In a monumental stride for European biodiversity, eco-fintech trailblazers, The Landbanking Group, have successfully raised a staggering $11 million in seed funding. This is one of the most substantial seed rounds ever witnessed in the realm of biodiversity investment on the continent.
This ambitious endeavor was spearheaded by the High Impact Fund BonVenture, renowned for its strategic investments in innovative ventures such as Circu Li-ion and Resourcify. Alongside them, André Hoffmann, a luminary in the natural capital movement, lent his substantial influence to the initiative. Notably, venture capital stalwarts 4P Capital, Vanagon, and Planet A joined forces to provide their expertise in the domains of marketing, ReFi, and impact measurement.
In addition to these influential backers, support for The Landbanking Group's vision poured in from various quarters. The SUN Institute of the Deutsche Post Foundation played a pivotal role, as did ten individuals and families, including the likes of Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein, Alexa Firmenich, Jan-Hendrik Goldbeck, and Fabian Strüngmann. The collective goal is to further empower the company's expansion and growth.
The significant infusion of funds will serve as a catalyst, propelling The Landbanking Group into new territories and sectors. It will expand their customer base in the agrifood industry and open doors to fresh markets spanning infrastructure, energy, and financial services. Notably, it also sets the stage for a broader reach, extending beyond managed land (comprising agriculture and urban areas) into the crucial realm of conservation.
In addition to the remarkable funding achievement, The Landbanking Group unveiled its groundbreaking creation: Landler.io. This marks their debut in the landscape of management and investment platforms dedicated to natural capital. The platform is poised to revolutionize the way businesses perceive nature as an asset.
Landler.io leverages cutting-edge technology, including satellite imagery, innovative software, earth observation, digital in-situ data, machine learning, and decentralized ledger technology, to comprehensively assess every parcel of the planet. It assigns a natural capital account to each track of land, serving as the foundation for the issuance of "nature equity assets." These assets are of balance-sheet grade, making them highly attractive to agri-food, energy, resource, infrastructure companies, as well as an increasingly significant interest from insurance providers and financial institutions.
The Landbanking Group, born in 2022, is the brainchild of visionaries, including SYSTEMIQ founder and former McKinsey Senior partner Prof. Martin Stuchtey and serial entrepreneur Dr. Sonja Stuchtey. Their mission is to make a tangible impact on land-use decisions worldwide, hectare by hectare.
The company equips landowners with the tools to quantify the impact of sustainable land practices, spanning from CO2 sequestration to biodiversity growth. Co-founder Dr. Sonja Stuchtey emphasizes the critical role of nature infrastructure: "If nature is critical infrastructure, we must invest in its maintenance and improvement. Our company was founded in response to that challenge: We enable asset-grade investments into nature outcomes."
Dr. Erwin Stahl, Managing Partner at BonVenture, expressed their commitment to this groundbreaking venture: "As a High Impact Investment Fund, we consider nature and biodiversity as critical for our common future. The Landbanking Group has developed a market-innovating platform to monitor nature in a trusted and transparent way. Through our investment, we want to be part of this exciting journey from the beginning."
Co-founder Martin R. Stuchtey offers a broader perspective: "In the 21st Century, natural capital is wealth. We need to shift from a compensation to an asset market view on nature. Our solution is the attempt to provide the scientific, technological, and legal infrastructure for trusted investments into nature outcomes."
