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.
