Farmlab
5 known investors
FarmLab provides a platform for farmers to centralize environmental project data—soil, plant, and water measurements—to track changes over time, reduce audit costs, and manage compliance. It connects users to environmental testing laboratories across Australia and the US and supports secure data sharing with consultants and advisors.
Also known as FarmLab · Geo Exploration Lab · GXLab
Founders & leadership
Investors · 5
Also in the syndicate · 4
Company profile
researched Aug 2026FarmLab is an Australian environmental measurement company that provides software and services for collecting, testing, analysing and mapping soil, plant and water data. Its platform lets farmers, agronomists, consultants and project developers order tests through a network of trained samplers and environmental testing laboratories in Australia, the United States and elsewhere, records where each sample was taken by geo-referencing barcoded sample bags, and stores results in one interface so change can be tracked over time. A mobile app — originally developed for the collection of air-to-air refuelling data for military contractors — supports online and offline field sampling, navigation to sampling points, barcode capture and photos, and is distributed through the Google Play and Apple app stores.
Beyond data capture, the platform offers geospatial tools for farm mapping, stratification, sample-plan generation and dataset processing, and calculates soil carbon stocks using equations from recognised soil carbon methods, including the Australian Clean Energy Regulator's 2021 methodology. Outputs include audit reports, carbon variance calculations, environmental farm assessments covering carbon, biodiversity and production, variable-rate fertiliser maps and farm planning maps; an API exposes the analytics engine to third-party products. Services are packaged for two segments: producers (soil carbon services, environmental farm assessments, a sampler directory) and advisors such as agronomists and consultants (carbon project support, precision agriculture reporting, ESG reporting).
In September 2025 the company announced the acquisition of soil analysis firm Ziltek and a rebrand to GXLab (Geo Exploration Lab), adding mid-infrared spectroscopy for finer-grained soil analysis, including distinguishing short- from long-term carbon to address permanence questions in soil carbon markets. The acquisition brought 60–70 additional clients worldwide, extending the technology from agriculture into environmental remediation for sectors such as mining, oil and gas and Antarctic conservation.
Founding story
Sam Duncan spent twelve years as a logistics officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, including deployments to South Sudan and the Middle East where he observed the effects of climate change. After watching Allan Savory's 2012 TED talk on the capacity of grasslands and soil to sequester carbon, he concluded that the missing ingredient was quantifiable soil data, as soil tests were largely paper-based and undigitised. In 2016 he and fellow former RAAF officer Shahriar Jamshidi started FarmLab to build a mobile app enabling farmers and agronomists to sample, analyse and map soil using digital soil mapping techniques; a company release dates the founding to 2017.
Business model
The company sells software and coordinated measurement services rather than trading carbon credits; management states it does not make money from carbon offsets but earns revenue through soil testing, with a largely service-based model built around integrations with testing laboratories and a network of trained samplers.
Revenue is generated from soil and environmental testing services delivered through the platform and its laboratory and sampler network, alongside software tools and API access for advisors and project developers; the company reports project costs falling from about $20 per hectare two years earlier to roughly $10 per hectare.
Traction
At the time of the 2021 seed round the platform covered more than 700 farms and 700,000 hectares of Australian agricultural land, and the company was a preferred provider for several large agribusinesses and carbon developers. In 2022 it won work under the National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge requiring collection of 20,000 samples over two years. By 2024 it was running 170 projects in the United States across more than 200,000 acres, with expansion into Canada, Africa and New Zealand, and partnerships with Treasury Wine Estates and Cargill. As GXLab it manages projects across four continents and supports about 30% of Australia's soil carbon projects.
Latest developments
In September 2025 the company announced the acquisition of Ziltek and a rebrand to GXLab (Geo Exploration Lab), adding mid-infrared spectroscopy and 60–70 clients across remediation markets. It launched the Megatonne Mission at its 2025 Down to Earth event, is developing a global database of soils and pollutants combining mapping, contaminant monitoring and carbon measurement, and is slated to appear in the Scale-Up program at evokeAG. 2026 in Melbourne.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
The company states it supports roughly 20–30% of Australia's soil carbon projects and describes its platform as the single biggest data pool for regulatory soil carbon in Australia, positioning itself, in its own analogy, as 'Xero for soil'.
Differentiation rests on end-to-end chain of custody for environmental samples — barcode scanning and geo-referencing tied to laboratory integrations — combined with geospatial stratification and carbon stock modelling that produces auditable outputs for regulators, plus mid-infrared spectroscopy acquired with Ziltek that distinguishes short- from long-term soil carbon.
