
The worldwide demand for wooden might develop by 54% between 2010 and 2050, based on a research by the World Assets Institute. Whereas some constructing supplies like metal get constantly recycled again into the availability chain, wooden doesn’t. Cambium hopes to repair that.
Cambium appears to be like to construct the availability chain that retains wooden from being wasted by connecting these with already-been-used wooden to the companies and people that want it. Cambium co-founder and CEO Ben Christensen not too long ago informed TechCrunch’s Discovered podcast that solely 5% to 10% of wooden will get reused presently with most ending up in landfills or was mulch.
“We’re constructing a greater worth chain the place you should utilize native materials, you should utilize salvaged materials, and all of that’s related by means of our expertise,” Christensen mentioned. “In order that’s what we do is we ship carbon sensible wooden, regionally salvaged wooden, tracked on our expertise, to giant patrons to construct buildings to construct furnishings to make use of any kind of factor that you simply use wooden for. And we try this in a very environment friendly and value aggressive approach.”
Demand for extra sustainable wooden has been rising in recent times, Christensen mentioned, however earlier than Cambium there wasn’t a very good system to seek out the recycled wooden. Cambium fixes that and extra he mentioned. The corporate goes to companies with recycled wooden to promote and exhibits them the demand for his or her merchandise whereas additionally promoting its software program that helps with stock administration and level of sale to those suppliers.
Cambium additionally helps patrons get higher visibility into the place their wooden is coming from and might additional scale back their carbon footprint by deciding on an area vendor, Christensen mentioned.
“Folks like actually, actually need to purchase this materials, we’ve been actually overwhelmed with demand there and that helps us get sourcing and quantity onto the platform with a purpose to go and meet that demand,” Christensen mentioned.
Christensen added that the corporate has benefited from a generational shift too as development firms and folks in wood-related trades retire and the subsequent technology of oldsters in these fields look to undertake expertise and be extra environmentally pleasant.
Cambium was based in 2019 and is predicated in Washington D.C. The startup has raised greater than $8.5 million in funding from VCs together with The Alumni Fund, Gaingels and MaC Enterprise Capital, amongst others.