Lithos, a Seattle Agtech Startup that Uses Basalt Rocks to Help Farmers Remove Carbon, Lands $6.3M

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October 25, 2022

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by Lisa Stiffler (Geek Wire) Lithos, a Seattle startup applying carbon capture technology in an agricultural setting, announced Thursday that it raised a $6.29 million seed funding round.

Lithos provides a permanent carbon removal strategy by spreading the dust of crushed basalt rock on croplands. When the rain falls, the basalt reacts with the water and carbon dioxide in the air, turning it into dissolved bicarbonate. The “enhanced rock weathering” process also releases nutrients to the soil, benefiting crop production.

The startup uses software to custom-deploy the basalt rock based on variables such as soil chemistry and crop nutrition. The software also measures carbon removal volume.

Lithos sells carbon removal credits to corporations and provides a share of the sales with the farmers where the product was applied.

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“We don’t just capture carbon,” (Co-founder and CEO Mary) Yap said in a statement. “Lithos’ approach is directly valuable to farmers, increasing crop yields and replacing the expensive status quo – agricultural lime – with basalt dust, derived from rock that is safe from heavy metals.”

Co-founder Dr. Noah Planavsky is an associate professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Yale and co-founder Dr. Chris Reinhard is an associate professor of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech. The professors co-invented technology used by Lithos, including an approach for precising verifying the amount of carbon removal in soil. READ MORE

This startup uses volcanic rock dust to capture carbon on farms — Lithos is pioneering an unusual approach to carbon capture on more than 1,000 acres of farmland. (Fast Company)

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