Phospholutions, an 1855 Capital portfolio company that specializes in designing sustainable fertilizer components, recently closed a Series A round of funding in which the team raised an impressive $10.3 million (read more here). Phospholutions plans to use the funding to expand its presence in the agricultural products industry by both expanding its product offerings and building valuable partnerships with retailers and phosphate producers.
The “Phosphorus Problem” … Eutrophication
Phospholutions strives to reduce the amount of phosphorus released during the through agricultural fertilizers. Nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen are necessary for plant growth, but excess nutrients in a water system cause a dangerous form of pollution known as eutrophication. Eutrophication overstimulates the growth of algae, phytoplankton, and simple plants in lakes or coastal regions. When these organisms die and decay, they deplete oxygen levels, creating “dead zones” of hypoxic, or oxygen poor, water. Few aquatic animals can survive in these conditions, which poses a huge threat to biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems. Moreover, the plant and algae “blooms” create another source of greenhouse gas which, unfortunately, also contributes to their effect on climate change.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has identified eutrophication as the main problem in United States surface waters greatly impairing water quality and Science Magazine published an article that went as far as claiming eutrophication poses an existential threat. That Phospholutions’ products hold promise to mitigate these threats provides further motivation to bring these products into the mainstream market.
You can read more about Phospholutions in AgFunder Network Partners’ recent article here, or check out Phospholutions’ product offerings on their official website.
Also, check out these links for more information about eutrophication:
https://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/phosphorus-pollution-poses-major-threat-worlds-lakes.html
Changing nutrients, changing rivers | Science (sciencemag.org)
Eutrophication, dark side of ‘greenness’ – Daily News Egypt