Only four years after the creation of Toopi Organics, which collects human urine and transforms it into agricultural biofertilizer, the development of the company is accelerating, in particular thanks to the completion of a fundraising of 16 million euros. The organic fertilizer, an alternative to mineral fertilizers subject to regulatory reductions, has already been marketed since the end of 2021 in Belgium and the end of 2022 in France, but in limited quantities.
It should be noted that the urine collected is not used as direct fertilizer. “It is a culture medium for micro-organisms which will ferment and develop by the millions and then the product will be applied to plants, it’s high technology”, underlines Alexandra Carpentier, general director of Toopi Organics.
Two factories and three new products
Thanks to the investors who responded to the call, the Gironde factory in Loupiac-de-la-Réole (which today produces 250,000 liters per year) will be expanded and another factory will be created in Belgium. By 2027, each of them will produce one million liters per year of agricultural fertilizer. Three new products promoting the healthy development of plants will also be marketed from 2025, from a marketer who sells to farmers.
“The limiting factor today is production capacity,” explains Mickaël Roes, founder of Toopi Organics. Everything we can produce is already sold for the next two years, so we need to increase production capacity.” The turnover for 2023, which amounts to 100,000 euros, reflects this limitation to produce. A partnership established with the distributor Qualifert will make it possible to sell 400,000 liters in France over the next two years, marking a move to the industrial level.
From 2024, the expected turnover stands at 600,000 euros. After the commissioning of the enlarged Gironde unit, the company announced a turnover of 3 million euros then 15 million euros after that of the new Belgian factory. “We will reach profitability within five years, but we will undoubtedly have made reinvestments by then,” notes Alexandra Carpentier.
A collection during the World Cup and the Olympics
Toopi Organics will collect its raw material in the Bordeaux fan zone throughout the Rugby World Cup, and during the Fête de l’Humanité from September 15 to 17, but also during the 2024 Olympic Games. It also supplies itself with ” raw material” in various festivals, at Futuroscope, and on certain motorway rest areas. Collection saves drinking water since it is carried out via dry toilets.
The Meuse agricultural cooperative society (SCAM) has 4,000 customers in Belgium and is very satisfied with the result which partly addresses the problems of fluctuating prices of conventional fertilizers. Girondin organic fertilizer can be used in addition to these conventional fertilizers, to reduce their use or as a complete alternative. This cooperative explains that it uses around 10,000 liters for 400 hectares. Marketing mainly concerns major cereal crops on which “we have more impact,” points out Mickaël Roes. It’s much more massive” even if it has already proven its effectiveness on smaller crops, such as vines.
A cheaper product
“A farmer who halves his inputs and replaces them with products from Toopi Organics preserves the same yield but realizes cost savings of 15 to 40%, depending on the costs of mineral fertilizers,” argues the company’s general director. . The company’s urine fertilizer is offered at a fixed price.
Toopi Organics has already obtained marketing authorizations in six European countries and is talking about another fundraising to develop a biocontrol product, which would be an alternative to pesticides. Its development will take longer for regulatory reasons.
The war in Ukraine has notably resulted in unprecedented fertilizer shortages in 2022 and price increases of up to 300%. A situation which has made Toopi’s product more and more attractive to farmers, to whom the valorization of urine is less and less attractive.