Nature Tech report flags investment potential of biodiversity innovation

A major new analysis of the burgeoning sector reveals that nature technology startups have received investment worth $7.5billion in the last five years. Sadly, this is still far short of where funding needs to be.

Published by Nature4Climate, venture capital investment firm Serena, and nature tech membership body MRV Collective, The State of Nature Tech: Building Confidence In A Growing Market aims to increase awareness about the sector, and boost revenue streams. 

Considered separate to climate technology, albeit with a number of overlaps, nature technology refers to any tech development specifically designed to aid in efforts such as biodiversity net gain, habitat restoration and conservation.

‘This report highlights the diversity and breadth of the initiatives that are underway around the world, with much of the innovation being tailored to local and regional challenges,’ said Lucy Almond, Chair, Nature4Climate. ‘It also highlights dozens of examples and case studies of innovations, products, and concepts that have been and continue to be developed by emerging companies, eager to contribute to addressing the interconnected crises  of nature loss and climate change.’

While this field of work understandably has a focus on nature based solutions, it is increasingly apparent that these can and must be strengthened through nature technology. A long read published by Environment Journal earlier this year on satellite systems running audits and assessments on the condition of land, ecosystems, and impact modelling offered up a number of use cases to illustrate this point. 

The ability to conduct in-depth and high speed reporting on the effects of human activity on nature, and the outcome of efforts to mitigate and reverse ecological damage, are particularly vital given the limited time frame to overcome the rapidly unfolding biodiversity crisis. As such, experts now predict this nascent area has the potential to grow value in a similar way to climate tech, which has boomed exponentially, climbing from $413million of venture capital investment in 2013 to $41billion in 2022. 

The new report highlights how this might happen,identifying several areas primed for significant growth and emerging trends in the sector, identifying opportunities for all stakeholders to harness. This also includes dramatically improving lines of communication between the science and tech communities, central and regional governments, and the public, and significantly boosting engagement levels with communities. 

‘VC investments in nature tech startups have been developing fast over the past 3 years: early-stage deals rose by 130% between 2020 and 2022 and average deal sizes for seed to series B funding increased by 70%, demonstrating the growing maturity of the nature tech industry,’ said Serena Managing Partner, Xavier Lorphelin. ‘We are convinced that nature tech is the new frontier and will rapidly grow and reach the same level of maturity and scale as climate tech.’

More on environmental investment and tech:

Local Climate Bonds Toolkit guides councils to £3billion green funding

How local government pensions are fuelling regional green investment

Look up, off world: The satellite tech driving climate action

Image: USGS

According to the goals set out in COP15, within the next seven years 30% of all terrestrial and marine environments should be formally protected,