Loam Bio Funding, Investors & Competitors

Loam Bio has raised $112M across 3 funding rounds, most recently a $75M Series B in February 2023.

Last Loam Bio funding round

$75M

Series B · Feb 2023

Cumulative funding Loam Bio raised

$112M

across 3 funding rounds

Key investors in Loam Bio

  • Horizons Ventures
  • Lowercarbon Capital
  • Clean Energy Finance Corporation
  • Grok Ventures
  • Main Sequence Ventures
  • Acre Venture Partners
  • Time Ventures
  • Virescent Ventures

Loam Bio Overview

About Loam Bio

Sydney-based Loam Bio is a biotechnology firm developing microbial inoculants for soil carbon sequestration. Established in 2019, the company engineers fungi and bacteria that form symbiotic relationships with crop roots, enhancing carbon storage by 0.5 to 2 tons per hectare annually. Field trials across 10,000 hectares in Australia demonstrate improved yields for wheat, corn, and soybeans alongside disease resistance. Loam Bio partners with agribusinesses like Nutrien and has raised $20 million in Series A funding. Products apply via seed coating or in-furrow delivery.


Founded

2019

HQ

AustraliaOrange

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2B

Revenue model

Product sales

Loam Bio Funding History

Loam Bio has raised a total of $112M across 3 funding rounds.

Loam Bio's first fundraising round was a $7M seed round in June 2020. The most recent completed round was a $75M Series B in February 2023.

Loam Bio funding rounds

Loam Bio funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedDeal Summary
Feb 2023Series BLowercarbon Capital (lead); Wollemi (lead); Clean Energy Finance Corporation; Acre Venture Partners; Main Sequence Ventures; Horizons Ventures; Virescent Ventures; GrainCorp Ventures; Grok Ventures$75MLoam Bio is an Australian biotechnology startup developing microbial seed coatings, such as CarbonBuilder, to enhance soil carbon sequestration in broadacre cropping systems like wheat, barley, canola, soy, and corn. The technology promotes stable carbon storage in soil micro-aggregates, improving drought resilience, productivity, and enabling farmers to participate in carbon markets. After years of research, on-farm trials, and pre-commercial work with limited Australian farmers, the company launched products commercially in Australia in 2023, with US commercialization planned for 2024 and testing expansions to Canada and Brazil. On February 14, 2023, Loam Bio closed a A$105 million (approximately US$73-75 million) Series B funding round co-led by Lowercarbon Capital and Wollemi Capital, with participation from Acre Venture Partners, Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC, which invested A$9 million), GrainCorp Ventures, Grok Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures, and Virescent Ventures. This brought total funding to around A$150-155 million, following a prior A$40 million Series A. The round supports transitioning to commercial scale, product launches in Australia, US market entry, new product development, and geographic expansion.
Oct 2021Series ATime Ventures (lead); Clean Energy Finance Corporation; Thistledown Foundation; Acre Venture Partners; Main Sequence Ventures; Horizons Ventures; Lowercarbon Capital; Grok Ventures$30MLoam Bio, formerly Soil Carbon Co, is an Australian biotechnology company based in Orange, New South Wales, that develops microbial inoculants for crops using symbiotic fungi to enhance carbon sequestration in soil, improve water retention, and support drought resistance in farming. The company rebranded and announced a AUD $40 million (USD $30 million) Series A funding round on October 28, 2021, led by Time Ventures, the VC fund of Salesforce founder Marc Benioff. Participating investors included Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Main Sequence Ventures (affiliated with Australia's CSIRO), Acre Venture Partners, Grok Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, and Thistledown Capital (or Foundation). The funding aims to scale Loam Bio's technology globally as a catalyst for carbon removal, with CEO Guy Hudson emphasizing its potential as a cheap, long-term, and scalable solution for climate change. The technology could sequester emissions equivalent to the entire annual US aviation sector if applied to America's soybean crop. CEFC invested $5.8 million through its Innovation Fund, highlighting the tech's role in revolutionizing farming and accelerating net-zero transitions. Prior to the Series A, Loam Bio raised a AUD $10 million seed round in early 2020 led by Horizons Ventures. Investors praised the breakthrough science, scalable business model, and gigatonne-scale carbon drawdown potential.
Jun 2020SeedHorizons Ventures (lead); Clean Energy Finance Corporation; Lowercarbon Capital; Grok Ventures$7MLoam Bio is an Australian biotechnology company founded in 2019 that develops microbial solutions to accelerate soil carbon capture and removal. The company's core technology harnesses microbes to enhance plants' ability to store carbon in soil, targeting broadacre crops including wheat, barley, canola, soy, and corn. In June 2020, Loam Bio raised AUD $10 million in its seed funding round led by Horizons Ventures. The funding supported the company's early-stage development following its 2019 founding, establishing the foundation for subsequent growth and commercialization efforts that would follow in later years.

