Agteria Biotech has found a way to reduce methane emissions from cows

When Erik Engellau-Nilsson, Managing Partner at Norrsken Launcher reached out and introduced a company saying “I’ve never seen ONE company with the same realistic potential and opportunity to reduce 1 per cent of global GHG as this one. It's like Northvolt building 1000 giga factories or more”  you can bet my interest is piqued. 

Swedish company Agteria Biotech has developed tech to reduce methane emissions from cows burping and farting. 

Yep you read that right. 

It's not a new idea. Numerous attempts have been made to solve this problem, such as Volta Greentech using compounds from red seaweed and Zelp, which is developing a harness worn by cattle over their heads to reduce greenhouse gases from their breath. However, all of these suffer from the challenges of cost, scale, and effectiveness. 

Cows are bad for the environment. They represent approximately 10 per cent of global GHG, about 5 gigatons annually. Methane emissions are 80 times more potent than co2, and cow burps and farts are the biggest methane emitters. But now they might be just a bit less polluting. 

Agteria Biotech was founded by Martin Blomberg, Tommi Remonen, and Björn Lindh.  Blomberg is pursuing a MSc in Medical Biotechnology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and this is his third startup — he founded the first aged 19. Remonen, a KTH alumnus, holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry, and Lindh is a serial entrepreneur with a focus on climate-related startups.

I spoke to Blomberg to find out more. 

Spun out of research from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Agteria Biotech has developed a novel patent pending molecule (patent pending) that, when one gram is given to a cow daily in its feed, it reduces methane emissions by 70 per cent. 

Last month the company raised €1.4 million in Pre-Seed funding from. Norrsken Launcher works with researchers and scientists to industrialise, commercialise, and scale improvements that may essentially remodel the longer term for people and the planet.

The company plans to sell the molecule to mineral companies and feed companies. So the whole idea is that we sell it to the mineral companies and feed the companies.

As Blomberg explained: 

“The cows will do what they normally do, just eat their feed. The only difference in the food chain is that the cows will burn far less methane. 

And the cows will do what the normal do, just eat it.

Big dairy and beef companies need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent before 2030. So just by buying our product, they can actually feel their sustainability goals.”

And unlike most startups, the company was able to gain traction with investors easily. According to Blomberg.

“Because of our company’s huge potential for impact and what we have achieved in a short period of time, there were investors globally that were interested in investing in us.

We chose Norrsken because they were the best. They’re also helping us operationally, and I’m just amazed at what good people they are and how they help me see what’s achievable.” 

The company has validated their tech in the lab, and in real cows. It has received LOIs with some of the biggest dairy and beef companies in Europe and is in discussion with some of the biggest globally. 

“What we are doing now is working to get this approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and expand our team.“

Lead image: Stijn te Strake.

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