Agriculture currently contributes to nearly 20% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions annually, while degrading soil health, disrupting ecosystems, and threatening global food security. This demands the need for a solution addressing this impact on our environment. Regenerative farming helps achieve sustainability and this is what Berlin-headquartered agritech startup Klim brings about.
Regenerative farming solution
In a recent development, Klim, which offers solutions for farmers and food companies to transition global food supply chains towards regenerative practices as quickly as possible, has raised $22 million in Series A funding. The round was led by BNP Paribas, Europe’s largest bank, which recently backed GeoPura and Inbolt. It also saw participation from prominent investors, including Earthshot Ventures, Rabobank, Agfunder, Norinchukin Bank, Achmea Innovation Fund, Ananda Impact Ventures, and Elevator Ventures, the VC of Raiffeisenbank International.
It is touted to be one of the largest investment rounds raised by an agritech startup in Germany so far in 2024. With this investment, Klim plans to expand internationally, enhance its platform, and introduce a new financial services layer to further accelerate the transition. This is a major step in scaling regenerative agriculture, allowing farmers to secure the resources they need to transition effectively.
It also lets the company play a crucial role in transforming the global food system, ensuring that farmers, companies, and ecosystems thrive through the adoption of regenerative agriculture.
Accelerates transition to regenerative farming
Klim was founded in 2020 in Berlin by Dr. Robert Gerlach, Nina Mannheimer, and Adiv Maimon. It aims to reverse these harmful effects of agriculture by providing food companies with a seamless, scalable solution to transition and decarbonise their agricultural supply chains.
Through its digital platform, farmers are empowered with the tools they need to plan, execute, and finance their transition to regenerative practices. This enables farmers to restore soil health, improve farm resilience and biodiversity, capture carbon, and reduce farm emissions. By tackling key barriers for farmers such as limited agronomist support and access to transition capital with its digital platform, and by working with the largest food companies in the world, Klim enables the regenerative transition at speed and scale for maximum impact.
How is it beneficial?
Already, Klim’s digital platform provides over 3,500 farmers managing more than 700k hectares of farmland with resources to restore soil health, improve biodiversity, and reduce emissions. Its clients, including Nestlé and Kaufland, rely on its scalable solutions to decarbonise their agricultural supply chains.
“Our food system is undergoing a monumental shift, with regenerative agriculture at its core,” said Robert Gerlach, CEO of Klim. “Food companies must lead this transformation, but they can’t do without farmers. At Klim, we’ve developed a scalable, strategic approach to enable the regenerative transformation of the sector through our digital farmer platform to drive change at speed and scale. By combining strong partnerships with food companies and a farmer-centric approach, Klim is powering the biggest agricultural transition since the Green Revolution, enabling an industry-wide shift and maximum positive impact.”
Will Klim transform agriculture with regenerative farming?
Klim can drive sustainability in agriculture by facilitating the shift to regenerative practices. While agriculture is a significant greenhouse gas emitter and degrades soil, Klim’s solutions support farmers in restoring soil health, enhancing biodiversity, and sequestering carbon. Its recent funding round will further its international expansion, boost its platform, and help add financial services, making it easier for farmers to transition effectively. It is positioned to leave a great impact on sustainable food production and carbon reduction across supply chains.
Investors’ views
“Supporting companies that are driving the transition to a sustainable economy is central to our mission at BNP Paribas,” said Maha Keramane, Head of BNP Paribas’ Positive Impact Business Accelerator. “Klim’s innovative platform and approach to scaling regenerative agriculture are perfectly aligned with our commitment to financing solutions that mitigate climate change, make the ecosystems more resilient and improve people’s livelihoods. We believe Klim will play a transformative role in reshaping food supply chains globally.”
“Klim is solving one of the most pressing issues of our time—how to sustainably feed a growing population while restoring our planet’s ecosystems,” said Maximilian Schausberger, Managing Director at Elevator Ventures. “Their digital platform, combined with a strong financial services component, positions them to rapidly scale and create meaningful impact across the agricultural landscape. We’re excited to be part of this journey.”
“Through our investment in Klim, we hope to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture and mobilise the entire food and agricultural ecosystem in this mission. Together, we believe we can create more resilient systems that eventually benefit farmers, the environment, and society at large,” added Henrieke Hoftijzer, Investment Director at Achmea Innovation Fund.
Finally, Martijn Scholtes, Head of Corporate Venturing at Rabo Investments, the investment arm of Rabobank, said: “To drive systemic change, we need to involve the entire F&A ecosystem. Klim’s proposition aligns well with Rabobank’s ambition to assist rural clients transition to sustainable practices and to provide wholesale clients with options and effective tools for decarbonisation.”
The post Berlin’s Klim raises $22M in Germany’s biggest agritech Series A of 2024: Can it lead sustainable farming revolution in Europe? appeared first on Tech Funding News.