A good business idea is one that solves a problem, and for local company Natrx, that problem was one that affects us all: coastal land loss.
Tyler Ortego and Matt Campbell, of the company’s four co-founders ,met while working on reef restoration using recycled oyster shells at LSU, but though they recognized the obvious benefits of various approaches to addressing coastal land loss, they became frustrated with both the pace and the costs.
Along with Nicholas Brady and Leonard Nelson, Ortego and Campbell founded Natrx in 2010 to find better solutions.
“At its core, Natrx is a technology platform for nature-based solutions,” explained Tad Schwendler, chief operating officer of Natrx. “There are two primary components — the first is a suite of geospatial software tools to help us understand the environments in which we work.”
Incorporating a wide range of data — including items such as erosion rates and geological factors — the software is used to design optimal solutions, then monitor outcomes.
The second component is the manufacture of the physical items that are installed to achieve these solutions, and Natrx is an innovator here as well.
The company employs a technique known as dry forming, which Schwendler described as “an injection-based process that mimics the formation of shells or corals in nature. It allows for more creativity and creates more surface area and habitat features.”
Not only is dry forming more flexible and adaptable, it is less expensive than traditional slurry-based concrete manufacturing. The resulting cost savings, he said, enable projects to protect and restore larger coastal areas.
Schwendler noted that manufacturing and deploying the restoration structures create jobs for coastal area residents and recreational and commercial fisheries benefit as offshore environments recover, with ripple effects up the seafood industry chain.
Natrx installations have also proven to be highly hurricane resistant. Schwendler reported that when Hurricane Laura blasted Cameron Parish, the company’s work survived while a nearby rock breakwater was blown apart. Not having to replace protection infrastructure after each new storm, he said, is a huge cost-saver.
Natrx’s successes in Louisiana and in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay have created growing demand for the company’s innovations. For example, the software is being used to study disappearing mangrove coasts in northern South America, while the company is deploying its concrete forms as part of a major coral restoration project in Hawaii.
Consequently, Schwendler said Natrx is continuing to grow rapidly.
“We tripled our revenue last year and doubled the size of our manufacturing facility to 10,000 square feet while making some significant upgrades,” he said. “We are now able to go after much larger jobs.”
The company’s current exponential growth is actually the result of many years of taking a slower, more measured approach. While still in its early conceptual stages, Natrx was able to get into some incubator and accelerator programs. These enabled the company to do prototype development of its dry forms, which in turn led to innovation awards from Shell and the National Science Institute, among others. Subsequently, this helped Natrx advance its technology to the commercial application level. At this point they successfully raised several rounds of venture capital, leading to the results achieved today.
Thus, the recent “overnight success” is thus actually the result of more than a decade of development and scaling.
“Perseverance is really important for anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur,” Schwendler counseled. “Put one foot in front of the other, and believe in your thesis.”
He sees Natrx’s success in the larger picture of Southeast Louisiana.
“Louisiana has a real opportunity to develop a resilience innovation hub. There is a lot more of this work that needs to get done, here and elsewhere. We have the diverse skill sets, and our culture makes this a passion, not just a job. It’s a place of opportunity, a great place for us to operate.”
Keith Twitchell spent 16 years running his own business before serving as president of the Committee for a Better New Orleans from 2004 through 2020. He has observed, supported and participated in entrepreneurial ventures at the street, neighborhood, nonprofit, micro- and macro-business levels.
