Ostara™ announced on Oct. 28 that it has raised US$70 million in Series C funding to complete the construction of its St. Louis manufacturing facility (GM July 1, p. 1) that will produce its Crystal Green® line of granular phosphate fertilizers for agriculture, specialty, and turf markets in the North America. The funding includes multiple new investors, including Carica Sustainable Investments, as well as existing investors Forage Capital Partners, the Cibus Funds, and Grosvenor Food and AgTech.
“Ostara is excited to rapidly increase our North American manufacturing base, enabling us to serve more U.S. and Canadian farmers,” said Kerry Cebul, Ostara CEO. The company currently operates a facility in Florida, but desired an additional presence in the central part of the country.
Ostara said the plant is strategically located in St. Louis, in the heart of midwestern agriculture. Once complete, the facility will produce 200,000 st/y, providing product in time for the 2024 growing season as it is expected up in third-quarter 2023. The company said the plant represents a major step forward in the production of the next generation of highly efficient, plant-available, sustainable phosphate products.
“Phosphates are critical to the production of all crops, yet we know traditional fertilizers are inefficient, increasing their impact on climate and water,” said Ham James, Managing Partner at Carica Sustainable Investments, a new Ostara investor that invests in businesses that drive positive environmental and economic outcomes. “Ostara’s proven, innovative technology brings new, efficient phosphate tools to the farm-gate, which enable growers to produce great crops and protect our waterways by limiting runoff.”
“The world’s agriculture market is facing unprecedented times,” said Jim Taylor, Managing Partner at Forage Capital, a Canadian firm that invests in the Ag and Food sectors, having managed over $500 million in commitments to the industry over the last 18 years. “From shortages in food production, to rising energy prices and significant declines in fertilizer availability, there has never been a greater need for ultra-efficient, sustainable fertilizers like Ostara’s.
“The company not only has the ability to continue to scale world-class manufacturing capacity that can help farmers produce crops, reduce phosphates in waterways, and reduce greenhouse gasses, but it can also do so at a pace and size that will help address the challenges facing global fertilizer supply,” Taylor added.
Ostara purchased its St. Louis facility from Bruce Oakley Inc. in 2021, with plans to construct a state-of-the-art granulation facility to produce its fertilizers (GM July 16, 2021), which will create dozens of new jobs in the St. Louis area.