Natick, MA – Dacon and Kula Bio are creating a new headquarters in the MetroWest.
In May, Kula raised $10 million in seed funding from environmental funds including the Collaborative Fund and the Nature Conservancy. This project is in response to sales growth. Designed for versatility that will support various business functions as they grow, the space contains executive offices, open employee seating, a research lab, manufacturing spaces, an inventory area, grow room and amenities.
Rendering of Kula Bio kitchen
Currently situated in Greentown Labs, Kula Bio is a 3-year-old startup that is pioneering sustainability with Kula-N, a super charged fertilizer for agriculture. Based on the premise that longer living, natural microbes contain stronger nutrient capabilities, Kula’s patented process creates bacterial microbes that transport nitrogen from air into fertilizer. It does this via a reactor technology which enables the microbes to store energy from renewable electricity and carbon dioxide. Applied via irrigation, energy then slowly releases nitrogen directly into the soil. Once depleted, the bacteria die and decompose naturally, increasing carbon into the land.
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Agriculturalists and farmers have limited options for fertilizing. Ninety percent of fertilizer used is conventional that, while inexpensive and precisely applied, contaminates water and produces greenhouse gas emissions during the manufacturing process. Conversely organic fertilizers are expensive and produce inconsistent results. The Kula-N biofertilizer encapsulates optimal aspects of both these products – cost competitiveness and immediate impact of traditional fertilizers with the environmental sustainability of organics. With consumer demand increasing for sustainable food resources, Kula-N enables agriculturalists to maintain costs and yield.
States Kevin Quinn, Dacon’s CEO, “The human demands placed on our environment necessitates champions like Kula Bio who have deep insight, market acumen and innovative determination to aid nature with science. Their entrepreneurial approach is contagious.”