Who has invested in Loam Bio?

11 investors have backed Loam Bio across its funding rounds, including Horizons Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Grok Ventures, Main Sequence Ventures and Acre Venture Partners.

Lead investors include Lowercarbon Capital, Wollemi, Time Ventures and Horizons Ventures.


Loam Bio Investors

Investors in Loam Bio by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
Clean Energy Finance CorporationAustraliaSydney3ParticipantJun 2020
Horizons VenturesHong KongHong Kong3LeadJun 2020
Lowercarbon CapitalUnited StatesJackson, MS3LeadJun 2020
Grok VenturesAustraliaSydney3ParticipantJun 2020
Acre Venture PartnersUnited StatesUnited States2ParticipantOct 2021
Main Sequence VenturesAustraliaAustralia2ParticipantOct 2021
Thistledown FoundationCanadaOttawa1ParticipantOct 2021
WollemiAustraliaSydney1LeadFeb 2023
Virescent VenturesAustraliaMelbourne1ParticipantFeb 2023

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Loam Bio Competitors

Loam Bio competitors include listed companies like Tongwei and First Solar, and private ones like Indigo, Pivot Bio, Plenty and Absolute.

Public and private companies comparable to Loam Bio
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
TongweiChinaChinaPublicly listed$13B$461M$7.4B1.5x
IndigoUnited StatesBoston, MAPrivate$163M-$3.5B21.5x
Pivot BioUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate--$2B-
PlentyUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate--$1.9B-
AbsoluteIndiaNew DelhiPrivate$210M-$500M2.4x
First SolarUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$5.2B$2.1B$22B4.0x

Loam Bio Public Comps

Loam Bio is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Corteva, BASF, Archer-Daniels-Midland, Nutrien, Muyuan Foods, Novonesis, Bunge, First Solar, CF Industries and Qinghai Salt Lake Industry.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Corteva$17B$2.9B3.3x3.2x19.5x13.9x
BASF$69B$8.2B1.1x1.0x8.9x8.6x
Archer-Daniels-Midland$80B$2.9B0.6x0.6x17.4x11.2x
Nutrien$27B$6.1B1.9x1.8x8.2x8.0x
Muyuan Foods$21B$5B2.0x2.3x8.7x16.1x
Novonesis$4.8B$1.6B7.1x6.7x21.7x17.9x
Bunge$70B$2.3B0.6x0.5x17.9x11.2x
First Solar$5.2B$2.1B3.8x4.0x9.7x7.7x

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Common questions about Loam Bio

When was Loam Bio founded?Loam Bio was founded in 2019.
Where is Loam Bio headquartered?Loam Bio is headquartered in Orange, Australia.
Is Loam Bio publicly listed?No, Loam Bio is a private, VC-backed company.
How much funding has Loam Bio raised?Loam Bio has raised $112M across 3 funding rounds.
What was Loam Bio's last funding round?Loam Bio's last funding round was a $75M Series B in February 2023, led by Lowercarbon Capital and Wollemi.
Who are Loam Bio's investors?Loam Bio's investors include Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Horizons Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Grok Ventures, Acre Venture Partners, Main Sequence Ventures, Thistledown Foundation, Wollemi, Virescent Ventures, GrainCorp Ventures and 1 other.
Which companies are comparable to Loam Bio?Companies comparable to Loam Bio include Tongwei, Indigo, Pivot Bio, Plenty, Absolute and First Solar.

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