Lithuanian fintech HeavyFinance raised €3M
Lithuanian fintech HeavyFinance raised €3M from lead investor Lithuanian fund Practica Capital, Polish venture fund Black Pearls VC, Lithuanian business angel Marius Krikstopaitis, and Estonian accelerator and fund Startup Wise Guys (follow-up investment).
The startup connects European farmers with investors to help landowners switch to sustainable farming. The company encourages green loans - for farmers who want to switch to no-tillage (without disturbing the soil) farming. This type of farming helps reduce the number of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. And farmers can get a zero percent interest loan instead. Landowners can also receive more favorable loan conditions if they ask for financing for purchasing less polluting equipment or moving towards soil carbon sequestration (removing CO2 from the air and storing it in soil). The company also collects land samples to calculate emissions and encourages farmers with carbon credits, which can be sold later.
Heavy Finance has a semi-automated credit scoring system that allows to access clients borrowing capabilities based on their financial data. The amount of provided loans varies from €6K to €300K.
The startup will use investment in further European expansion, and double the number of employees over the next 12 months. It also plans to enroll 200K hectares of regenerative farmland in the process of switching from traditional farming to regenerative.
The startup was founded by Laimonas Noreika, Andrius Liukaitis, Darius Verseckas, and Laimonas Noreika in Vilnius in 2020. In Lithuania, about 10 percent of farmers have implemented it. HeavyFinance is committed to converting the other 90 percent. The company facilitated financing the farms in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Portugal.
Vilnius-based Practica Capital was founded in 2012. The firm focuses on investments in the Baltic and Baltic-origin ventures in Europe. It has supported Lithuanian startups PVcase, Interactio, Montonio, Ovoko, TransferGo, and others. Practica Capital manages four funds with
