N2 Applied is a Norwegian deep tech scale-up and EIC Scaling Club’s Agri & Food Tech group member. In response to the biggest fertilisation challenges in the agricultural industry, the company has developed a technology that enables local production of fertiliser from liquid organic substrates such as slurry or digestate with air and electricity.
During the Scale 100 Forum in Athens, Greece, we met the CFO of N2 Applied, Torbjørn Blom-Hagen, who shared how the Norwegian company is revolutionising fertiliser production.
Keep reading or listen to the interview recording here (or watch the video below):
Asked to tell us what N2 Applied is all about, Torbjørn is concise and says the company addresses agriculture challenges related to fertilisers. “It is a $200 billion market annually, and it's currently fully fossil-driven, yet only 40% of the nitrogen being applied to the fields reaches the plants. We've developed a platform technology that drastically improves fertiliser efficiency. Instead of the current 40%, our solution offers nearly 100% efficiency, allowing fertiliser to be produced right where and when it's needed,” he explains.
N2 Applied uses renewable energy through electricity plasma technology to crack the nitrogen from the air, and create reactive nitrogen gas that reacts with different kinds of liquids. Torbjørn adds: “We can treat different liquids and create different types of fertilisers – both organic and mineral.”
N2 Applied’s founders have a 30-year background in the fertiliser industry, R&D, and vast technological expertise. The scale-up was founded in 2010, and the first seven to eight years were spent working on the product concept, which was followed by the attraction of the first funding rounds.
“Over the last seven years, we've built a strong team in Norway with unique expertise in this domain. Our capabilities span agronomy, understanding plant and environmental effects, and the physics and technology development behind our unique solution,” he shares.
Similar to most scale-ups, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Torbjørn tells us that there has been a lot of trial and error, but the company has made substantial progress. Initially, they tackled challenges in dairy farming, leveraging their technology's unique ability to treat organic materials, thereby curbing emissions and pollution. While acknowledging the inherent difficulties of working with varied organic compositions, N2 Applied has largely overcome these hurdles, resulting in the launch of a commercial solution.
Torbjørn adds that regulation has played a key role in N2 Applied’s journey. “There was a lot of talk about regulation within the EU to tackle the huge pollution and carbon emission problems from agriculture. We have a unique solution that enables a more holistic approach to agriculture, solving both pollution and carbon emission challenges very effectively.”
However, Torbjørn points out that the regulations haven't kept pace with the initial timelines for implementation. Thus, for a product aimed at sustainable agriculture, incentives are crucial to encourage farmers and the industry to adopt these improved solutions.
While their work addresses global carbon challenges, he believes there's a "carbon tunnel vision" in the world, where focus on carbon reduction often overshadows other equally critical issues. From N2 Applied’s perspective, the nitrogen problem is just as significant, if not more so, and their solution tackles both. “Regulators and politicians aren't as focused on the nitrogen issue, but it should be a much higher priority. While some EU countries like the Netherlands and Belgium have put these topics on their agenda, the rest of the world must catch up. A push from entities like the EIC could drive this awareness,” Torbjørn elaborates on the issue.
When asked about N2 Applied's key milestones, Torbjørn highlights their extensive pilot program involving 20 different sites and 50 distinct types of installations. He notes that they have conducted agronomic trials for years, thoroughly documenting their benefits.
“We managed to sign a big corporate deal with GEA, a major German provider of equipment to dairy farms globally, which is now bringing our product into this market segment. That's a major achievement,” Torbjørn shares one of the main highlights of the company’s journey.
Working with GEA has been instrumental, he notes, leading N2 Applied to partner with "several of the biggest food companies in the world," who are now trialling their technology within their supply chains. “We're also scaling up our technology for broader applications, and we've already reached a certain production capacity and efficiency.”
Regarding being a part of the EIC Scaling Club, Torbjørn explains that the scale-up has benefited from EIC programs in several instances, including funding. Thus, being a part of the EIC Scaling Club is a natural extension of this cooperation. “We were selected as a target area for the EU due to our significant impact on some of their key agricultural development goals.”
“We’re exactly in the phase – scaling up. Being able to connect to investors, corporates, and regulators is crucial. It provides us visibility within the ecosystem regarding the issues we address, and that’s why we are part of the Scaling Club.”
Watch the full interview with Torbjørn Blom-Hagen below, or visit our YouTube channel to explore more video content:
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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