Kebony raises €30 million to make construction greener

Kebony, a Norwegian startup that modifies softwoods to behave like tropical hardwoods, raised €30 million co-led by Jolt Capital and Lightrock.

Why it matters: This is less about the money, and more about an innovative effort to improve the construction industry's environmental efficiency and supply chains.

The bottom line: "Softwood grows a lot faster — in 'sustainable' forests — than hardwood. The latter is often found in bio-diverse old-growth forests like, um, the Amazon. So if you could make softwood behave like hardwood, you'd not only access more sustainable wood for construction, you’d also protect hardwood forests from destruction." — Mike Butcher, TechCrunch