Teraxxi, a deep tech startup spun out of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), has closed a $3 million Seed-2 funding round. The investment was led by Wa’ed Ventures, the local venture capital arm of Aramco, with participation from KAUST. The funding is set to scale Teraxxi’s soil regeneration technologies for landscaping and carbon capture in desert environments.
Quick Facts
- Funding: $3 million Seed-2 round.
- Lead Investor: Wa’ed Ventures.
- Goal: Scale soil regeneration and carbon capture tech.
From Lab to Landscape
This new capital will support Teraxxi’s transition from pilot operations to full-scale industrial production. A key part of this expansion includes the establishment of a 30,000-square-meter commercial facility in Zulfi, a significant step towards bringing its technology to the wider market across Saudi Arabia.
The investment highlights Wa’ed Ventures’ strategy of backing locally developed technologies and helping them move from research settings to scalable, market-ready solutions.
Eng. Anas Al-Qahtani, CEO of Wa’ed Ventures, commented, “Our investment in Teraxxi reflects our conviction in the importance of deep tech solutions that address real challenges in Saudi Arabia, with scalable commercial potential. What distinguishes Teraxxi is not just the strong scientific foundation of its technology, but its ability to transform that science into a viable industrial solution. At Wa’ed Ventures, we focus on supporting innovations that can go beyond the lab and make a tangible contribution to the Kingdom’s sustainability and economic diversification goals.”
Tackling Soil Degradation with CarboSoil
Globally, approximately one-third of all land is degraded, negatively impacting agricultural output and ecosystems. Saudi Arabia’s soil is predominantly sandy, with a low capacity for retaining water and nutrients, which limits agriculture, landscaping, and large-scale greening initiatives.
Teraxxi’s proprietary soil enhancer, CarboSoil, is designed to address this challenge directly. The product can improve plant growth and productivity by up to 70% while using the same amount of water and nutrients, significantly boosting resource efficiency in sandy soils.
The startup has made notable progress within the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture’s “Regulatory Sandbox,” which allows emerging environmental technologies to be tested and validated under real-world conditions.
Government and Corporate Backing
Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Malik, Deputy Minister for Research and Innovation at the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, stated, “Soil health is a critical foundation for achieving the Kingdom’s ambitions in food security, water use efficiency, and land rehabilitation. Through the regulatory sandbox, the ministry enables technologies developed in the Kingdom to pass environmental verification and product testing, accelerating their responsible deployment and market adoption. Teraxxi represents an important model of how innovation, regulation, and investment can integrate to address national priorities and scale promising solutions.”
The investment also signals growing interest in technologies that address land degradation and broader environmental challenges, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s large-scale sustainability initiatives.
Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, Executive Vice President of Technology & Innovation at Aramco and Chairman of Wa’ed’s Investment Committee, added, “Decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors requires practical and scalable solutions based on solid scientific foundations. Teraxxi’s technology addresses land degradation and decarbonization simultaneously, capable of storing carbon dioxide stably for centuries. These are the kinds of dual-impact innovations our sustainability investments are designed to support.”
About Teraxxi
Born from research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Teraxxi is a deep tech company focused on developing solutions for greening desert environments. Its flagship product, CarboSoil, is a soil enhancer that improves water and nutrient retention in sandy soils, boosting plant growth and contributing to carbon capture. The company aims to support Saudi Arabia’s large-scale environmental goals, including the Saudi Green Initiative and Vision 2030.
Source: Shafaq-e
