CellFor raises $24.5M for cloned trees
Like ImageTree, a startup we reported on two weeks ago, CellFor’s cleantech angle is forest management, aided by the about-face the timber market has had in the last few years.
CellFor, a Vancouver, British Columbia company, clones trees through a process called somatic embryogenesis. The trees it produces grow quickly and predictably, and tend to be resistant to diseases.
Those are desirable traits to forest owners, many of whom are now hedge funds and investment vehicles called REITs and TIMOs. All three are focused on maintaining healthy forests in order to receive predictable returns, and some are also interested in the possibility of carbon offsets
However, there’s a problem with the growing offset market: Forests, being composed of hundreds to millions of unique trees, are difficult to measure or predict the future value of. That’s a problem both CellFor and ImageTree can help with.
This round of $24.5 million is the company’s fourth, bringing the total to $100 million. The funding was led by ATP Capital, BDC Venture Capital, CSFB Private Equity and GrowthWorks Capital, and an undisclosed hedge fund and agri-business company also joined. Funding news via Clean Technology Investor.
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About the Author, Chris Morrison
Chris Morrison writes about cleantech and environmental issues for VentureBeat, with occasional forays into gaming and semantic technology. He got his start writing about tech for Business 2.0 magazine, but quickly realized new media was the ticket when that institution closed its doors in 2007. Chris has also covered public equities and regulatory issues. He originally hails from southern Virginia, graduated from Evergreen State College in Washington, and now lives in San Francisco.