Not many startups can claim to have a scientific advisory board.

That’s not the case for Athian. Despite being a burgeoning cloud-based software company with roots in Wilmington’s technology sector, it isn’t much like other startups.

Founded in 2022, Athian is designed to incentivize farmers to adopt sustainability measures through “insetting,” or the sale of carbon credits generated by companies in the farmer’s supply chain.

The startup was conceived in collaboration with the Alloy Group and Elanco Animal Health in Indianapolis, with the hope of positively affecting the climate through animal agriculture, one of the most emissions-heavy industries.

The subsequent platform, Athian, was designed to help farmers track credible reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using science-backed practices. These “interventions” are verified by third-party auditors and a scientific advisory board to ensure effectiveness and feasibility.

Now, after raising around $12 million in funding and securing high-profile investors such as Chipotle and Mondelēz International, the startup is relocating to Wilmington, where many of its staff live.

Beyond housing the data and helping administer the intervention, Athian is also tasked with quantifying the emissions reductions. The company ensures farmers receive reimbursement from companies within their supply chain for the reduction credits.

“What we decided to build, essentially, was a platform that connected the farm to the co-ops, the packer, the processor, to the food company and then ultimately to the retailer,” said Paul Myer, CEO and co-founder of Athian.

The practice is like offsetting, where a company looking to mitigate its environmental impact can claim reductions in GHG emissions by helping suppliers that are taking up emissions-reducing projects.

The funded projects are typically disconnected from the supply chain of the company or retailer purchasing the credit, which has led to concerns about greenwashing and their effectiveness.

“Insetting,” on the other hand, is an emerging approach to supply-chain sustainability in which a company invests in an emissions-reduction project within its own supply chain, rather than paying for a carbon offset from a producer entirely disconnected from the company.

“From an insetting perspective, it’s very different,” said Kendra Tolley, chief product officer at Athian. “An inset is influencing what’s happening with all your suppliers within your supply chain so that they have as little impact on climate change or on the environment as possible.”

At this stage, Athian is primarily working with dairy farmers. Through partnerships with major co-ops like Dairy Farmers of America, almost 10% of the U.S. dairy herd is participating in an Athian intervention, Myer said.

Last year, the company announced it had raised $4 million in a series A funding round, thanks to investors like Ajinomoto Group Ventures, Chipotle Mexican Grill’s Cultivate Next Fund and MondelēzInternational.

According to Myer, the company has raised just under $12 million in funding and has paid farmers over $20 million so far.

The regulatory environment for insetting and offsetting requires Athian to adhere to strict standards and follow a clear, traceable governance process. Reimbursing a farmer for the proposed intervention in accordance with the standards is essential to the program’s success.

“The last thing we want to do is put a burden or cost on a farmer and then not be able to actually sell the assets,” said Mike Bonner, Athian’s chief technology officer.

The reduction practices a farmer working with Athian can choose from so far include feed and manure management to reduce methane emissions.

Athian works with an accredited third party to write the proposals for the practices using ISO standards. These proposals are then vetted by the scientific advisory board.

Before launch, the protocols also undergo a pilot test and are subject to regular review. Athian’s software tracks the created assets (GHG emission reductions) and claims, and third-party verifiers ensure both are correct.

“Most of the companies that we work with are global companies. … So for us, we need to make sure that we’re following the global standards,” said Tolley. “We want to create a process that’s repeatable, that’s scalable. … The way that we do that is making it as simple as we possibly can.”

According to Bonner, traceability of the product a farmer produces is essential to the program. For example, milk produced from a single farm may be processed by multiple processors and transformed into different products. The milk must be traceable from the farmer to the company paying for the GHG credits, and the claims made must be proportional to the product produced.

“We try to make the timeframe between when a producer actually creates an on-farm reduction in greenhouse gases and (when) we reimburse for that as short as possible,” said Dory Weiss, Athian’s vice president of engineering.

Athian issued its first credits in 2024 to Dairy Farmers of America, known for brands such as Kemps, PET, Keller’s and Friendly’s. The first accepted protocol focused on improving feed utilization and resulted in nearly 1,150 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in reductions, according to a press release.

“It’s been really fun to enter into a space where really people don’t know the answers, and we really are figuring it out ourselves,” Weiss said.

As the company establishes its headquarters in Wilmington, Myer said it will continue to add employees as it grows.

“We started in dairy; we’re moving now into beef,” Myer said. “We will be adding poultry and swine … and then we’ll expand into other agricultural products, which can include row crops.”