Rhizocore

Rhizocore is a University of Edinburgh staff startup, formed through the Food & Agriculture Science Transformer (FAST) programme set up by Deep Science Ventures (DSV) and the University of Edinburgh based at Roslin.

Rhizocore utilise fungi to accelerate tree survival and growth for positive environmental impact at scale. The company’s technology involves growing, characterising and optimising locally-adapted fungi for commercial and ecological outputs. Whilst focusing initially on the forestry industry, the company are developing a platform strategy that leverages its fungal expertise and resources to develop a wide range of climate solutions including water pollution and carbon sequestration. Rhizocore operates across more than 100 active field sites, with existing customers already having purchased 100% of planned 2025/26 capacity.

Existing shareholders form a complementary climate-focused syndicate for the company, and include ReGen, Collab Fund and Grok. The Company recently closed an additional £4.5m Seed round led by new specialist investor, The First Thirty, and involvement from key strategic customers such as Grosvener Estate.

This investment has funded the growth of technical, operations and marketing teams in Europe, expansion into the US (with several large customer contracts already closed), and will support the Company to raise a Series A round in late 2026.