A Scottish biotechnology company has secured £4.5 million to expand its innovative approach to forestry and woodland restoration into North America.

Rhizocore, which uses fungi to improve tree growth and survival rates, was spun out of Edinburgh University and Deep Science Venture’s Food & Agriculture Science Transformer (FAST) programme in 2021.

It now operates across more than 100 active field sites from clear-felled forests and former agricultural pastures to heather moorlands.

In addition to supporting expansion into North America, where 1.4 billion trees are planted annually, the new capital will be used to fund a significant increase in production capacity at Rhizocore’s Scottish facility in Roslin to fulfil its growing multi-year order book across the UK and Europe.

Plantings using RhizoPellets across numerous sites and involving major industry partners have delivered unprecedented results.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) found that treated trees have shown a 97% survival rate compared to just 78% for untreated saplings.

The funding round was led by The First Thirty, a specialist investor in technologies to improve soil health.

Other investors were Scottish Enterprise, existing customer The Grosvenor Estate, one of the UK’s largest landowners, along with Sand River, Generation-Re (Regenerative Agriculture Syndicate), Kibo Invest, John Thomson, and Old College Capital, the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture investment fund.

Dr Toby Parkes, founder of Rhizocore, said, “The fact that two of our existing customers have invested in this round is a testament to the work the Rhizocore team has put in.

“This capital will accelerate our business scaling plans, unlock new markets, and advance our mission of protecting, harnessing, and restoring fungal biodiversity.”