Key Takeaways:
- Terradot, a climate company focused on Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW), officially launched with $58.2 million in funding and agreements to remove nearly 300,000 tonnes of CO₂.
- The company has secured significant backing from major investors, including Google, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, and John Doerr.
- Terradot’s ERW pilots in Brazil are demonstrating promising results, with over 48,000 tons of rock spread across 1,800 hectares of farmland.
- The company’s innovative approach integrates cutting-edge technology for carbon removal measurement and aims to scale ERW globally.
- Signed carbon removal agreements include Google’s largest single purchase of carbon removal, totaling 200,000 tonnes.
Terradot (Profile) bagged $58.2 million in funding from leading climate and technology investors, including Google, Microsoft, and John Doerr, alongside agreements to remove nearly 300,000 tonnes of CO₂—the largest commitment by any ERW company to date.
The funding includes $4.2 million in seed investment and a $54 million Series A round, with notable participation from Sheryl Sandberg, Tom Bernthal, and top venture funds such as Floodgate, Kleiner Perkins, and Acre Venture Partners.
Scaling Carbon Removal Through ERW
Terradot’s Enhanced Rock Weathering approach leverages natural geological processes to capture and sequester CO₂ from the atmosphere. This method involves spreading finely crushed rock over farmland, where chemical reactions with soil and water bind CO₂ into stable mineral forms.
“ERW has the potential to remove billions of tons of CO₂ this decade,” said James Kanoff, CEO of Terradot. “Realizing that potential demands overcoming major scientific, engineering, and operational challenges. We founded Terradot to solve these challenges and transform Earth’s natural processes into a global carbon removal solution.”
Terradot’s partnership with Google includes a purchase agreement for 200,000 tonnes of CO₂ removal by 2029, the tech giant’s largest single purchase of carbon removal to date.
Innovative Technology and Early Success in Brazil
Terradot is deploying ERW projects in Brazil, leveraging the country’s tropical soils, agricultural expertise, and clean energy infrastructure to optimize CO₂ removal. Since its founding in 2022, Terradot has achieved the following milestones:
- Spread 48,000 tons of rock across 1,800 hectares of farmland.
- Established a partnership with EMBRAPA, Brazil’s leading agricultural research institution, to develop scalable ERW frameworks.
- Developed advanced Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) tools to quantify carbon removal with precision.
“To unlock ERW as a tool for CO₂ removal, we need to deploy it at scale and rigorously measure results using real-world data,” said Randy Spock, Carbon Credits & Removals Lead at Google. “Terradot is well-positioned to deliver significant CO₂ removal both for Google’s net zero goal and the planet.”
Building a Global Platform for Carbon Removal
Terradot is building a digital platform that integrates ERW into agricultural and industrial systems, aiming for gigaton-scale carbon removal by the end of the decade. The company’s leadership team includes experts in climate science, technology, and policy:
- James Kanoff, co-founder of The Farmlink Project.
- Sasankh Munukutla, an AI researcher from Stanford.
- Scott Fendorf, a soil sciences professor at Stanford.
The scientific team includes leading researchers like Peter Nico (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab) and Shawn Benner (Boise State University).
“Terradot’s platform scales the ERW industry’s strongest scientific team to deliver gigatons of permanent CO₂ removal this decade,” said John Doerr, investor and climate advocate.
