Landbanking Group has launched a platform for buying improvements in nature over areas of land, with $11 million in financing from investors.
The Landler initiative aims to enable every area of land on the planet to have a “nature equity contract”, producing assets that can be exchanged online, the Munich-based company said.
Businesses can pay ‘land stewards’ for demonstrating improvements in their nature-related metrics to ensure the resilience of their supply, while meeting the requirements of legislation via Landler, it said.
The “first end-to-end” platform for natural capital links together earth observation information, on-the-ground data, and machine learning in assessing the natural capital accounting values of the equity.
The nature equity contracts would “qualify as balance-sheet grade assets” that have attracted first users in some unnamed agricultural companies, it said.
Landler could be attractive to energy, insurance, and financial companies, according to the company.
“Investing in nature equity assets can help businesses secure their supply chain for the long-term, all while meeting nature-positive expectations from consumers and Scope 3 requirements.”
The platform is not a measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV) company or a research group, it stressed on its website.
“We donʼt just offer natural capital accounts. We offer something unique, a new market infrastructure that transforms nature positive outcomes into assets that can be traded,” it said.
Metrics taken into account by the platform include:
- Soil’s organic carbon stock
- Greenhouse gas emissions
- Surface soil moisture
- Water holding capacity
- Biodiversity zones
SEED ROUND
The $11 mln seed round was led by German impact investor Bonventure and Swiss billionaire environmentalist Andre Hoffmann.
“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,” said Bonventure managing partner Erwin Stahl.
Landler will be advised by venture capital funds 4P Capital, Vanagon Ventures, and Planet A, alongside the Deutsche Post Foundation’s SUN Institute for Environment & Sustainability.
The money should enable the company to expand its customers in the agricultural food chain while extending its monitoring capabilities, Landbanking said.
“We need to shift from a compensation to an asset market view on nature,” said Martin Stuchtey, co-founder of Landbanking and Systemiq.
“Our solution is the attempt to provide the scientific, technological, and legal infrastructure for trusted investments into nature outcomes.”
By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com
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