Wildfires have gotten worse and worse on the west coast for the past few years. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a reality we must face. Since wildfires won’t magically stop in the near future, the way we respond to them and what we do after must change.
Fortunately, many groups are leading this effort. One of them is Seattle-based company DroneSeed. On Wednesday, the company announced that it raised $36 million in a Series A funding round led by Social Capital and Seven Seven Six.
Like its name suggests, DroneSeed uses a fleet of drones to help distribute seeds, in order to replant forests after wildfires, deforestation or other climate events. These aren’t just normal drones either. DroneSeed’s drones have advanced LiDAR sensing and software capabilities that allow the drones to find the best places to distribute seeds. From there, the drones are able to strategically drop seeds from the sky in order to help a new tree grow in that specific spot.
While planting trees after a wildfire isn’t anything new, the scope at which DroneSeed is able to do this is unique. While re-planting trees after wildfires can take years to figure out by traditional means, DroneSeed says it can send in its drones 30 days after a fire to get the reforestation process started faster. And while a human planter can reforest two to three acres a day, DroneSeed’s drones can hit 20 to 40 acres depending on the terrain.
On top of that, DroneSeed is able to use these newly planted trees to help sell carbon credits. When a business says that it’s net carbon neutral or carbon negative, that doesn’t always mean they don’t release any carbon emissions into the atmosphere. What it often means is that those businesses are buying carbon credits to offset their emissions.
These carbon credits are used to quantify how much carbon is being taken out of the atmosphere, and it turns out that planting trees is one of the best ways to remove that carbon. So by selling carbon credits, DroneSeed is essentially being sponsored by eco-conscious companies to replant forests. This helps DroneSeed run a profitable business while helping out the environment.
“Global reforestation is key to our fight against climate change,” Jay Zaveri of investor Social Capital said in a statement. “We’ve supported DroneSeed from the very beginning given its promise to terraform our planet for good. Since then, DroneSeed has scaled its effort to reforest land, found a profitable model through carbon markets and transformed the experience of forest development for landowners.”
DroneSeed plans to use its new Series A capital to fund more reforestation projects, generate more carbon credits and continue growing its business. As you may already know, the 2021 fire season has been especially destructive on various parts of the country. This means DroneSeed will have a lot of work to do if it wants to help rebuild. But it also means the company will have more opportunities to provide its service.
In addition to funding new projects, DroneSeed has already used some of this Series A money to acquire Silvaseed, a 130-year-old company that collects seeds and grows seedlings for reforestation purposes. By doing so, the two companies have become the largest private seed bank west of Colorado, growing millions of trees every year. This will allow DroneSeed to expand its seeding abilities, potentially doubling its reforestation capacity by mid-2022.
“Recent data has shown that natural forest regeneration is in significant decline due to the size and severity of fires which destroy seed sources. Fire season is expected to only get worse because of climate change,” DroneSeed CEO Grant Canary said in a statement. “This funding round, coupled with the acquisition of Silvaseed, enables us to scale up the infrastructure needed for reforestation to meet this skyrocketing demand and customer need. That starts with seed.”
