Arbonics, a nature tech pioneer building the highest-quality, scalable forest carbon removal platform in Europe, has secured a €5.5 million seed investment from NordicNinja, Plural and Czech Tilia Impact Ventures to meet the growing demand for quality carbon removal. The investment will allow Arbonics to continue scaling its innovative climate change solution across the continent.
This funding round takes the total raised by the Estonian company to €7.3 million. The latest investment will be used to further develop Arbonics’ product portfolio to cover the entire forestry lifecycle, grow its team and expand to cover 50% of European forests next year.
Founded in 2022 by CEO Kristjan Lepik and COO Lisett Luik, Arbonics is setting a new standard for how transparent, scalable, and impactful forest carbon projects can, and should, be. Not just for those looking to invest in forestry projects, but for the thousands of landowners who are increasingly looking to Arbonics to better quantify the environmental benefits of their land.
Arbonics CEO Kristjan Lepik said: “With this recent funding we’re poised to make a significant impact, not just as a business but as a catalyst for meaningful change. This year has been tough on the carbon markets, and with concerns around the Voluntary Carbon Market but it’s exactly what it needed to mature. It proved just how important it is for the market to be more transparent and proven for forest carbon projects, and at Arbonics, that’s what we’re building. Our tech stack is designed to elevate the nature-based removals industry, setting a new standard for what can be achieved when forests and technology work in harmony. With the support of our latest investors, we can continue building what we consider to be the future of transparent carbon removal.”
The Arbonics platform combines 30+ layers of data – from on-the-ground sensors to soil readings and satellite imagery – with in-house ecology and forestry expertise, to remotely, and accurately, calculate the carbon removal potential of land in European countries. It can determine everything from which trees are needed to reach the land’s potential, to establishing their carbon impact, in seconds.
By bridging the gap between nature and technology, Arbonics is provably scalable. It’s already unlocked new revenue sources for 4,000 landowners through analysis of 200,000+ hectares and the planting of 4 million+ trees across multiple European markets. By the end of 2024, it plans to cover 50% of Europe’s forest.
The funding will also see Arbonics add further layers of impact assessments for biodiversity, triple its team and build out its work with leading scientists with the launch of a scientific advisory board. In addition to backing from leading impact investors, Arbonics recently reached the final of MasterCard’s MASSIV social impact program.
Taavet Hinrikus, Partner at Plural, commented: “While many new projects are being started on the technological carbon removal, those solutions take time. A luxury we do not have. If we take technologies and empower nature with them, in the way that Arbonics does, scalable solutions can happen already this decade.”
Rainer Sternfeld, Managing Partner at NordicNinja, added: “Arbonics is exactly the kind of innovative, scalable and sustainable solution we look for at NordicNinja. The company not only has the technology and market understanding, but also the vision and the team to make a significant difference. We see Arbonics as having the potential to conquer the market in this crucial sector. That’s why we’ve made this strong bet on their, and our planet’s future.”
