in Series B funding round backed by Menlo Park-based climate investors king philanthropiesalongside existing investors Lowercarbon Capital (a climate VC started by Chris Sacca), Earthshot Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Third Derivative, Climactic, and Climate Capital.
In total, Mootral raised $48.9 million. This number corresponds to the $11.2 million seed round. Series A for $12.8 million (led by King Philanthropies, which invested $10 million). This Series B is worth $20 million. Family office investment by Thomas Hafner and Karin Boimer is $24.9 million.
Mootral said in a statement that it aims to scale up to feeding 300 million cows with its feed additives by 2033, with the potential to achieve up to 50 percent methane reductions by 2025. This is quite a claim.
“We aim to immediately and permanently reduce methane emissions, and this is happening on farms today,” Mootral founder and CEO Thomas Hafner said by phone. Ta.
“The next generation of products will need to be on the milligram scale. Our next generation will be even better. We aim to reduce it by up to 90%.”
Mootral also has a scheme called ‘CowCredits’ which allows farmers to access the carbon credit market when reducing their herd’s methane emissions. ClimatePartner, a company that funds climate change projects through carbon credits, has signed on to include his Mootral in its portfolio of options for Crent.
The company says its Enterix product (manufactured in Wales) has been tested on farms in the UK, and the results have been published in academic journals, including the Journal. Open Journal of Animal Science, Frontiers of microbiology, animal science journaland translational animal science.
So how does it work? Dairy cows produce about 500 liters of methane every day. 3.7 tons of CO2 equivalent per year. Mootral says its current ruminant supplement can reduce methane emissions from dairy cows by up to 38 percent on commercial farms.
One of its competitors is CH4 Global It raised $29 million in its latest funding round. CH4 Global — backed by the aforementioned Zachary Bogue of DCVC — seaweed It is added to cattle feed to reduce methane emissions.
CH4 Global CEO Steve Mellor said in an email that the company is using “aquaculture” to address the problem. Global agricultural company to supply 9.5 million head of cattle is announced. Combining these two will result in approximately 80 million tons of CO2-e reductions. ”
He claims that CH4 Global’s line of feed additives (called Methane Tamer) contains Asparagopsis, which the company claims can reduce methane emissions from cows by as much as 90%. did.
The other player in that space is DSM, a Dutch multinational companyWhich recently It said it would monitor the environmental impact of foods containing animal protein.
In any case, it is clear that the climate tech sector is intersecting with agricultural technology in unexpected ways in the fight against the climate crisis.
Source: techcrunch.com
