Cultivo announced it has raised $14 million in Series A funding to accelerate its mission to unlock investment into regenerating nature at scale through high-quality projects. This funding round, co-led by MassMutual Ventures and Octopus Energy Generation, with participation from Salkantay Ventures and Peña Verde, will speed up the business’ growth and bring Cultivo’s total funding to over $20 million.
The news follows a strong year for Cultivo, which saw it welcome Mark Carney onto its board and its pipeline of natural capital projects surpassing 100m hectares, equivalent to more than double the land size of California. And this pipeline can potentially remove more than 3 Gigatons of carbon dioxide, which is roughly equivalent to the EU’s annual carbon emissions (2.73 GtCO₂ in 2022).
The growth in Cultivo’s pipeline was driven by financial institutions and companies turning to Cultivo to originate their own high-quality natural capital projects. For example, projects that regenerate degraded land with sustainable grassland management or reforestation activities.
Cultivo co-designs and monitors these projects to measure the increases in carbon capture, biodiversity, and water storage, as well as the social impact on the local communities and land stewards. And as part of this news, Cultivo also signed an agreement with Octopus Energy Generation for them to deploy up to $40 million into natural capital projects across North America, Europe and Australasia.
KEY QUOTES:
“Investors are recognizing the value and scale of the natural capital investment opportunity, and companies are wanting to secure a future supply of high-quality carbon removal credits to mitigate volatility and quality concerns seen in the voluntary carbon market. This funding allows us to continue to deliver our growing pipeline of high-quality natural capital projects for our institutional customers, and accelerate the development of our AI-driven science & technology platform. We’re deeply honored to have MassMutual Ventures and Octopus Energy Generation join us on our mission to regenerate nature at scale.”
– Dr. Manuel Piñuela, CEO and Co-Founder of Cultivo
“Cultivo’s focus on leveraging technology to rapidly scale investment in the next generation of high-quality, nature-based carbon removal projects that enrich biodiversity matched our forward view of natural capital markets. Our investment in Cultivo reflects our broader strategy of partnering with exceptional teams who are addressing important, historically underfunded climate challenges.”
– Timothy Krysiek, Managing Partner of the Climate Technology Fund at MassMutual Ventures
“Cultivo are leading the way in carbon removal projects which are helping the natural environment flourish while providing meaningful benefits to local communities that host them. Their tech-led approach, track-record and experienced team means we’re confident Cultivo has a winning formula for long-term success in this essential and fast-growing market. We’re looking forward to working with them as they grow and develop more projects globally, making a truly positive impact.”
– Alex Brierley, co-head of Octopus Energy Generation’s fund management team
