EcoNomad Solutions, a UK agtech startup, has raised £400,000 in funding, including £230,000 from the British Design Fund alongside an Innovate UK Investor Partnership grant and additional support from existing investor Beeches Group. The funding supports product development and commercial scaling across the UK and Europe.
Small and mid-sized livestock farms across the UK and Europe face rising energy and fertiliser costs, tightening regulations around slurry and waste management, and pressure to reduce methane emissions, with agriculture one of the largest sources of man-made methane globally. Most existing anaerobic digestion systems are built for large farms, making them too expensive, too complex, or simply too big for smaller operators. The BioNomad®, EcoNomad's flagship product, is a patented system designed to close that gap, capturing methane that would otherwise be emitted, converting organic waste into biogas for heating, cooking or electricity, and producing high-quality biofertiliser that reduces reliance on chemical inputs. A typical smallholding of around 50 cows may reduce energy and fertiliser expenditure by several thousand pounds per year, depending on farm operations and usage.
The BioNomad® originated in Latin America, where founder Dr Ilan Adler saw how simple, decentralised waste-to-energy systems could support rural livelihoods. After moving to the UK for his PhD at UCL more than 15 years ago, Dr Adler recognised that the core challenges around waste management were remarkably similar across developed and emerging markets, and designed a system tailored for colder climates, smaller farms, and the regulatory landscape of the UK and Europe. With more than two decades of experience in environmental engineering, specialising in wastewater treatment, anaerobic digestion and renewable energy, combined with entrepreneurial work overseas, he took the concept forward with support from a Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship, culminating in a patented, commercially deployable system.
The technology is already deployed on 10+ farms across the UK, with additional installations in Africa, and successful trials with insect farms, food waste streams, and integrated renewable systems combining biogas, solar and wind to charge batteries for electric vehicles. Core focus markets are dairy, beef, pig and poultry farms, including off-grid and rural communities, in the UK, Europe and beyond.
Over the next few years, EcoNomad Solutions aims to evolve the BioNomad® into a fully automated, plug-and-play system, making operation even simpler for farmers. Alongside product optimisation, commercial deployment will scale across the UK before expansion into Europe and emerging markets.
Small farms are under increasing pressure, yet they're often excluded from the renewable energy solutions available to larger operators. Our mission is to change that. The BioNomad® is designed to make waste-to-energy accessible, affordable and practical for even the smallest farms, helping them reduce emissions, lower costs and build resilience. The support from BDF, Innovate UK and our existing investors enables us to progress product development and scale our operations across the UK and Europe.
EcoNomad Solutions is addressing a major environmental and economic challenge with a solution that is both innovative and highly scalable. Their approach to decentralised anaerobic digestion has the potential to deliver meaningful impact for small farms globally. We're pleased to support Ilan and the team as they take this next step.
