eAgronom secures €10 million to expand sustainable agriculture programme in partnership with food and banking sectors

eAgronom, an agriculture-focused climate technology company that helps farmers adopt sustainable practices for the health of their soils and the planet, has raised €10 million in a Series A2 round. The round includes €4.2 million raised in a booster round last year, now converted to equity, plus an additional €5.8 million raised this year.

Swedbank AB leads the round with an investment of EUR 4 million. In addition to the new lead investor, three investors who participated in eAgronom’s conversion round in 2023 – Icos Capital, Soulmates Ventures and SmartCap Green Fund – have increased their investments to support the company’s growth plans.

The funds raised will expand eAgronom’s presence in key markets and scale the company in various sustainable agriculture programs, especially in Scope 3 and sustainable finance. As part of ongoing fundraising activities, eAgronom plans to raise an additional EUR 2-4 million later this year.

Promoting change in agricultural practices is a key measure of sustainable development and an integral part of eAgronom’s mission. Food production is responsible for about 31% of total greenhouse gas emissions, with 70% of these emissions coming from the farm level.

Right: “We have forced over 1,000 farmers to adopt soil-friendly practices and we are not slowing down” – Robin Saluoks, CEO of eAgronom

By 2050, we will need to produce 60% more food to feed a growing population of 9.3 billion. This makes farmers essential to reducing efforts. Using carbon adoption and regenerative agriculture practices, eAgronom aims to significantly reduce carbon footprints while providing real financial incentives and education for farmers.

Previous funding rounds have enabled eAgronom to initiate field trials and seminars with partner farmers, so that together they can identify best practices for each region with specific climate and soil conditions. In addition to increasing the total number of farmers who can store more carbon in the soil, the funding round also prepares eAgronom to begin selling carbon credits through its Carbon Program, offering additional revenue streams for farmers and improving the ability to verify practices.

Robin Saluoks, co-founder and CEO of eAgronom, said: “The average farmer only has 40 harvests to experiment with in their entire career. This makes the agriculture sector incredibly conservative. If something is more or less working, it makes sense to keep doing it. eAgronom’s sustainability programs – food value chain/Scope 3, compensation, sustainable finance and others – help reduce risk for farmers by providing additional incentives and education. This ongoing funding round will help us expand these initiatives to many more farmers.”

Right: eAgronom joins forces with Gardskapital, expands to Sweden

The eAgronom Carbon Program is based on the soil’s effective carbon sequestration capacity. As a natural carbon sink, soil’s efficiency is second only to the world’s oceans. The Carbon Program applies the strictest development principles and methodology set out in the Verra greenhouse gas crediting program. Furthermore, through Swedbank’s ongoing cooperation with eAgronom, the bank offers agricultural clients from the Baltic countries favourable financing conditions if they meet the criteria required for the eAgronom Sustainable Loan Certificate, which is based on the EU taxonomy proposal.

Jon Lidefelt, Head of Baltic Banking at Swedbank, said: “Enabling our customers to switch to our products and services is key for Swedbank. The partnership with eAgronom contributes to a fantastic overall solution for our customers in the agricultural sector in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. With this investment, we are building on our commitment to eAgronom to strengthen the ecosystem of partnerships for the benefit of our customers.”

Founded in 2016, eAgronom currently works with over 3,000 farmers in 14 countries. Working directly with eAgronom, partner farms in Europe and Africa have already collected 525,000 tCO2 per year, roughly equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 100,000 people. The company is on track to achieve its target of 4.1 million hectares by 2025.