This week in NatureTech #27

🐘 Long read (3 mins)

The Ocean data market map

There was another big deal this week in what we’d refer to as the NatureTech periphery - it’s not quite NatureTech but it could be a big enabler for NatureTech Startups.

Xocean, an Irish marine robotics startup that provides ocean data using uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), has raised $119 million.

But why do we need Ocean data we hear you ask. Well…

• The Ocean, and its biodiversity, regulate our climate. Marine phytoplankton produce ~50% of oxygen on Earth.  Oceans have absorbed half of carbon emissions humans have produced over the past two centuries

• The Ocean also provides critical Ecosystem services: The annual economic value of the ocean is estimated at USD $2.5 trillion, equivalent to the world’s 8th largest economy.

• A resilient, net zero and economically secure world is not possible without a healthy, regenerating ocean but we’re in crisis. 2024 was the ocean’s warmest year on record and almost 90 percent of global marine fish stocks are now fully exploited or overfished.

• … and the Ocean is underfunded: Of all the UN’s sustainable development goals, SDG 14 ‘Life Below Water’ suffers from the largest relative funding gap. A 2020 study found that we must spend $174.5bn to reach SDG 14’s targets by 2030, yet we are achieving only 6% of that.

• Better data on our Oceans is critical, both for assessing the effectiveness of ocean investments and for attracting larger financial institutions to consider the ocean as a bankable asset—leading to increased participation in ocean investment

Interested in finding the next XOcean? We pulled together a list of 50+ other ocean data start-ups. Here are three from our network to watch out for:

1. Ocean ledger
↳ Precision analytics to design, implement & monitor coastal mitigation and adaptation
2. Ocean OS
↳ Biodiversity Monitoring Solutions. Offering in-depth nature intelligence that stems from meticulous ground-truthing data collection and analysis.
3. Wildflow
↳ Uses AI to analyse petabytes of nature data, model complex dynamics in coral reefs

We have a deep dive in the works where we analyse these companies further but until then we recommend checking out the following resources 📖:

• An introduction to the ocean data (Here)

• Article on Ocean Investment trends from the team at CREO (Here)

• Check out the list of Ocean data players in our NatureTech database (Here)

💬 Snippets for your lift conversations

💼 Big business:

• The investment arm of Ingka Group, the biggest global IKEA retailer, said it will invest 1 billion euros ($1.03 billion) into recycling companies as it aims to better manage IKEA waste (Read more)

• Discover Co-op’s initiatives rewarding UK farmers for sustainability. Learn how beef, lamb & dairy sectors are cutting emissions & protecting nature (Read more)

• The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has launched new guidance on how businesses in sectors including beverages, apparel and construction materials can measure and disclose their nature impacts. (Read more)

🏦 Finance:

• Carbon markets investor kicks off $1.5 billion Amazon protection plan in Davos (Read more)

• Destructive aquaculture practices are affecting mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and coral reefs and contributing to microplastic pollution, but sustainable seafood financing could offer solutions. (Read more)

📖 Research

• Juan Guillermo Garcés had a brush with death while burning jungle for cattle pasture – now he runs a nature reserve in Colombia where more than 100 new species have been discovered (Read more)

• Even average use of nitrogen fertilisers cut flower numbers fivefold and halved pollinating insects (Read more)

• The world’s coral reefs face an ecological crisis, with the fourth mass bleaching event affecting nearly 80% of reefs. Without swift action, these critical ecosystems could vanish within decades. (Read more)

📝 Policy:

• The Democratic Republic of Congo to create the Earth’s largest protected tropical forest reserve (Read more)

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) has published new guidance on how cities and businesses can deliver a positive impact on nature in their operations and across their value chains. (Read more)

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🎣 Deals

🇺🇸 Colossal raised $200M (Series C) for their de-extinction technologies in genetics and biosciences Source

🇳🇱 Cradle Bio raised $73M in Series B for AI-powered protein engineering See More

🇬🇧 BeZero Carbon raised $32M (Series C) for their global carbon ratings and risk analytics Source

