North Australian SeaCulture wins Croc Pitch 2026 with seaweed soil fix
North Australian SeaCulture's seaweed soil product won the Croc Pitch. The company will get up to $1 million in venture capital.
North Australian SeaCulture has won Croc Pitch 2026. It is getting up to $1 million in venture capital from Paspalis Capital.
The company grows and processes native tropical seaweed into soil additives. These fix degraded land after mining.
Founder Alison Duguid is a chemical engineer. She wants to build a network of regional growing and processing hubs.
These hubs would operate alongside local and Traditional Owner communities. The immediate problem is a shortage of usable topsoil to rehabilitate mined sites.
Early trials using Western Australian soils showed promising plant growth. Soil health also improved.
SeaCulture already has a growing site at Darwin Waterfront Lagoon. It is running paid trials with a major miner.
The next phase will test whether results apply to northern seaweed and mining soils.
- Up to $1 million from Paspalis Capital
- Venture capital
- Alison Duguid, chemical engineer
- Founder
- Darwin Waterfront Lagoon
- Cultivation site
- University of Western Australia
- Research source
Why it mattersThis approach could give regional communities long-term economic opportunity from mining rehabilitation. It also solves an environmental problem.
AustraliaFor Australian mining companies and regional Northern Territory and Western Australian communities, this offers a commercially viable path to restore degraded land while building local employment and Indigenous partnership opportunities.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 2 h ago
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