Zurich-based climate technology company Cotierra has raised US$3 million in a funding round co-led by PINC, the venture arm of international food and beverage company Paulig, and Carbon Removal Partners. Participants included Zürcher Kantonalbank, Carbon Drawdown Initiative, Better Ventures, GOTA Ventures, Hungry4Impact, and Triple Impact Ventures. The investment brings Cotierra's total funding since inception to approximately US$4.75 million.
The Challenge in Tropical Agriculture
Across tropical agricultural value chains, large volumes of agricultural residues are often left unused while farmer productivity declines as soil health deteriorates and extreme weather becomes more frequent. Food and beverage companies need to reduce emissions from their supply chains even as climate change threatens the reliability of agricultural supply. Cotierra addresses this by building the technology infrastructure to make decentralized biochar simple to deploy and scale across tropical agriculture.
Technology for Decentralized Biochar
Cotierra's end-to-end solution combines decentralized reactor technology with a digital platform needed to operate, monitor, and verify biochar production. This enables agricultural businesses to turn residual biomass into biochar close to where it is generated, return carbon to the soil, and track results. For customers, this means stronger farmer productivity and resilience, alongside reduced supply chain emissions and carbon removal.
Commercial Momentum in Coffee
Having proven the technology in the field within the coffee value chain, Cotierra is now focused on turning successful deployments into a fully integrated hardware and software product. The company is backed by a strong order backlog and is scaling to fulfill demand across regions and supply chains. Cotierra has initially built its model in coffee and is now expanding across other tropical agricultural commodities, including cocoa, cotton, and citrus.
Investor Confidence and Strategic Fit
PINC's participation supports Cotierra's move from successful pilots to repeatable, multi-year commercial deployments, starting with coffee. Karl Swensson, Investment Director at PINC, said Cotierra's strong traction with coffee traders stood out because the solution delivers value for farmers, traders, and coffee companies alike. He added that decentralized biochar can play an important role in reducing emissions and improving resilience in coffee-growing regions and has significant potential for Paulig's coffee climate ambitions.
Founder and Carbon Removal Partners Perspectives
Thomas Käslin, CEO and Co-Founder of Cotierra, said decentralized biochar offers a highly effective pathway to decarbonize and strengthen tropical agricultural value chains where biomass is widely dispersed. Max Zeller, Founder and Partner at Carbon Removal Partners, said Cotierra addresses a major untapped opportunity by leveraging agricultural waste to create resilient value chains while delivering environmental benefits. He added that the team has delivered proven field results and gained commercial traction with major coffee producers.
Scaling Across Tropical Commodities
With its initial model built in coffee, Cotierra is now expanding across cocoa, cotton, and citrus value chains. The funding will help the company industrialize its reactor technology and digital platform, moving from successful field deployments to repeatable commercial scale. Cotierra aims to make decentralized biochar a standard solution for agricultural companies seeking to strengthen farmer productivity and resilience while reducing emissions and removing carbon.
The new investment positions Cotierra to scale a practical climate solution for tropical agriculture at a time of growing demand for carbon removal and emission reduction. Its integrated hardware and software model has already gained traction in coffee, with a strong order backlog supporting multi-year deployments. By turning agricultural residues into biochar close to the source, Cotierra is aligning productivity, resilience, and climate goals across global supply chains.