🇩🇪 Project Eaden raised $15.5M (Series A) for their new generation of animal-free meat Source

🇯🇵 Faeger raised $7.4M (Series A) for their farmer decarbonization and carbon credit distribution platform Source

🇺🇸 Atlantic Sea Farms raised $3.8M (Early VC) for their sustainably cultivated seaweed products Source

🇬🇧 Scotmas raised $2.7M (Late VC) for their environmentally friendly water treatment solutions Source

🇸🇦 Arable raised $2.5M (Seed) for their controlled environment agriculture vegetables and herbs Source

🇦🇷 Calice raised $1.5M (Early VC) for their computational crop modeling and prediction platform Source

🇺🇸 ingarden raised $1.2M (Seed) for their smart indoor microgreens gardening solution Source

🇪🇸 XAIN tech raised $258K (Seed) for their CO2 emissions measurement and certification solutions Source

🇺🇸 Plantible Foods raised (Late VC) for their plant-based protein development Source

🇺🇸 Ch4 Global raised (Late VC) for their seaweed-based feed supplements reducing livestock methane Source

Currently fundraising:

• Rhizocore is raising a £5m Seed round. Rhizocore collects, selects and delivers elite strains of local ectomycorrhizal fungi to tree planting operations to increase tree growth rates, tree survival and newly planted forests' resilience to drought and disease. [email protected]

• Elyse at Tenax ai is raising pre-Seed funding; their software protects residential property and its insurability from extreme weather events, beginning with wildfire. Tenax ai is a B2B2C SaaS venture at the intersection of Insurtech x ClimateTech x Proptech, with pilots in California. [email protected]

• Bob at Mirico is raising growth funding for their methane detection service, which uncovers leaks of this climate-damaging gas from energy and agricultural facilities. They are raising $500k to build on $2m from new and existing investors in 2024. [email protected]

• Darina at Agrivero is raising €1.3m to close a €2.5m seed round by mid-February 2025, backed by an already secured non-dilutive €1.2m funding from the IBB (Development Bank of Berlin). Agrivero builds an ultimate AI-driven OS for the green coffee trade  [email protected]

💭 Little Bytes

📊Read: A cloned black-footed ferret named Antonia gave birth to two healthy offspring, boosting genetic diversity in an endangered species Read more

Watch: Brazil startup partners with agro firm to reforest degraded Amazon land Read more

💬 Research: Overstating animal roles in carbon capture may hinder effective climate mitigation efforts. Read more

📆 Events

🇺🇸 Cleantech Forum North America, 27th January 2025 (Attend)

🇺🇸 Global CleanTech Summit, 27th January 2025 (Attend)

🇹🇿 Africa Energy Summit 2025, 27th January 2025 (Attend)

🇩🇰 Clean Tech Capital Day, 27th January 2025 (Attend)

🇪🇪 Cleantech Forum Europe, 27th January 2025 (Attend)

🇬🇧 Sustainable Foods, 28th January 2025 (Attend)

🇰🇪 African Climate Summit, 1st February 2025 (Attend)

🇨🇭 World Biodiversity Forum, 3rd February 2025 (Attend)

💼 Jobs

Start-up:

• Multiple roles, Planet A Foods, Germany (Apply)

• Multiple Roles, Ulysses, USA (Apply)

• Software Engineer, Cecil, Australia (Apply)

• Backend Engineer, Landbanking Group, Germany (Apply)

• Sales Development Representative, Arbonics, Remote (Apply)

• Multiple roles, Space Intelligence, Edinburgh (Apply)

• Commercial Director, Space for Good (Apply)

• Back End Engineer, Credit Nature (Apply)

Corporate:

• Product Manager - Climate, Nature and Sustainability Regulations, Bloomberg, London (Apply)

• Climate, Nature and Social Risk Modelling Vice President, JP Morgan, London (Apply)

• Nature Based Solutions Specialist, Mott MacDonald, London (Apply)

• Climate Consultant (Biodiversity & Nature), Ecoact, London, (Apply)

• Nature-Based Solutions, Subject Matter Expert, Ramboll, USA, (Apply)