Norway & UK-based, N2 Applied helps farmers locally produce their own “Nitrogen Enriched Organic Fertilizer (NEO)” (to help improve yields sustainably). Their “N2 Unit” solution (cloud-enabled for data analysis & remote maintenance) is the size of a container, typically installed between the shed where livestock is kept & the manure storage. The liquid stream of organic waste (aka p**s & s**t) is fed into the N2 Unit; a plasma treatment (aka a bolt of electricity) activates the air within it & turns it into “reactive nitrogen” which 1st: doubles the nitrogen content therein (with all other organic carbon content & crop nutrients – P, K, Mg, Ca, S – retained), 2nd: makes the nitrogen “stable”/ prevents it from escaping in the form of ammonia & methane (at the manure storage), 3rd: almost removes the odor, 4th: even though the pH is lowered, there is no net soil-acidifying effect (on the field). Independent trials have shown that N2 Applied NEO is up to 3x more (40% avg) effective than untreated slurry & on par with fossil fuel-based fertilizers (though in one assessment NEO absorption by plants was 95% vs 58% for chemical fertilizer); in any case, it’s certainly more ecological, enabling a 30% yoy reduction in carbon footprint (& 50% reduction in farm air pollution). Importantly, N2 Applied recently signed a manufacturing & distribution partnership with GEA, a global provider of equipment to the beef & dairy industry. Production of the N2 Unit will commence this summer at GEA’s German factory & will be available for installation before the end of year in the UK, Scandinavia & Western Europe (followed by the US & Canada). While the market demand for the N2 Unit is yet “unclear”, volatile/ increasing prices of chemical fertilizers & the drive towards natural one’s should provide tailwinds (in fact, Defra recently announced grants for English farmers that would use such a system) (bonus point: the firm is currently exploring to also deploy its technology in the fish farming industry). Good momentum, which has allowed N2 Applied to already secure a further €10m equity commitment from the European Innovation Council (EIC), which it’ll look to match in a wider private placement financing later this year (it’s most recent €10m round was a structured similarly). N2 Applied was founded in 2010 by Grete Sonsteby & Rune Ingels (CTO), & is currently led by Carl Hansson (CEO). <Source: siliconcanals.com, dairyreporter.com, agriland.co.uk, foodhack.global, soilassociation.org>
