−− Funding will be used to fulfill growing customer demand for Cool Terra?
Cool Planet, an agricultural technology company focused on soil health solutions,recently announced that it has closed on an additional $20.3MM of new investment and note conversion to fulfill growing customer demand for Cool Terra® and to further progress the company's industry-leading technology. This financing is an extension of the company's previously announced Series A funding, and is being led by its two largest existing investors: Agustín Coppel and North Bridge Venture Partners.
"The 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 Jim Loar, President and CEO of Cool Planet. "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."
The funding will be used to increase overall production of Cool Terra® to meet growing customer demand and will allow the company to immediately begin construction of its commercial production facility in Alexandria, LA that will serve as Cool Planet's manufacturing hub. The company expects to begin production at the new facility in the summer of 2019. The funding will also help the company continue to invest in the R&D and commercialization of its Engineered Biocarbon™ technology for other diverse agriculture sectors such as animal nutrition, biologicals, and early-plant establishment. Cool Planet plans to bring additional products to market that address these sectors and the growing global concerns of soil health, sustainability, and food security.
"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."
Cool Planet develops and markets Engineered Biocarbon™ technology products for soil health. The company's first commercial product line is Cool Terra®, a carbon negative soil amendment, which works to improve key soil performance characteristics for greater plant growth and quality. The company has experienced a surge in customer demand in 2018 through its national distribution network. The company is working across a wide variety of industries with hundreds of customers such as conventional and organic growers, city park departments, professional sports teams, universities, and golf courses, including several that have hosted PGA Tour Championships.
In March, the company completed its 100th field trial to test the performance of Cool Terra®, making it the most studied biochar-based soil amendment on the market. These yield-improvement trials were conducted by independent university and third-party research groups and took place over five growing seasons on over forty different crops in a variety of regions and soil types. The results showed that Cool Terra® delivers, on average, a greater than 12% improvement in yield compared to the grower standard while generating a greater than 3:1 return on grower investment.