NCX, a venture-backed climate tech company, has created the largest forest carbon project (by acreage) in the continental United States, the company said on May 26. Previously known as SilviaTerra, NCX (Natural Capital Exchange) is a data-driven forest carbon marketplace sourcing high-quality forest carbon credits from American landowners of all sizes.

Microsoft, South Pole, and Shell Environmental Products are among the initial participating buyers purchasing carbon credits from NCX, upon listing in the Verra offset registry. Stretching across an area of 1.17 million acres, NCX’s first project included over 100 landowners across 10 states.

“NCX puts carbon on the same economic footing as timber,” Zack Parisa, founder and CEO, said. “We’ve combined satellite imagery, forest economics, and cutting-edge statistics to build a data-driven marketplace for landowners of all sizes. NCX identifies forested acres that are likely to be harvested and rewards landowners that keep them growing. It’s a solution that connects landowners with net-zero pioneers to create climate impact with unprecedented scale and transparency.”

NCX recently raised $20 million in Series A financing led by TIME Ventures, the venture fund of Marc Benioff. Benioff will be joining NCX’s board of directors.

The Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund also invested, deepening NCX’s partnership with Microsoft. Previously, NCX worked with Microsoft AI for Earth to create the first-ever annually updated forest inventory of the United States, covering every acre of the U.S. and accounting for almost 92 billion trees. NCX’s seed investors, Union Square Ventures and Version One Ventures, also participated in the round.

“Demand for U.S. offsets is continuing to grow, particularly for nature-based solutions. NCX has found an innovative way to overcome the obstacles that have kept small landowners out of the offset market,” Michael Malara, South Pole’s senior business development and account manager, said. “This solution will increase available offset projects in the U.S. and also make it possible over time for companies to support local offset projects, thus having an impact close to their operations.”

Enrollment for the next NCX cycle is currently open and closes June 8, 2021.