Lab grown cotton just received a substantial helping hand.

Boston-based Galy Co., a sustainable agricultural startup developing first-of-its-kind sustainable cellular agriculture products, recently announced the closing of an oversubscribed $33 million Series B financing led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) with additional participation from new investors H&M Group and Zara parent Inditex.

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The funds will primarily be used for research and development and to scale its flagship product, Galy Cotton. The lab-grown cotton uses 99 percent less water and 97 percent less land than traditional cotton while emitting 77 percent less CO2.

The lab grown cotton is a way the supply chain can mitigate the effect climate change has on agriculture. “Unfortunately, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when.’ Soon, the world will face increased volatility in conventional agriculture as extreme weather conditions become more frequent,” said Luciano Bueno, Galy CEO and founder. “When that time comes, Galy will be ready, better equipping our economy to withstand these shocks.”

Galy Cotton is the startup’s first product targeting conventional cotton practices. Galy, a 2020 winner of H&M’s Global Change Award, claims to identify ideal cotton plant cells and cultivate new populations in factory-scale bioreactors that provide the ideal environment for growth. The product fully replicates traditional cotton in quality and retains its exact attributes. The resulting material is processed into yarns, fabrics and finished products.

With this success, Galy plans to expand its cellular agriculture platform beyond cotton to include other plant-cell products.

Madrid-based Inditex announced its investment in July at its annual general meeting. “Galy has developed a promising technology to reduce the impact of cotton production on water, chemicals and soil use,” said said óscar García Maceiras, Inditex CEO. “Taking this equity interest marks a significant step in our commitment to advancing towards an innovative and more responsible textile industry.”

He added that by investing in next-generation fibers, Inditex is not only “moving towards our goal of exclusively using materials with a lower environmental impact, but also actively shaping the transformation of the industry through strategic capital investments.”

Partnering with Galy makes sense for H&M Group, said Martin Ekenbark, H&M Group, Circular Innovation Lab lead and Board Observer at Galy. Cotton accounts for 60 percent of the materials it sources and the company has ambitions for all materials to come from recycled or other sustainable sources by 2030.