UK-headquartered nature platform provider Natcap announced Wednesday it has secured $10 million in a Series A funding round to scale its technology for supporting companies in assessing nature-related risks and opportunities.
Launched in 2018 and founded by Kathy Willis, a professor of biodiversity at Oxford University, the venture aims to deliver high-quality nature data to the increasing number of organisations grappling with corporate reporting on their biodiversity impacts.
“It has been truly exciting to see the level of investor interest in our company, particularly in a less-than-optimal fundraising environment globally,” said Sebastian Leape, CEO of Natcap.
“We look forward to scaling our offering, allowing more organisations to integrate nature into their decision-making, and accelerating the world’s transition to a nature-positive future.”
The round included investments from Tokyo-based private equity firm Norinchukin Capital, venture capital firms Yeo Ventures and Pelican Ag, Swiss businessman Andre Hoffmann, recently appointed as senior advisor to the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and David Craig, TNFD co-chair and former CEO of financial market data firm Refinitiv.
Additional funding came from Oxford Science Enterprises, MW&L Capital Partners, and Alea Iacta Est, all of which participated in Natcap’s £2.5-mln ($3.2 mln) seed round last year.
“A PIVOTAL STEP”
“[Natcap’s] innovative and science-based approach to assessing nature risk and opportunity represents a pivotal step forward in our efforts to embed nature into how businesses make decisions,” said Hoffmann.
“Through my role as a senior advisor to the TNFD, I have witnessed firsthand the gap that Natcap fills – helping businesses to measure nature risk and opportunity at scale.”
Since its launch, Natcap has been working with more than 30 clients, applying its technology to assist financial institutions, corporates, and agribusinesses in measuring, acting, and reporting on nature.
The company said it intends to mainstream corporate reporting both under voluntary disclosure standards, like the TNFD recommendations, and mandatory frameworks, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which will require over 50,000 organisations to report on their environmental, social, and governance practices from 2025.
Companies and financial institutions face growing expectations to contribute to biodiversity conservation, as target 15 under the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) urges them to regularly monitor, assess, and disclose their risks, dependencies, and impacts.
As organisations step up their efforts to align with disclosure standards, demand for robust nature data has increased over the last few months, with financial institutions, in particular, citing the lack of information on nature-related impacts at a portfolio level as hampering their efforts.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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