In American cities and suburbs, trees are often chipped and discarded after removal, instead of being processed into lumber. This wasteful practice deeply bothered Ben Christensen, who grew up in New Mexico with a family deeply rooted in the lumber industry—his father was a carpenter—instilling in him a profound respect for trees.
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Christensen identifies coordination as the primary reason for this lumber waste. Tree care companies, he explains, prioritize speed and often avoid the detour of transporting recoverable wood to repurposing facilities. To address this, he co-founded Cambium with Marisa Repka and Theo Hooker—a startup focused on repurposing wood destined for landfills or incinerators, leveraging software to connect the various links in the supply chain.
Cambium’s core value proposition is to increase lumber trading opportunities for companies, both buying and selling. The company develops its own products to ensure consistent quality from historically inconsistent wood sources. Cambium partners with suppliers and sawmills to produce furniture-grade lumber, selling to companies like Room and Board and Steelcase.
Beyond lumber sales, Cambium produces Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), an engineered wood product formed into panels, collaborating with manufacturers such as Mercer Mass Timber and SmartLam. Using reclaimed wood is not only a business opportunity but also an environmentally conscious practice. Christensen notes that shorter transportation distances for wood significantly reduce carbon emissions, and preserving trees in forests further contributes to carbon reduction.
Currently, the lumber market is dominated by a few large companies, with the remainder being relatively fragmented. Christensen points out that it typically takes eight to ten businesses to get lumber to the end customer. Each step involves a transaction, which is where Cambium’s software comes into play. Cambium currently works with approximately 350 entities, including tree care companies, transportation firms, and sawmills. However, many partners are not yet digitized and are uninterested in becoming so.
Cambium primarily attracts clients by showcasing business opportunities rather than directly selling software. Christensen uses the example of how difficult it would be to sell lumber software to his uncle, but if he presented specific transaction needs, his uncle would be receptive. By monitoring transactions at each stage, Cambium has gathered extensive industry data and is developing AI technology to help traditional businesses undergo digital transformation.
To expand its platform and build its models, Cambium has raised $18.5 million in funding from investors including VoLo Earth Ventures. Christensen says their next product iteration aims to simplify accounting and automate record-keeping for businesses without disrupting their traditional operations.
Key Highlights:
🌳 Cambium repurposes waste wood into usable lumber, connecting supply chain links through software.
📈 The company attracts clients by showcasing business opportunities rather than directly selling software.
🤖 Cambium is developing AI technology to help traditional businesses digitally transform and increase industry efficiency.