Supply chain technology company Cambium announced that it has raised $18.5 million in a Series A funding round, with proceeds aimed at supporting the development of the company’s wood supply chain platform and introduce new timber products to provide sustainable products for the built environment.

Established in 2019, Washington DC-based Cambium focuses on transforming “waste wood,” such as felled trees that would otherwise end up in landfills, into viable building materials. Tree services, trucking services and mills can use Cambium’s AI and LLM-powered platform to sell, source and process wood locally, reducing their costs and carbon footprint by avoiding  long-distance shipping. By integrating these parties, the platform also tracks every stage of the lumber journey supply chain, creating a chain of custody data layer for the industry, the company said, and enabling solutions like log transportation and logistics, inventory management point-of-sale systems, real-time carbon impact tracking, and e-commerce capabilities. The solution helps to digitize what Cambium said has traditionally been a “pen and paper” business, without the use of electronic records for transactions or data storage.

In addition to further developing the AI for this platform, the funding will be used to introduce new lower-carbon wood products for the building industry. The company’s engineered wood product, made from recycled wood, is now being made into cross-laminated timber, which can be used alongside or in place of concrete and steel, two carbon-intensive building materials. The company said its cross-laminated timber stores carbon and requires less energy to produce. Cambium said it had partnered with leading CLT manufacturers for production, including Mercer Mass Timber, SmartLam North America, Sterling Structural, and Vaagen Timbers.

Ben Christensen, CEO and Co-founder of Cambium, said:

“With global wood demand set to triple by 2050, it’s time we have a smarter wood supply chain in the US and beyond. This investment enables us to scale our supply chain technology across the entire industry, helping sawmills modernize their operations, transform waste into lower carbon building materials, and bring manufacturing jobs back to these local economies.”

The round was led by VoLo Earth Ventures, with participation from NEA, Dangerous Ventures, Tunitas Ventures, Woven Earth, Understorey, Groundswell and Ulu Ventures. Existing investors, including MaC Venture Capital, Rise of the Rest, 81 Collection, Alumni Ventures, and Soma Capital, also participated in this round.

Kareem Dabbagh, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at VoLo Earth Ventures, said:

“Cambium has identified a critical need to modernize the wood industry, from forestry to construction, by improving supply chain efficiency and using technology to create access to cost-efficient sustainable materials. By producing high-quality, lower carbon Carbon Smart Wood and creating a more connected supply network, Cambium is solving key challenges in the industry. Our investment reflects our strong belief in their vision, their team, and the value they bring to the construction and design markets.”

According to Cambium, it has moved over 8 million board feet of wood from waste streams across the platform, sequestered over 10,000 tons of CO2e, and built a national network of over 350 tree care service companies, sawmills, and trucking companies to create localized, sustainable supply chains. The company also said that it would broaden logistics capabilities through Mill Market, a logistics platform connecting tree care services and lumber mills that it acquired in July 2024.