Estonian forest carbon removal platform Arbonics raised €5,5M

Tallinn-based forest carbon removal platform Arbonics raised €5,5M from the lead investor Helsinki-based Nordic Ninja with the participation of existing backer Estonian VC Plural, founded by Sten Tamkivi and Taavet Hinrikus. The new investor Czech Tilia Impact Ventures joined the round.

Founded in 2022 by Lisett Luik and Kristjan Lepik, Arbonics connects landowners with companies that pay them for the carbon removal and planting of trees on land that has not been recently forested. Arbonics helps landowners verify the removal of carbon through the US-based carbon credits registry Verra. The startup arranges for and covers the costs for the Verra certification and validation process. The landowner shares with Arbonics monitoring data, such as newly harvested timber, and any fire or pest impacts to pass the Verra certification process and maximize carbon revenues.

The startup has also created a digital tool that helps find land suitable for reforestation and calculates how much carbon income a landowner can earn by planting a forest.

Arbonics operates in the Baltics and Finland and serves over 4K landowners. The startup will use the investment to expand to the Northern and Central European markets. In 2022, Arbonics raised €1.8M from Plural. 

Plural is a €250 million early-stage venture fund started by Sten Tamkivi (founder of software company Teleport, former Skype executive), Taavet Hinrikus (money transfer service Wise founder), Ian Hogarth, and Khaled Helioui in 2022. It focuses on leading early-stage rounds between €1 and €10M.