Terraxy, a KAUST spinout, has secured $3 million in Seed-2 funding led by Wa'ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco. The company is scaling its Carbosoil technology, a soil enhancer that improves water retention and nutrient availability in sandy desert soils. According to the company, Carbosoil can boost plant growth by up to 70% using the same water and nutrients, while also capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide in a stable form that can last for centuries. The funding will support construction of a 30,000-square-meter commercial facility in Al Zulfi, Saudi Arabia, moving the technology from pilot to industrial production. Terraxy has also been testing through Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture regulatory sandbox, which allows real-world validation of new environmental technologies. The dual benefit of rehabilitating degraded land and locking away carbon makes this a practical example of nature-based carbon removal with a clear path to scale in arid regions. For carbon credit markets, Terraxy's approach offers a measurable carbon storage component tied to soil regeneration. The involvement of Aramco's venture arm signals interest in offset solutions for hard-to-decarbonize sectors. The key question will be how the carbon sequestration is quantified, verified, and monetized over time.
