HomeFundingBerlin-based Maya Climate secures €1.2 million to fuel the development of nature-based...

Berlin-based Maya Climate secures €1.2 million to fuel the development of nature-based solutions

Aiming to unlock the power of Nature-based Solutions to create a happier and healthier planet, Maya Climate has just secured investment to supercharge the launch of its financing platform. 

Europe’s green transition is well and truly underway. GreenTech developments are being prioritised by the European Union, governments across the continent, and within the private sector as well. Going green and becoming more sustainable is arguably the world’s greatest challenge at the moment, and innovative minds are helping accelerate the transition.

Whilst we are becoming familiar with terms like carbon offsetting, renewable energy and sustainability, there is another solution that is proving very impactful – Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Referring to actions to protect, sustainably manage, or restore natural ecosystems, NbS harness the power of the natural world and is a rapidly growing market, recognised as one of the most effective and scalable approaches.

Maya Climate, founded last year by two entrepreneurs in their 20s, Christian-Hauke Poensgen and Till Tornieporth, aims to unlock the potential of NbS and has now got the cash to launch.

Till Tornieporth, co-founder at Maya Climate: “Carbon & biodiversity markets are seeing great interest from professional investors, as well as large emitters that increasingly pursue direct investments in early-stage project stages to ensure the highest quality of their portfolios. But access to this fragmented & complex market remains a challenge. We are here to enable investors to build best-in-class nature capital portfolios.” 

Funding details

  • €1.2 million raised in a pre-seed funding
  • The funding round was led by Germany’s High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and was joined by Antler, the Berlin Angel Fund, and further technology founders and carbon market veterans.
  • The startup will now be able to launch and accelerate product development

Christian-Hauke Poensgen, co-founder at Maya Climate: “We are incredibly excited for HTGF, Antler and a range of mentors and industry experts to join us! With their strong ties to the German financial sector and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, our new partners enable a great positioning for Maya to scale investments into Natural Capital.”

Maya Climae offers something unique for the emerging nature tech market – a digital project financing platform for natural capital projects. The platform connects project developers with institutional investors on a single platform that digitizes project origination, risk assessment and due diligence.

Nature-based Solutions are on the rise, increasingly seen as one of the more promising solutions and are set to grow rapidly over the coming years. NbS can be harnessed to avoid and remove carbon from the atmosphere, with research suggesting that investment in this space will accelerate to $100bn per year by 2030.

Despite the clear importance and value of NbS, project developers are currently facing different obstacles to launch. They find themselves in need of a solution to bridge the gap between project start and first carbon credit issuance and drive the impact they’re capable of. Maya Climate wants to remove that bottleneck of early-stage project funding, enabling these projects to be launched and impactful innovation developed.

Daniela Bach, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF: “Nature-based solutions play a key role in tackling the climate crisis and with the Maya Climate platform projects can be launched faster and more easily. We are impressed by the speed of the founding team gaining great momentum in a fast-growing market.”

Currently, the Berlin-based team’s focus is on unlocking early-stage conservation and restoration projects in the areas of forestry, agricultural land and wetlands as well as coastal ecosystems that generate revenues through carbon, biodiversity or other environmental markets.

Since its recent soft launch, the startup has on-boarded a series of large-scale projects, collectively raising more than $100m in project financing. Agreements are in place with a significant number of investors that use their platform to originate, diligence and invest in those projects. This investment will help the team to scale, grow the team, and tap into this exciting market.

Christoph Klink, Partner at Antler: “We are very grateful to have been with Till, Christian-Hauke and the entire Maya Climate team right from inception. The team is tackling a tremendous challenge for the planet and we are excited to back such a strong and mission-driven team.”

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Patricia Allen
Patricia Allen
is the Head of Content at EU-Startups. With a background in politics, Patricia has a real passion for how shared ideas across communities and cultures can bring new initiatives and innovations for the future. She spends her time bringing you the latest news and updates of startups across Europe, and curating our social media.
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