Key Takeaways
- Terraxy, a KAUST spinout, has raised $3 million in a Seed-2 round led by Wa'ed Ventures, the local venture capital arm of Aramco, with participation from KAUST, to scale soil-regeneration technologies for landscaping and carbon capture in desert environments.
- The funding will support Terraxy's transition from pilot-scale to industrial production, including the establishment of a 30,000-square-meter commercial facility in Al Zulfi, Saudi Arabia.
- Terraxy's proprietary soil enhancer, Carbosoil, can deliver up to 70% improvement in plant growth and yield with the same water and nutrient inputs, addressing the challenges of sandy soils that are inefficient at retaining moisture and nutrients.
- The company has progressed through Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) Regulatory Sandbox, which enables the testing and validation of emerging environmental technologies under real-world conditions.
- Carbosoil is capable of storing CO₂ durably for centuries, positioning Terraxy as a dual-impact solution addressing both land degradation and carbon removal.
Terraxy Raises $3 Million to Scale Desert Soil Technology
Terraxy, a startup born from research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), has secured $3 million in a Seed-2 round led by Wa'ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Aramco, with participation from KAUST. The funding will support Terraxy's transition from pilot-scale production to industrial-scale deployment across Saudi Arabia, including the construction of a 30,000-square-meter commercial facility in Al Zulfi.
“Our investment in Terraxy reflects our conviction in deep-tech solutions that address real challenges in Saudi Arabia while offering scalable commercial potential. What differentiates Terraxy is not only the strength of its underlying science, but its ability to translate that science into a deployable, industrial solution. At Wa'ed Ventures, we are focused on backing innovations that can move beyond the lab and play a tangible role in advancing the Kingdom's sustainability and economic diversification goals,” said Anas Algahtani, CEO of Wa'ed Ventures.
What Carbosoil Does and Why It Matters in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's soils are predominantly sandy and inefficient at retaining nutrients and water, limiting the country's capacity for agriculture, landscaping, and large-scale greening efforts. Globally, around one-third of soils are degraded, reducing agricultural productivity and weakening ecosystems. Terraxy's proprietary product, Carbosoil, is a soil enhancer that can deliver up to 70% improvement in plant growth and yield using the same water and nutrient inputs, improving resource-use efficiency in degraded sandy soils.
The product also stores CO₂ durably for centuries, giving it a dual function as both a carbon removal technology and a soil health solution.
“Reducing emissions across hard-to-abate sectors requires practical, scalable solutions grounded in strong science. Terraxy's technology addresses land degradation and carbon removal simultaneously and is capable of storing CO₂ durably for centuries. This is the kind of dual-impact innovation that our sustainability venture investments are built to support,” said Ahmad O. Al-Khowaiter, Aramco Executive Vice President of Technology & Innovation and Chairman of Wa'ed Investment Committee.
Terraxy's Path from KAUST Research to Commercial Facility
Terraxy has validated its technology through pilot production and collaborations with industry partners, demonstrating a progression from laboratory research through pilot scale and into commercial deployment. KAUST's research infrastructure and the translation support provided through the National Transformation Institute (NTI) at KAUST were cited as critical enablers of the company's development.
“We are delighted to see the maturation of KAUST technology from research to lab scale, through pilot scale, and now to full-scale production. NTI has enabled this transition by supporting technologies to scale in ways that contribute to national priorities. We see Carbosoil as an integral part of soil enrichment and assisting with the ambitious goals of the Saudi Green Initiative and enhancing the carbon credit economy,” said Dr. Ian Campbell OBE, Senior Vice President at the National Transformation Institute, KAUST.
Ministry Sandbox and Vision 2030 Alignment With Terraxy
Terraxy has progressed through MEWA's Regulatory Sandbox, a program enabling emerging environmental technologies to be tested and validated under real-world conditions in Saudi Arabia. The investment reflects growing interest in technologies that address land degradation, resource-use efficiency, and carbon management at a time when Saudi Arabia is accelerating large-scale greening and sustainability initiatives under Vision 2030.
“Soil health is foundational to the Kingdom's food security, water efficiency, and land rehabilitation ambitions. Through the Regulatory Sandbox, the Ministry is enabling Saudi-developed technologies to navigate environmental and product validation pathways while accelerating their responsible deployment and market adoption. Terraxy represents an important example of how innovation, regulation, and investment can come together to address national priorities and scale promising solutions,” said H.E. Dr. Abdulaziz Almalik, MEWA's Deputy Minister for Research & Innovation.
