Boomitra named finalist in Prince William’s Earthshot Prize
This alumni success story comes at a perfect time as we gear up for the 2023 World Food Forum Startup Innovation Awards this week.
We’re thrilled to announce Boomitra has been selected as one of the finalists for Prince William’s prestigious Earthshot Prize, building on their semi-finalist success in the Better Production category at the 2022 Startup Innovation Awards.
Goosebumps.
Who is Boomitra?
In 2017, Aadith Moorthy, from the southwestern region of India, was passing through a village when he came across a funeral procession mourning the death of a farmer who, left destitute after a crop failure, had taken his own life. This emotional moment sparked questions in Aadith’s mind. Could modern technology restore these lands and, in turn, improve the lives of its farmers?
Boomitra, which means “friend of the earth” in Sanskrit, is a soil carbon marketplace that rewards farmers for sustainable land management practices. Since its launch, the startup has grown to become a leading soil carbon marketplace. Powered by AI and remote sensing technology, Boomitra empowers farmers and ranchers to transform agricultural practices, earn new streams of income and create a thriving planet.
The sustainable farming techniques restore soil health and increase crop yields but it is also a boon to the farmers themselves, who can earn additional income from a 70% share in Boomitra’s profits. As Boomitra scales their solution worldwide, they have set an ambitious target to store one gigaton of CO2 in the soil by 2030. Their strategy has huge transformative potential for climate change mitigation.
The Earthshot Prize
Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” challenge in 1962 to land a man on the moon within a decade, The Earthshot Prize was launched by Prince William in 2020 to search for and scale the most innovative solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges. The challenge to the world is based on five “Earthshots” – simple but ambitious goals for 2030 that, if achieved, will repair the planet before irreversible damage occurs.
Developed in collaboration with leading environmental experts, the five ‘Earthshots’ include:
- Protect and Restore Nature 🌲
- Clean our Air 💨
- Revive our Oceans 🌊
- Build a Waste-free World 🌎
- Fix our Climate ⛅️
The focus of the Fix our Climate category is to build a carbon neutral economy that allows every culture, community and country to thrive. Following a rigorous 10-month selection process led by an expert advisory panel, Boomitra was chosen as one of three finalists in the Fix our Climate from a pool of more than 1,300 nominees.
One winner from each Earthshot category will be awarded £1 million to scale their solutions, with all 15 finalists receiving tailored support from the organization’s global alliance of partners.
The Earthshot Prize winners will be announced November 7, 2023 at the third annual awards ceremony in Singapore. In giving a platform to companies such as Boomitra and showcasing their solutions, Extreme Tech Challenge is fulfilling our mission to empower entrepreneurs building innovative technologies that improve the world. The goal is to identify potential market-leading companies that impact the world in a significant way and provide the rocket fuel to help them scale faster.
🎉 Congratulations, Team Boomitra! We wish you the best of luck in taking home the prize in November.
Read more about Boomitra on the Earthshot Prize website here.