Loam Bio

About

Loam Bio develops seed-applied fungal inoculants and carbon-project services that inoculate crops with melanin-producing microfungi to stabilize soil carbon, conduct field trials, and support farmer registration, measurement, and land-management.

Mission

Loam Bio has commercially launched CarbonBuilder, a seed-applied fungal inoculum, and SecondCrop, a carbon project service, to help farmers increase stable soil carbon. CarbonBuilder coats seeds with microbes that bind plant-drawn carbon into recalcitrant forms that persist in soil long-term. SecondCrop assists growers with registration, measurement, verification and land-management strategies while removing typical upfront costs. The company has sown 6,000 trial plots across 29 locations in two countries and reports barley trials that raised carbon units per hectare from typical zero-to-two up to three-to-six. Loam will use the new funding to expand availability of its seed coating, accelerate product development, and support delivery of new products entering its pipeline. The company plans to commercialize in the U.S. in 2024 and expand testing into Canada and Brazil. Loam Bio, formerly Soil Carbon Co, develops seed-coating products that inoculate crops with symbiotic microbial fungi to increase soil carbon sequestration. The company’s approach uses microfungi and melanin to bind plant-drawn carbon into soil microaggregates and is delivered through an established agricultural seed-coating practice to ease farmer adoption. Loam says the microbes also improve host plant fertility, natural disease protection, and crop yields. The startup highlights the possibility for farmers to translate stored soil carbon into revenue through carbon credit markets. Co-founder and CEO Guy Hudson said the company will use the new capital as a catalyst for global-scale carbon removal and emphasized the technology’s scalability. The company is based in Orange, New South Wales, and recently completed a Series A financing. Soil Carbon Co develops a microbe-mediated carbon sequestration technology that inoculates crops with symbiotic micro‑fungi which convert root‑exuded sugars into melanin, stabilizing carbon in soil. The fungi live inside plants and deposit melanin deeper in the soil where lower oxygen may keep carbon stored for much longer. The company originated from research by University of Sydney professor Peter McGee and commercialized by founders Guy Webb, Mick Wettenhall and Frank Oly, with Guy Hudson as CEO. SoilCQuest, the nonprofit that continued the original research, remains the largest shareholder and works with farmers on trials. Soil Carbon Co is running field trials across Australia, has established a U.S. office to leverage opposite growing seasons, and is hiring scientific staff. The team plans farmer‑facing commercial models and a platform to reward farmers for stored carbon, with potential licensing and later government engagement.

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