In cities and suburbs of the United States, trees are cut down in many cases not made into wood, but are directly crushed. This phenomenon made Ben Christensen deeply dissatisfied. Christensen grew up in New Mexico, with a family and a deep connection to the wood industry, and his father was a carpenter, which gave him a deep respect for trees.
Christensen points out that the main reason why wood is wasted is coordination issues. He said tree care companies are often reluctant to detour to send recyclable wood to reuse places in order to complete their work faster. Therefore, he co-founded the startup Cambium with Marisa Repka and Theo Hooker, committed to reuse the wood that should have been sent to a dump or incinerator, relying mainly on software to connect all aspects of the supply chain.
The core value of Cambium is to help companies increase opportunities for wood transactions, whether it is buying or selling. The company ensures stable quality from historically inconsistent sources of wood by developing its own products. Cambium works with suppliers and sawmills to produce furniture-grade wood and sells it to companies like Room and Board and Steelcase.
In addition to selling wood, Cambium also produces cross-laminated wood (CLT), an engineered wood that forms panels, working with manufacturers such as Mercer Mass Timber, SmartLam, and others. The use of recycled wood is not only a business opportunity, but also an environmentally friendly measure. Christensen mentioned that the shorter the distance to transport wood, the more obvious the reduction in carbon emission benefits, and protecting trees in forests can also help reduce carbon.
Currently, most of the wood on the market is dominated by several large companies, but the rest is relatively scattered. Christensen said it usually takes eight to ten businesses to deliver the wood to the end customer. There are transactions at every step, and that's where Cambium software comes into play. Cambium currently works with approximately 350 entities, including tree care companies, transportation companies and sawmills. However, many partners have not yet operated digitally and are not interested in this.
Cambium attracts customers mainly by showing business opportunities rather than directly promoting software. Christensen, for example, said it would be difficult to try to sell timber software to his uncle, but if specific transaction needs can be provided, his uncle would be willing to negotiate. By monitoring transactions at each link, Cambium has collected a large amount of industry data and is developing an AI technology to help traditional enterprises achieve digital transformation.
To expand the platform and build models, Cambium has raised $18.5 million in funding, with investors including VoLo Earth Ventures and other institutions. Christensen said they hope that the next version of the product can help companies simplify accounting management and automate information recording without changing the traditional business methods.
Key points:
Cambium is committed to converting waste wood into available wood, connecting all links of the supply chain through software.
Companies mainly attract customers by showing business opportunities, rather than simply promoting software.
Cambium is developing AI technology to help traditional enterprises achieve digital transformation and improve industry efficiency.