It’s fairly simply: Softwood grows a lot faster — in “sustainable” forests — than hardwood. The latter is often found in bio-diverse old-growth forests like, um, the Amazon. So if you could make softwood behave like hardwood, you’d not only access more sustainable wood for construction, you’d also protect hardwood forests from destruction. Plus, you save a lot of GHG emissions.

That’s the reasoning behind what Kebony, has come up with. Billing itself as a “wood modification technology company”, Kebony has now raised a €30 million ($34 million) funding round led by Jolt Capital and Lightrock. And how it does this is fascinating.

Kebony starts with sustainably harvested wood, then modifies that wood with waste coming from the food production process associated with sugarcane and corncobs. The company says this can give the wood a long-lasting character which actually mirrors the behavior and characteristics of tropical hardwoods.

Of course, as the construction industry increasingly looks for greener construction materials, using this type of material makes a lot of sense, not to mention the fact that it might well reduce tropical deforestation.

Keep reading on TechCrunch.com