Dutch Startup Raises $2.2M to Grow Wood in Bioreactors

Jan de Vries · 2026-06-04

A Dutch deep-tech startup just closed a big oversubscribed pre-seed round. New Dawn Bio, based in Wageningen, claims they're building the world's first cultured wood. They raised $2.2 million (€2.1 million) to speed up product development and grow their R&D team. ### The Funding Details The round was led by CapitalT. Other investors include Norrsken Evolve, Ontdekkers Group, and several prominent angel investors like Jelle Prins, co-founder of Cradle. That's a solid vote of confidence for a company that's barely a year old. ### What They're Actually Doing Founded in 2024 by Tom Clement (CEO) and Kianti Figler (COO), New Dawn Bio grows wood from tree stem cells in bioreactors. No logging involved. They harvest stem cells from trees, multiply them in bioreactors, and then direct those cells to harden into the exact shape you want. Think of it like 3D printing with wood, but way more natural. Tom Clement put it simply: "Wood has been a pinnacle to mankind for millennia, yet we still haven't figured out a better way than to cut rectangular boards and beams from round tree trunks. For the first time in history, we can now grow pre-shaped premium wood." ### Why It Matters This isn't just a cool science experiment. The company says their process grows wood up to 10,000 times faster than traditional forestry. And because they grow it in the final shape, there's zero waste from sawing, routing, drilling, or gluing. That can cut customers' cost of goods sold by up to 80%. On the environmental side, New Dawn Bio claims their approach could save up to 2.1 gigatons of direct CO₂ emissions every year. That's huge. And it helps preserve forests that host more than half of Earth's biodiversity. ### The Team Behind It The company's R&D team works at the intersection of cell biology, materials engineering, physics, and process engineering. They bring expertise from places like Harvard Medical School, University of Amsterdam, and ETH Zurich. That's a lot of brainpower focused on one problem. New Dawn Bio is also part of the Eurostars-funded BRANCH project, partnering with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). ### What's Next The fresh capital will go toward advancing product development and expanding the interdisciplinary team. Janneke Niessen, founding partner at CapitalT, said: "New Dawn Bio represents exactly the kind of deep-tech, impact-driven company CapitalT exists to back. Cultured wood has the potential to transform entire supply chains while making a meaningful contribution to the planet." ### The Big Picture Think about it: We've been cutting down trees for thousands of years, and we're still wasting so much material. This technology could change how we think about wood entirely. Instead of logging ancient forests, we could grow perfect, pre-shaped wood in a lab. It's faster, cleaner, and potentially cheaper. For US readers, this is a reminder that deep-tech innovation isn't just happening in Silicon Valley. European startups like New Dawn Bio are tackling massive problems with bold solutions. And with $2.2 million in fresh funding, they're ready to scale.