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Bactery Named to Fast Company’s List of Most Innovative Companies of 2026
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Kira Colburn
Kira Colburn

Recognized “for creating a soil-powered battery for precision-ag sensors”, SOSV portfolio company Bactery was named to Fast Company’s list of Most Innovative Companies of 2026!

Bacteries are batteries powered by bacteria. The rise of precision ag has put roughly a quarter billion sensors on farms worldwide, most of them depending on single-use batteries or complex solar setups. Bactery’s alternative—known in science as a microbial fuel cell—generates power by capturing electrons that are released when bacteria break down organic soil matter.

In one year, a single Bactery produces the energy equivalent of 10 AA batteries, about twice what’s needed to power common Wi-Fi-enabled farm devices like soil moisture gauges, weather stations, and irrigation valves. The unit embeds into soil with only its cap exposed, and requires no maintenance or supporting infrastructure. It costs about $30, and the company says it’s designed to last 30 years, needs no light, works in any climate, emits zero carbon, and over its lifetime is roughly 5,000 times cheaper than solar.

U.K.-based Bactery spun out of a University of Bath lab in 2024 and rebranded under its current name a year and a half ago. After testing prototypes powering water purification systems in remote Brazilian villages, the company deployed units on 50 farms across England and prepared for a commercial product launch last year. It has secured funding from the British government’s U.K. Research and Innovation and SOSV, and is finalizing partnerships with agtech firms, energy providers, and government agencies backing soil energy as the next frontier in clean power.

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