In order to save and more importantly restore biodiversity we don’t need biodiversity or carbon credits; we need biologists to find super profitable business models within the magical deeply complex world of nature. It’s the case of Toby Parkes, founder and CEO of Rhizocore, with whom go deep into the third, mostly ignored, and much more complex kingdom: fungi.
It’s safe to say fungi run the world. They connect most, if not all, plants and trees; they communicate, trade, barter, and feed everything we eat and breathe. Many medicines and enzymes come from the world of fungi. We know healthy fungal networks are fundamental, but we know so little about them. How do we map the world while it’s disappearing? Lots of government funding? Big foundations? Good luck in these crazy times.
What if we tried a truly profitable business model, one that funds the mapping of the hidden world beneath our feet? In the conversation we unpack a journey from the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, to building a fungi unicorn, but that isn’t the goal.
The first beach head: commercial timber plantations, where fungi are fundamental in establishing small trees and helping them grow faster. This science has been known for a long time, but no one had figured out how to apply living fungi- the right ones for the local context- while planting trees.
Keep in mind, this planting is mostly done by hand, in cold, rainy winter months, meaning you don’t want to give the grumpy tree-planting contractors extra work. That’s where Rhizocore innovation comes in: figuring out the right fungal species for each tree- planting context, and a way to get them close to the roots of trees being planted.
The result: half the mortality rate and 20% faster growth. We talk about the journey from biologists who had never heard the term return on investment to building a scalable biotech business, what fungi can do to clean up waterways and more, and why we desperately need more scientists, especially biologists, to be trained to start companies.
This episode is made possible by our investment syndicate Generation Re, where we invest together with the community in early stage regenerative food and agriculture businesses like Zukunftmoor. Find out more on www.gen-re.land.
The health of a new forest is decided long before the canopy closes. It starts underground, where mycorrhizal fungi feed saplings, buffer drought, and wire roots into living networks. We sit down with Rhizocore Technologies to unpack how local fungi, matched precisely to local soils and hosts, can halve mortality and accelerate woodland recovery without waiting on carbon markets.
The journey begins with the Toby’s path from alpine wanderer to systems biologist and then entrepreneur, guided by a simple observation: trees survive when their underground partners show up on time. We dig into why nursery inoculation often fails in the field, how bare-root handling damages root tips, and why drought now turns a bad year into a disastrous one. The solution isn’t generic microbes- it’s strain-level mycorrhizae, DNA-verified, screened in soil conditions that mimic the destination, and delivered in a form that planters can use with cold hands and tight schedules. Enter the rhizopellet: a small cube that acts like a seed for fungi, protecting delicate mycelium, providing water and nutrients through winter dormancy, and forming symbiosis when roots wake in spring.
We talk numbers that matter to forest managers: commercial sites often lose 15–25% of trees in year one, native mixes 35–50%. Across 70+ sites, Rhizocore’s locally sourced pellets consistently cut losses in half and add roughly 20% in height and girth, with outsized benefits under drought. We also explore the bigger vision: a frozen library of hundreds of strains that powers not only forestry but new lines like nutrient capture from farm runoff and wastewater. Think high-throughput screening for fungi that strip nitrates and phosphates fast, plus future prospects for enzymes and therapeutics- practical ways to put ecology on the balance sheet.
MOVING FROM SCIENCE TO STARTUP
Toby transitioned from a decade in academic science to the world of startups as he felt a sense of urgency to apply his knowledge to real-world problems, believing that the slow, grant-dependent pace of academia was inadequate for the biodiversity crisis.
“And so, it dawned on me quite rapidly that we don’t live at a time point where we can waste time, particularly with biodiversity, which is what I really care about… And so, I wanted to basically get to a point of how do I use all this academic knowledge that I’ve gained through being lucky enough to work and do the things that I’ve done for the last 10 years into something that has application.” Toby Parkes
FROM BIOLOGY TO UNICORN
Even the application of Rhizocore fungal technology in the forestry sector has the potential to build a business of immense scale and value, turning the company into an unicorn.
“Forestry is one and forestry, we consider the beachhead for us, which if we just built a product line on the forestry sector, we could get to unicorn in terms of startup terminology as it is… if you asked me in terms of what it’s, but that’s from an ecological perspective, not a business mind. We could get to that level of revenue if we wanted to with one business line…” Toby Parkes
WHY HAVING A PROFITABLE BUSINESS MODEL IS SO IMPORTANT TO REBUILD BIODIVERSITY
The most effective way to fund conservation is not through charity or grants, but by creating a business that generates profit from the inherent value of nature. This revenue can then be directly reinvested into protecting the biological assets it depends on.
“How do we find ways of basically being the facilitators that we make that biology actually generate revenue for itself and then direct those funds into something that can be used for the conservation of those organisms… ’cause we’re a startup company, but our central mission is a conservation mission, which I think as far as I’m aware we’re probably one of the few that exist out there, if not the only one that has that embedded in it. But that’s because I think we can find the value in nature and we can sell that, and then we can use a proportion of that to basically protect that kingdom of life in the process.” Toby Parkes
WE DON’T NEED BIODIVERSITY OR CARBON CREDITS, BUT SUPER PROFITABLE BUSINESS CASES TO SAVE BIODIVERSITY
In his direct message to investors, Toby states that the focus should be on building traditional, profitable business models that harness nature’s value, rather than relying on emerging and often fickle markets for carbon or biodiversity credits. He believes real markets, not conceptual ones, are the key.
“Honestly, I would tell them to stop getting so head up on measuring carbon and measuring biodiversity. I think those two things come as co-benefits to things that are fundamentally making economic decisions like investors should be good at going. I can see a business model and I can see how this is gonna make real money in a real market. Not an emerging market.” Toby Parkes
LINKS:
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- Toby Kiers, the Jane Goodall of fungi and mycorrhizal networks on being an underground astronaut
- Paul McMahon – Why regen forestry is natural capital’s Trojan horse for institutional investors
- Stefania Avanzini – Why and how 26 food giants with a turn over of $900 billion are getting serious about regeneration and biodiversity
- Matthijs Westerwoudt – Paying farmers for cultivating weeds and making biodiversity super tasty by selling drinks and teas made from native plants
- Kat Bruce – Going from putting insects in a food processor to raising $27M in 10 years and building the biggest eDNA biodiversity monitoring company
- Cameron Frayling – Forget biodiversity credits (for now). Regen ag farm land funds and regulation are driving the biodiversity sector
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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.