Cotierra raises $3M to scale decentralised biochar across tropical agriculture

Zurich-based climate technology company Cotierra has secured $3 million in funding to scale its decentralized biochar technology across tropical agriculture. Since its founding, the company has raised a total of $4.75 million. Agricultural residues are often unused in tropical agricultural value chains, leading to declining farmer productivity, deteriorating soil health, and increased vulnerability to extreme weather.

Simultaneously, food and beverage companies are under pressure to reduce emissions from their supply chains, as climate change threatens the reliability of agricultural supply. Cotierra's solution tackles this issue by providing the technology infrastructure to deploy and scale decentralized biochar across tropical agriculture. The company's end-to-end solution combines decentralized reactor technology with a digital platform for operating, monitoring, and verifying biochar production.

This enables agricultural businesses to convert residual biomass into biochar near the generation point, return carbon to the soil, and track results. The technology has been proven effective in the coffee value chain, and Cotierra is now focused on integrating hardware and software to create a fully scalable product. Investors in the $3 million round included PINC, the venture arm of Paulig, Carbon Removal Partners, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Carbon Drawdown Initiative, better ventures, GOTA Ventures, Hungry4Impact, and Triple Impact Ventures, alongside climate and impact-focused angel investors.

Cotierra's CEO and Co-Founder, Thomas Käslin, stated that decentralised biochar presents an effective pathway to decarbonise and strengthen tropical agricultural value chains. The company aims to make biochar the standard solution for agricultural companies to enhance farmer productivity and resilience while reducing emissions and removing carbon.

Cotierra initially developed its technology for coffee and is expanding to cocoa, cotton, and citrus among other tropical agricultural commodities. PINC's Investment Director, Karl Swensson, noted Cotierra's strong traction with coffee traders, highlighting the potential of decentralized biochar to reduce emissions and improve resilience in coffee-growing regions.

Max Zeller, Founder & Partner at Carbon Removal Partners, emphasized the company's role in turning agricultural waste into resilient value chains while delivering environmental benefits. Zeller believes Cotierra has laid the foundation to become a leading technology platform for more resilient and higher-yielding value chains in tropical regions.