Technology
Core technology combines a field mobile app with barcode scanning and GPS geo-referencing, direct electronic integrations with soil testing laboratories, and GIS and geospatial modelling for stratification, digital soil mapping and carbon stock calculation using validated soil carbon method equations. Founders compare the sample chain-of-custody approach to pathology blood testing. The Ziltek acquisition adds mid-infrared spectroscopy capable of separating short- and long-term soil carbon fractions.
Go-to-market
FarmLab sells directly to producers and, more heavily, through agronomists and consultants who hold the farmer relationships, packaging tools such as the Soil Carbon Services Pack for advisors running carbon projects. It works with agribusinesses and carbon developers as a preferred provider, uses industry events and programs including the SproutX Accelerator, evokeAG. Startup Alley and Scale-Up Street and the growAG. platform for business development and investor visibility, and runs awareness initiatives such as the #1million1billion mission and the Megatonne Mission launched at its 2025 Down to Earth event.
Growers, producers and farmers; agronomists, consultants and advisors; agribusinesses, carbon and environmental project developers, asset managers and service providers; following the Ziltek acquisition, also remediation clients including oil majors such as Shell and Chevron and Antarctic remediation sites.
Geography
Headquartered in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia, originally operating from the University of New England's SMART Region Incubator. Laboratory access spans Australia and the United States, with projects and expansion across New Zealand, Canada, Africa and, via the Ziltek business, remediation work reaching Antarctica; the company reports managing projects on four continents.
History
FarmLab began as a soil-sampling mobile app and shifted focus once the founders found that consultants and agronomists, rather than farmers, collect most samples. It pitched at evokeAG. 2019 in Melbourne, joined the six-month SproutX Accelerator in May 2020, and formalised its first investment partnerships with Artesian and GrainInnovate later that year. After Wilmot Cattle Company's January 2021 sale of soil carbon credits to Microsoft raised scrutiny of soil carbon data collection, FarmLab worked with CiboLabs and CSIRO to build the Soil Carbon Offset Report, later expanded into a Soil Carbon Services Pack. It closed a $750,000 seed round in October 2021 and was preparing a $5 million Series A in early 2022 to scale into the US and Europe. Projects under the 2022 National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge accelerated product maturity, US operations scaled through 2024, and in September 2025 the company acquired Ziltek and rebranded as GXLab.
Risks & controversies
Soil carbon markets face persistent questions about the permanence of sequestered carbon and about the rigour and traceability of measurement data — scrutiny that intensified after the 2021 Wilmot–Microsoft credit sale. The founder describes the current fundraising environment as the toughest he has seen and advises startups to prioritise profitability.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 7
launches, deals, and filingsFarmLab announced the acquisition of soil analysis company Ziltek and a rebrand to GXLab (Geo Exploration Lab), adding mid-infrared spectroscopy capability and 60-70 clients worldwide, including environmental remediation customers such as Shell and Chevron and Antarctic remediation sites.
The company launched the Megatonne Mission, a call to sequester one million tonnes of CO2, at its 2025 Down to Earth event.
By 2024 the company was running 170 projects in the United States covering more than 200,000 acres, followed by expansion into Canada, Africa and New Zealand.
The company secured projects requiring the collection of 20,000 soil samples over two years, which it credits with accelerating product maturity.
FarmLab raised $750,000 from Artesian Ventures and its GRDC-backed GrainInnovate fund, alongside private investors the Prove Group, to scale its soil management platform across Australia and New Zealand and into the United States and to integrate additional testing labs.
$750K source ↗
FarmLab engaged CiboLabs and CSIRO to develop the Soil Carbon Offset Report, combining CiboLabs remote sensing data with CSIRO's LOOC-C app to estimate farmers' eligibility for carbon credits; it was later expanded into the Soil Carbon Services Pack.
FarmLab was chosen alongside four other early-stage food and agritech startups for the six-month SproutX national accelerator, which led to its first investment partnerships with Artesian and GrainInnovate.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Farmlabfarmlab.com.au · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Farmlab do?
- Australian agritech, now rebranded GXLab, whose platform digitises soil, plant and water sampling for agronomy and carbon projects.
- Who founded Farmlab?
- Farmlab was founded by Sam Duncan.
- Who are Farmlab's investors?
- Farmlab's investors include Artesian.