Why We Invested in Eion: Permanent Verifiable Carbon Removal From Farmland

Photo: The Eion team

By: Brandon Harris, Principal at Ridgeline

Carbon removal company Eion recently raised $12M Series A led by AgFunder and Ridgeline. Eion provides CarbonLock—pulverized minerals that absorb CO2 from the ambient air—generating premium carbon credits while increasing soil health and crop yields for farmers.

When Eion puts its green rock dust on farmland, it causes a chemical reaction that removes carbon from the air and stores it in the soil—a process called enhanced rock weathering (ERW). ERW is an up-and-coming carbon removal method with a pathway to be more scalable than other permanent removal methods, such as Direct Air Capture (DAC) machines. Eion is already a—if not the—core leader in this sector.

Eion is different from other carbon removal companies in the market because of its permanence and scalability. For context, carbon removal is a two-sided market, with one side offering prohibitively expensive long term carbon removal, and another providing cheaper, impermanent carbon removal like planting a tree. Eion stands out because it has a pathway to affordable and permanent carbon removal with dependable measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) methods. Eion is trying to hit the sweet spot. 

Most permanent and verifiable removal methods cost around ~$1000 per ton, more than two times Eion’s, and we expect the price to decrease considerably over time. CarbonLock removes roughly one ton of carbon per every ton of minerals applied, which is staggering considering farmers use one ton of soil amendment per acre, at minimum. The high capacity for carbon removal and robust application rates gives Eion scalable unit economics and another advantage in the market.

Too often, carbon removal companies fail due to poor unit economics and a lack of co-benefits to other participating stakeholders. But with Eion, their soil amendment actually increases crop yield by enriching the soil. To add fuel to the fire, Eion’s method is easy for farmers because they don’t need to purchase new equipment to apply the minerals, and carbon buyers get assurance that carbon is being captured through Eion’s patented verification method.

When I first met Eion’s co-founder, Adam Wolf, I felt he was a visionary. He is a brilliant and affably quirky chemist who is extremely passionate about farmers and soil. He spent his whole career analyzing soil and crop health. Before Eion, Adam founded another AgTech company, giving him entrepreneurial experience to compliment his exceptional technical skills. To me, he seemed to be a perfect fit to bring this solution to the market. I’ve become an even bigger fan as I’ve watched him build a diverse and immensely talented team with a laser-like focus on their milestones.

The carbon market is being partially shaped by the Frontier fund—which includes Stripe, Microsoft, and Amazon. All those companies have allocated $1B into breakthrough carbon removal. Stripe was a big advocate for Eion, which gave us a strong customer reference. Frontier is picking some early winners, and Stripe choosing to work with Eion is a strong market signal. 

Carbon removal is one of the most promising and complex markets in the climate tech space, with an endless list of industries clamoring for a solution. It may not seem obvious why Stripe, a fintech company, would be a large carbon purchaser—but carbon emissions are ubiquitous– emanating from data centers, farmland, and much more. 

When discussing carbon removal, one can’t forget to mention the $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which was passed by the US in late 2022. The IRA is a watershed moment for the climate landscape; the legislation enables direct cash payments for carbon credits, provides billions in tax subsidies, and much more. For Eion, it may provide a strong tailwind and a promising sign of what's to come from governments around the world. 

By supporting Eion, we hope to support the decarbonization of agriculture as much as we can, and heal the soil while we’re at it.

At Ridgeline, we take value-add investing very seriously. We give our companies access to a  federal and commercial growth engine that can help accelerate their path to product market fit. In fact, we’re already leveraging our vast network and experience with the federal government to help Eion take full advantage of the IRA and 45Q. We think Eion has an amazing opportunity as the timing, product, and team are all aligned to build a generational company whose mission is to help sustain our environment for generations to come.