Key Takeaways
- Rhizocore raised £4.5M to expand production of its fungal-based forestry technology.
- The round was led by The First Thirty with participation from Scottish Enterprise and existing customer The Grosvenor Estate.
- The company’s RhizoPellets™ have delivered significant improvements in tree growth and survival rates.
- Funding will support expansion into North America and increased production capacity in Scotland.
- Investors highlight the economic value of technologies that improve soil and ecosystem health.
Rhizocore Funding Round Backed by Forestry and Soil Health Investors
Rhizocore, a biotechnology firm specializing in fungal solutions to enhance tree establishment, has secured £4.5 million in new investment to scale its forestry and woodland restoration technology. The round was led by The First Thirty, with additional participation from Scottish Enterprise, The Grosvenor Estate, Sand River, Generation-Re, Kibo Invest, John Thomson, and Old College Capital (OCC), the University of Edinburgh’s venture fund.
Founded as a spin-out from the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute and the Deep Science Venture FAST programme, the company focuses on improving sapling survival and growth by pairing young trees with targeted Ectomycorrhizal fungi drawn from one of the world’s largest living fungal libraries.
Delivers Strong Survival and Growth Outcomes
The Rhizocore approach uses site-specific fungal species to form symbiotic networks with sapling roots, improving access to nutrients and water. This support is particularly critical during the first years of growth, where survival rates often determine the long-term performance of forestry assets.
Early field results show strong performance: Forestry and Land Scotland reported a 97% survival rate for trees treated with RhizoPellets™, compared to 78% for untreated controls. At a Trees for Life site, Downy Birch saplings grew 13 times faster than both control and fertilised trees over a 12-month period.
The company now operates across more than 100 active field sites, including clear-felled forests, former agricultural land, heather moorlands, and reclaimed mining areas.
Rhizocore Plans Expansion and Increased Production Capacity
CEO Dr. Toby Parkes said the investment will enable the company to meet strong customer demand and scale its mission of restoring soil and fungal biodiversity. “Our results clearly show that planting success can be increased by tapping into the below-ground fertilisation superpowers of fungi,” he said.
Investors highlighted the alignment of ecological benefits with economic returns. Antony Yousefian of The First Thirty noted that improving soil biology strengthens land resilience while increasing asset value.
The new capital will support expansion into North America, where 1.4 billion trees are planted annually, and will fund a significant production increase at the company’s Roslin facility to fulfil its growing multi-year order book in the UK and Europe.
