Vancouver-based AgTech company Miraterra has secured a $16-million CAD seed extension to refine its soil measurement technology and bring it to more customers.
Over the past three years, the independent Terramera subsidiary has expanded from a Digitizer (a digital microscope that took soil readings using Raman spectroscopy—a chemical analysis technique that uses light) to a more comprehensive soil measurement platform spanning satellite chemistry and biology, thanks in part to a recent acquisition, CEO Nate Kelly said.
“Three years ago, [Miraterra] just had a Digitizer. Today, it actually has a full working stack, from satellite chemistry to biology.”
Nate Kelly,
Miraterra
“We don’t think that there’s going to be changes in the way that people are stewarding the land without better insight, and the insight that we’re now able to generate with our full stack of technology, I think, is second to none,” Kelly told BetaKit in an interview.
Miraterra, previously known as EnrichAg Technologies, is an independent subsidiary of Vancouver AgTech firm-turned-intellectual property (IP) holding company Terramera. Partially-owned by Terramera, Miraterra was spun out in January 2023 to focus exclusively on soil composition analysis.
This equity seed extension, which closed in October, was led by Silicon Valley’s At One Ventures with participation from fellow existing backers Chicago-based S2G Investments, Vancouver’s Sitka Foundation, and St. Louis-based iSelect, and new investor Farm Credit Canada, which also provided an additional, undisclosed amount of debt. This brings Miraterra’s total funding to nearly $40 million CAD.
This round comes on the heels of Miraterra’s acquisition of assets from American soil biology company Trace Genomics over the summer. Last July, Miraterra purchased Trace Genomics’ IP, analytical tools, and laboratories in Ames, Iowa, for an undisclosed amount.
Kelly described soil chemistry as just “one side of the coin.” He said simply measuring carbon or nitrogen levels fails to account for the microbial communities that determine soil health.
Trace did what Kelly described as “full shotgun metagenomics,” building a database of every piece of biology contained in soil. Kelly said the company’s assets will help Miraterra “tell the complete story,” tracking not only the chemical levels in soil but the associated biology.
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Terramera initially launched Miraterra three years ago with $6 million USD in initial seed funding from At One Ventures. At the time, Terramera founder and CEO Karn Manhas described the creation of Miraterra to BetaKit as “an evolution” in Terramera’s history,” signalling the company’s plan to launch more subsidiaries to apply its research, large patent portfolio, and tech to address other problems facing farmers.
Two months later, Manhas transitioned from CEO to executive chair following a challenging stretch for Terramera that came after a financing fell through. Nate Kelly was brought on to lead both Terramera and Miraterra as CEO. Since then, he has restructured Terramera and in mid-2024, Terramera launched its second AgTech subsidiary in Catalera BioSolutions, which develops biological crop protection and pest control products; Kelly oversees Catalera as chair.
Miraterra is an important part of Terramera’s vision going forward. “Three years ago, [Miraterra] just had a Digitizer,” Kelly said. “Today, it actually has a full working stack, from satellite chemistry to biology.”
Miraterra has achieved this through its purchase of Trace and by layering on advanced remote sensing tools that use satellite and LIDAR imaging, and decode the results using AI. Kelly said the now 50-person company, which recently began generating revenue, plans to use this seed extension funding to accelerate the deployment of its Digitizer, begin demonstrating its ability to deliver full-stack soil measurement, and advance its tech.
Feature image courtesy Miraterra.