Hone attracts impact investor for realtime soil carbon test: Exclusive
Summary
The startup’s Hone Lab Red device and software “enables landholders essentially to in situ scan the soil and determine those qualities from the reflected light” almost immediately, he said – allowing farmers to make decisions much more quickly. As it cuts out the lab-testing stage, Hone Carbon’s solution also comes at a substantially lower price point – as much as five times less than conventional soil sampling, the startup claims. But since spectroscopy allows for far more readings, at a lower cost and within a shorter timeframe when compared to traditional lab techniques, it can enable greater accuracy over the longer term, Ireland suggests. Silverstrand’s investment portfolio runs the gamut from farmland to agrifoodtech startups, presenting a variety of opportunities for Hone to grow its network and further validate its offering. The firm’s chief investment officer Kelvin Chiu told AFN that Hone’s handheld spectrometers are “groundbreaking” for the evolving industry around soil carbon measurement, reporting, and verification.