Looking for biodiversity funding? These five VCs are leading the way

Earlier this week, Impact Loop reported on the outcry from the impact scene over the rollback in funding for biodiversity in the next EU budget.

This rollback only adds to a colossal funding gap for projects to protect the earth’s biodiversity – a gap already estimated at €37bn. The question now is, can private capital help fill that gap?

"There’s growing private interest in nature-based solutions, but I still feel that biodiversity isn’t getting the investor attention it deserves," Ole Margraf with Carbon Equity tells Impact Loop.

And Lena Thiede with Planet A Ventures concurs.

“What’s holding capital back is the lack of long-term demand signals and investable structures, and a policy environment that treats nature as optional,” Thiede tells Impact Loop. “If we want private capital to engage at scale, we need to turn nature from an externality into a risk-adjusted asset class – with rules, revenue models, and institutional buyers to match.”

With all that in mind, today we’re doing a quick roundup of five investors and VCs bucking the trend and putting their money into biodiversity plays.

Planet A Ventures – Berlin

With hundreds of millions under management, dozens of portfolio holdings and an LP list that includes the German state-backed development bank KfW and the venture arm of BMW, it’s nothing controversial to say Planet A are a major impact player. And they’ve long been interested in biodiversity – they were the first VC to release an in-depth methodology for biodiversity investments in 2023.

"At Planet A, we see biodiversity as the ultimate form of natural insurance – protecting yields, regulating water, anchoring value chains – and yet, it sits almost entirely outside today’s capital markets," Lena Thiede told Impact Loop.

"What’s investible is not biodiversity as such,” Thiede continued, “but the infrastructure that enables it to become a measurable, contractible, and bankable asset: AI-driven MRV systems, ecological accounting platforms, soil- and water-based credits, and biotech that regenerates rather than extracts."

Putting their money where their mouth is, Planet A closed its latest climate-tech fund at €160m, with biodiversity one of the four dedicated verticals.

Bluerain Partners Group – Zürich

Biodiversity as a thematic is a recognition of the need for a multi-lens understanding of nature. Bluerain’s approach fits such an understanding well, with a similarly multi-faceted strategy of “transforming the financial landscape by integrating environmental regeneration, biodiversity enhancement, and human longevity into sustainable business models.”

A single-family office, Bluerain is the kind of place that has capital patient enough for long biodiversity project timescales. “Most balance sheets still assume nature and other ecosystem services are free” wrote General Partner Martin Studer. “If you don’t account for what you draw from nature, you’re not valuing the future. You’re borrowing from it.”

The First Thirty – London

This UK VC takes the understanding of the need for a holistic approach to nature and goes a step further – linking it explicitly to human health. To that end, the First Thirty invests in regenerative projects and startups pursuing healthier soil (‘the first thirty’ being the first thirty centimetres of soil), crops and livestock, in order to produce a healthier and more nutrient-rich ecosystem to support human health. "The strongest competitive edge comes from amplifying nature’s health, not extracting from it," according to the firm. True to its name, the firm aims to regenerate 30 million hectares of land by 2030.

Brainforest – Zürich

Brainforest bills itself as the "world’s first Venture Platform for forests & biodiversity." Their portfolio reflects this, with startups using drones for ecological restoration, reforestation projects in Brazil and analytics engines for biodiversity monitoring. Brainforest also just launched its 6th venture programme, looking for founders working on "AI and Data for Nature Intelligence, Regenerative Agriculture and Soil Health, Monetizing Biodiversity and Deep-Tech for Ecosystem Restoration." The programme offers up to $150k in investment – applications close September 1.

Carbon13 – Cambridge/Berlin

The final entry on our list – Carbon13 which describes itself as "the venture builder for the climate emergency" – closed €30m 2024 for its climate fund, and has already deployed a third of that, with a healthy crop of biodiversity-focussed companies in its portfolio already, from Tierra Foods which pursues soil regeneration and carbon capture among other things: NatureBound, a biodiversity data platform for farmers; and Mozaic Earth, a data system aiming to catalyse $1tn in biodiversity-related investments. They too have a venture programme currently open – applications close August 3rd.

Pictured from top left: Martin Studer, general partner at Bluerain Partners, Lena Thiede, co-founder and general partner at Planet A Ventures, Amy Godfrey, Head of research at The First Thirty, Leo Caprez, co-Founder Brainforest Global, and Nicky Dee, co-founder and CEO, Carbon13.