Perennial

Perennial, founded in 2018 as Cloud Agronomics, operates as a critical measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) platform with a focus on agricultural soils as a significant carbon sink. The company was established by Brown University alumni Jack Roswell, Oleksiy Zhuk, and David Schurman, who brought together expertise in computational science and earth sciences. Schurman, for instance, had prior experience as a software lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Their academic and professional backgrounds in remote sensing and data science form the foundation of the company's technological approach.

The firm's core business revolves around a sophisticated MRV platform that quantifies soil organic carbon, aiming to verify climate-smart agricultural practices. It serves a diverse clientele, including food companies, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industries, and developers of carbon offset projects. For food and CPG companies, Perennial's platform enables 'insetting'—the process of measuring and reducing emissions within their own agricultural supply chains. For carbon offset developers, the company measures and verifies soil-based carbon offsets that are then sold to corporate emitters striving to meet net-zero commitments. Revenue is generated through service fees associated with this MRV platform.

Perennial's technology utilizes a proprietary model called ATLAS-SOC, which integrates machine learning, satellite data, and ground observations from over 350,000 soil samples to map soil carbon with high accuracy. This Digital Soil Mapping approach significantly reduces the need for extensive physical soil sampling by up to 10 times, which in turn lowers costs for clients. The platform is designed to be globally scalable and is compatible with any crop or program, having already been deployed in the U.S. and Australia. This allows for standardized reporting across different geographies and certifications, aligning with standards like Verra, Gold Standard, and the Australian Clean Energy Regulator. The company has secured $24 million in total funding, including a notable $18 million Series A round in May 2022, co-led by Temasek and Bloomberg, with participation from Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund.

Keywords: soil carbon verification, MRV platform, agricultural technology, climate-smart agriculture, carbon removal, regenerative farming, Digital Soil Mapping, carbon insetting, carbon offsetting, emissions reduction, sustainable agriculture, soil health, remote sensing, machine learning, GHG verification, climate tech, agtech, carbon market solutions, Scope 3 emissions, corporate sustainability