November 13, 2024

By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media

Berlin-based agri-tech startup Klim has secured $22 million in what the company has declared Germany’s biggest Series A financing for startups in this sector. Klim, a platform to help farmers transition to regenerative ag practices at scale, plans to direct the proceeds toward expanding beyond Germany and bolstering its range of financial services to farmers. Recently, Klim secured food giant Nestlé as a partner to help scale regenerative food systems.

Led by European banking giant BNP Paribas, Klim’s latest Series A round also extended to European and U.S.-domiciled impact investors and venture capitalists. The backer lineup included Earthshot Ventures, Rabobank, Agfunder, Norinchukin Bank, Achmea, Ananda Impact Ventures and Elevator Ventures and Raiffeisen Bank International’s VC arm.

Klim CEO and Co-Founder Robert Gerlach stated on LinkedIn, “This milestone is a tribute to the pioneering farmers and food industry partners such as Nestlé, Kaufland, ARYZTA and many others who are making the regenerative transformation of our food system happen today.”

Founded in 2020, Klim has advanced quickly through Series A fundraising rankings as regenerative agriculture has been taking the spotlight, particularly in Europe. Klim is behind a digital platform built for farmers to help them plan and implement the transition to regenerative ag in a targeted way. Farmers on the platform receive digital agronomic recommendations designed to promote soil health. They also have the opportunity to share their experiences with other growers.

Additionally, Klim delivers financing solutions to farmers to slash their risk of conversion amid the industry’s inadequate access to transition capital, which has served as a roadblock to the conversion of farms to regenerative ag. Klim also works with the food industry, helping companies to decarbonize their supply chains and transition them to more regenerative ag-friendly solutions. In recent weeks, Nestlé partnered with Klim, working alongside dairy farmers to scale regenerative ag practices.

The global ag industry is responsible for roughly 20 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions, with hundreds of billions of tons of carbon having been released from soils into the Earth’s atmosphere. The degradation of soil carbon makes soil more susceptible to climate-change related harvest losses, threatening food security. Klim’s mission is to reverse this trend by advancing the transition to more environmentally friendly regenerative ag practices in which healthy soils store the carbon rather than releasing it, thereby lowering the likelihood of crop failure.

Gerlach touted the company’s two-pronged model through which it unites the interests of both food companies and farmers, saying, “Our global food system is undergoing a transformation, and regenerative agriculture is at the heart of this transformation. Food companies must and want to lead this transformation — but they cannot do so without working with farmers. With our digital platform for farmers and our insetting solutions for the food industry, Klim enables the industry’s regenerative transformation to be significantly accelerated.”

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