Sucking up CO2Carbon-negative microbial fertilizer.
Big Picture
Synthetic fertilizers enabled massive strides in agricultural productivity. Yet, production and over-application of these chemicals also account for 7% of global GHG emissions, largely in the form of N2O, which has 265x the warming potential of CO2. The challenge for alternatives is to achieve cost competitiveness while preserving the versatility of synthetic fertilizers in adapting to a range of soils and species.
How it Works
Kula Bio engineers microbes that fix nitrogen directly from the air. A barrier for other enzyme-based fertilizers is identifying energy sources to keep microbes alive long enough to fix significant quantities of nitrogen. Kula supercharges microbes so that they store energy within their cells, giving their microbes a weeks-long energy source and allowing them to replace up to 100% of synthetic nitrogen.
Unfair Advantage
The result is a non-GMO biofertilizer that can fully replace synthetic nitrogen fertilizer across a broad range of crops, soils, and climates. Kula will be cost-competitive and more efficient than synthetic fertilizer, while also fixing carbon in the soil to net remove CO2. Kula costs a fraction of traditional fertilizers to produce and can be applied on-demand, rather than 9-12 months ahead.
0.6
Tons of CO2
removed per ton of fertilizer
BILL BRADY CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Bill has decades of executive experience growing climate tech startups in chemicals and materials manufacturing.
Follow: @billbrady96
DAN NOCERA DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER
Dan is a Harvard professor of chemistry, widely-recognized as a pioneer of photochemistry and photophysics, and inventor of the “artificial leaf.”
Venture Firms Back Startup Behind ‘Next Generation’ Nitrogen Fertilizer
Bloomberg
How a biofriendly fertilizer could offer a greener way to grow plants
Harvard Gazette
Engineering Life: Synthetic biology and the frontiers of technology
Harvard Magazine
Bill Brady, Co-Founder and CEO of Kula Bio
My Climate Journey Podcast