Propagate, a Denver, CO-based provider of a commercial agroforestry platform, raised $10M in Series A funding.
The round was led by The Nest with participation from Agfunder, the TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good, Techstars, and Neglected Climate Opportunities.
The company intends to use the funds to support its efforts to roll out profitability and production forecasting tools within Overyield, hire more experts to the team, and plant more trees onto the 158 million acres of farmland that are suitable for tree crops in the US.
Led by CEO Ethan Steinberg, Propagate is a software, development and financing ecosystem that makes it easy for farms to transition acreage to agroforestry. Their platform provides access to agronomic insights, technical assistance, and financing so that farms can reduce risk while integrating fruit, nut, and timber trees with animal or crop farming systems.
The Propagate ecosystem of products & services includes regenerative farm planning and management software (Overyield), commercial agroforestry development (Propagate Farm Services), and equity investments for agroforestry transition (Agroforestry Partners).
Today, the startup works with farmers, agribusinesses, and service providers to design and install tree-crop systems that work in tandem with existing farm operations. Propagate currently advises over 20,000 acres of agroforestry, supporting over 760,000 trees & shrubs. The company also actively manages over 600+ commercial acres, and growing, through its regional agroforestry hubs.
Founded in 2017, Propagate is a Techstars-backed company, a portfolio company of Elemental Excelerator as well as a partner of USDA’s Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities.