Terraxy, an innovative startup emerging from cutting-edge research at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), has successfully secured $3 million in its Seed-2 funding round. This round was spearheaded by Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital wing of Saudi Aramco, with additional support from KAUST itself. The investment aims to accelerate the scaling and commercialization of Terraxy’s groundbreaking soil regeneration and carbon storage technology, designed specifically to tackle the challenges posed by desert environments.

The capital injection follows a critical growth phase, facilitating Terraxy’s shift from pilot-scale initiatives toward full-scale industrial production. A flagship component of this expansion is the establishment of a 30,000-square-meter commercial facility located in Al Zulfi, Saudi Arabia. This state-of-the-art production hub symbolizes a major leap for the company in bringing its proprietary technology to market readiness, underpinning Wa’ed Ventures’ mission to translate locally developed, research-driven innovations into sustainable, practical solutions.

At the heart of Terraxy’s technology lies Carbosoil, a proprietary soil enhancer engineered to address the unique and challenging characteristics of sandy soils found across the Arabian Peninsula. Globally, soil degradation affects nearly a third of arable land, hindering agricultural productivity and ecosystem health. In Saudi Arabia, where sandy and nutrient-poor soils dominate, agricultural efforts are hampered by poor water retention and low nutrient availability. Carbosoil demonstrates a remarkable ability to improve these conditions, delivering up to a 70% increase in plant growth and yield using the same quantities of water and nutrients. This efficacy directly translates into enhanced resource-use efficiency, especially critical in arid regions where water scarcity is a major concern.

Integral to Terraxy’s success is the supportive regulatory landscape fostered by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA). Terraxy has benefited from MEWA’s Regulatory Sandbox, a pioneering initiative allowing emerging environmental technologies to be tested rigorously under real-world conditions. This framework not only accelerates the validation of novel technologies but also ensures alignment with stringent environmental standards and drives the responsible introduction of innovations to the market, supporting national sustainability targets.

The importance of soil health in the Kingdom cannot be overstated. It underpins food security, water efficiency, and land rehabilitation frameworks that are critical to Saudi Arabia’s ambitious environmental and economic agendas. Through collaboration between innovators, regulators, and investors, Terraxy exemplifies how multi-stakeholder engagement can foster the development of homegrown technologies that address both ecological and commercial imperatives.

Amidst escalating global efforts to combat land degradation and climate change, Terraxy’s dual-purpose technology stands out. It not only rehabilitates degraded soils but also captures and stores atmospheric carbon dioxide in a stable form that can endure for centuries. This long-term carbon sequestration capability complements regional and international commitments to emission reduction and climate resilience, providing a scalable solution adaptable to various arid and semi-arid environments.

Wa’ed Ventures CEO Anas Algahtani emphasized the strategic value of backing deep technology initiatives with tangible sustainability benefits. Highlighting Terraxy’s unique strength, he noted that the startup’s ability to transition from foundational science to deployable industrial applications underscores the potent role of science-led innovation. Such initiatives are vital to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which prioritizes sustainability, technological advancement, and economic diversification.

Aramco’s commitment to supporting solutions that address emissions from difficult-to-decarbonize sectors was also underlined by Ahmad O. Al-Khowaiter, Executive Vice President of Technology & Innovation at Aramco, and Chairman of Wa’ed Investment Committee. Terraxy’s technology fits squarely within this vision, exemplifying the kind of scalable, scientifically robust innovation required to achieve meaningful climate impact while fostering economic growth.

As a spinout from KAUST, Terraxy benefits from a robust ecosystem that bridges academia and industry. The National Transformation Institute (NTI) at KAUST has played a pivotal role in nurturing the company’s journey, offering infrastructure and translational support critical for scaling emerging technologies. Professor Himanshu Mishra, one of Terraxy’s co-founders and an associate professor at KAUST, highlighted how the broader ecosystem—rather than any singular breakthrough—was instrumental in Terraxy’s development.

Dr. Ian Campbell OBE, Senior Vice President at KAUST’s NTI, formally acknowledged the importance of NTI’s efforts in enabling Terraxy’s scale-up journey. He described Carbosoil as a cornerstone for soil enrichment initiatives and a tool that aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Green Initiative and expanding carbon credit market. Such alignment demonstrates how academia, government, and private sector investment can converge to yield innovations with direct and measurable impacts on national and global environmental priorities.

Substantial funding and institutional validation signal growing confidence in Terraxy’s technology. The company is poised to make a significant contribution to Saudi Arabia’s greening efforts, resource efficiency strategies, and carbon management policies. Its scalable commercial model offers a replicable path for other arid regions facing similar environmental challenges, positioning Terraxy as a potential global leader in sustainable soil regeneration and carbon sequestration.

The company’s trajectory also illustrates the power of university-driven innovation ecosystems in advancing high-tech environmental solutions. By translating fundamental research into market-ready products, Terraxy exemplifies how science and technology can be harnessed to create sustainable economic opportunities while addressing pressing environmental imperatives.

As Terraxy moves forward, its integrated approach to enhancing soil health and capturing carbon dioxide offers a compelling model for deep-tech interventions in the sustainability domain. With substantial backing and a proven technology platform, Terraxy’s advances could become a pivotal component in shaping sustainable land management and carbon reduction strategies, both within Saudi Arabia and internationally.

Subject of Research: People
Article Title: Terraxy Secures $3 Million to Pioneer Soil Regeneration and Carbon Storage Technology for Desert Environments
News Publication Date: Not provided
Web References: https://mediasvc.eurekalert.org/Api/v1/Multimedia/1ee8d30f-c323-416c-95ce-a86efb4d3d71/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public
Image Credits: Images © Terraxy / KAUST
Keywords: Soil Regeneration, Carbon Storage, Desert Agriculture, Deep Tech, KAUST, Terraxy, Carbosoil, Wa’ed Ventures, Aramco, Carbon Sequestration, Saudi Arabia, Sustainability, Environmental Innovation

Beneath the crushing depths of the ocean, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are our eyes and ears, tirelessly exploring, mapping, and surveying the mysterious realm beneath the waves. Yet, despite their advanced capabilities, these drones face an age-old paradox: the very domes designed to protect their sensitive sonar systems simultaneously distort the sound waves essential for their operation. This distortion, caused by the curved, hydrodynamic enclosures, acts like a warped funhouse mirror that scatters and blurs sonar pulses, severely limiting the drones’ ability to detect distant objects and underwater features with precision. Until recently, addressing this longstanding challenge required complex solutions that were either power-hungry or computationally intense, hampering the mission duration and efficiency of these critical underwater explorers.

Profound innovation has emerged from the laboratories of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where Prof. Yu Zhang and his research team have invented a groundbreaking solution: a soft, acoustic “contact lens” engineered to counteract the dome-induced aberrations before the sound waves even exit the AUV’s protective shell. This lens is not just a passive accessory but an active sculptor of acoustic waves, reshaping them to restore their integrity and focus. Published in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, their work leverages physics principles rooted in time-reversal acoustics to design a lens that physically corrects the sound wavefront, bypassing the limitations of traditional electronic or algorithmic interventions.

The hydrodynamic domes encasing underwater vehicles are essential for minimizing drag and shielding delicate sonar electronics from relentless exposure to saltwater and pressure. However, these domes distort sonar pulses due to their curved shape, causing sound waves to bend unpredictably and scatter. The scattered returns weaken sonar resolution and increase background noise, transforming once-clear echoes into a confusing murmur. Attempts to solve this typically involve complex signal processing algorithms that aim to reconstruct the lost information or powerful electronic arrays that attempt to reshape the outgoing wavefronts. Yet, these methods either cannot recover lost acoustic energy or demand heavy power consumption, which is incompatible with the constraints of small, battery-operated underwater drones.

Prof. Zhang’s approach is fundamentally different. Instead of relying on electronics or computation after the fact, his team designed a physical lens that preemptively corrects acoustic wave distortions as they propagate through the dome. Utilizing the concept of time-reversal, the researchers measured how the dome distorts acoustic waves and inverted this knowledge to engineer a lens capable of compensating for those distortions. Their solution mixes tungsten particles — known for their high density — into flexible silicone rubber, producing a composite material with precisely tunable acoustic properties. Because sound velocity depends on both density and elastic moduli, adjusting the tungsten concentration allows the lens material to slow or speed up sound locally, much like prescription lenses manipulate light.

This acoustic gradient-index lens (GRIN) is molded into concentric rings, each engineered to delay or advance portions of the sonar pulse. As the sonar sound passes through these rings, its wavefront is transformed from a warped, distorted shape into a perfectly flat and focused beam just as it clears the hydrodynamic dome. This physical reshaping enables the sonar to transmit a tight, highly directive beam instead of a scattered flood, enhancing detection specificity and signal strength. The research team demonstrated that their lens concentrates a broad 65-degree sonar wave into a spotlight ranging between 16 to 30 degrees, significantly sharpening the sonar’s “vision” underwater.

Quantitatively, the acoustic lens boosts the main sonar signal by over 10 decibels across a wide frequency range of 20 to 45 kHz while simultaneously suppressing background reverberation by more than 10 decibels. These figures translate to clearer, sharper echoes that extend the effective detection range and improve resolution. Crucially, this leap in sonar performance comes without drawing any extra power or requiring complex onboard signal processing, preserving the drone’s battery life and reducing system complexity — a true game changer for long-term or remote underwater missions.

Beyond performance, the lens material exhibits remarkable durability in extreme underwater conditions. The silicone-tungsten composite withstands temperature fluctuations and prolonged exposure to saltwater without degradation. This robustness ensures that the acoustic lens can endure the harsh environments characteristic of deep-sea exploration, making it suitable for real-world deployment rather than laboratory proof-of-concept. Moreover, its soft, flexible nature allows it to be custom-molded to varying dome shapes, opening avenues for broad adoption across different AUV platforms.

This discovery signals a paradigm shift in underwater vehicle design. By integrating acoustic correction directly into the vehicle’s protective shell through a low-cost, easily manufactured material, the need for bulky, energy-intensive sonar systems diminishes. As a result, smaller, more affordable underwater drones can achieve sonar performance nearing that of larger, costlier submarines. The implications extend to diverse fields including marine biology, underwater archaeology, and subsea infrastructure inspection, where precise, long-range echo detection is vital.

Looking ahead, the next stage for Prof. Zhang’s team focuses on testing the lens’s performance in open ocean environments to assess its resistance to marine biofouling — the accumulation of microorganisms, plants, algae, or small animals on underwater surfaces — which can compromise acoustic properties over time. Additionally, they are advancing manufacturing techniques towards advanced 3D printing methods that will allow seamless gradient acoustic lenses to be produced with even greater precision, complexity, and scalability.

This technology’s potential impact surpasses marine exploration. The principles underlying this holographic gradient-index lens could revolutionize ultrasound imaging in medicine by refining ultrasonic wave propagation for clearer diagnostic images, or enhance non-destructive testing in industries like aerospace and civil infrastructure through improved ultrasonic signal control. As such, this innovation stands at the intersection of physics, materials science, and engineering, showcasing how fundamental scientific insight can spark transformative technological advances.

The story of the holographic GRIN lens exemplifies how embracing physical wave manipulation offers elegant, energy-efficient alternatives to purely electronic or algorithmic solutions. By rewiring the propagation path of acoustic waves with tailored materials, this breakthrough lays the foundation for smarter, sleeker underwater drones capable of revealing the ocean’s secrets with unprecedented clarity. Through meticulous design, material innovation, and acoustic expertise, Prof. Zhang’s lens turns the dome from an obstacle into an asset — finally granting underwater vehicles the sharp acoustic “vision” they need to navigate and explore the deep blue frontier.

Subject of Research: Acoustic wave correction for underwater vehicle sonar systems using gradient-index lens technology.

Article Title: A holographic GRIN lens for broadband, highly directive, and aberration-free echo detection

News Publication Date: 8-Jun-2026

Web References:

• International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2631-7990
• DOI link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2631-7990/ae6b25

Image Credits: By Jinhu Zhang, Sheng Liu, Chen Yang, Nana Zhou, Erqian Dong, Zhenxuan Bu, Wei Zheng, Fei Zhang, Zhongchang Song, and Yu Zhang

Keywords

Underwater acoustics, autonomous underwater vehicles, sonar enhancement, gradient-index (GRIN) lens, acoustic aberration correction, time-reversal acoustics, silicone-tungsten composite, broadband sonar, marine exploration technology, acoustic metamaterials, biofouling resistance, advanced manufacturing