Agritech start-up Klim secures €6.5 million in funding

AgriTech start-up, Klim, has announced the closing of a €6.5 million funding round to expand its digital platform for regenerative farmers, corresponding solutions for the food industry driven by the mission for a climate-positive future.

Existing investors include Food Labs, Ananda VC, Blue Impact VC, Wi Venture and Gemüsering, with new additions from Green Generation Fund, Edaphon, Ponderosa and US VC AgFunder, one of the world's leading agri-food technology investors.

With the fresh funding, Klim will further scale its product to enable more food businesses to transition to regenerative agriculture, and focus on internationalization.

The Klim platform enables farmers to switch to regenerative agriculture by providing them with knowledge, exchange with other farmers and financial resources – driven by the mission to foster the implementation of regenerative agriculture in Germany and across Europe.

Regenerative methods, such as the use of catch crops, under-sowing, extended crop rotations, agroforestry systems, the replanting of hedges or reduced tillage, have the potential to become part of the solution to climate change by storing CO₂ from the atmosphere in soils. In addition, biodiversity is promoted and soils become more resilient to drought and erosion, which contributes significantly to food security for a growing global population. The increased soil health that comes with regenerative agriculture also boosts the nutrient content of produce.

The fresh capital will be used to scale the Klim offering, further develop the product – in particular new services for regenerative farmers – and for internationalization.

"It’s incredibly encouraging to see how much support our movement for regenerative agriculture is receiving in broad circles,” said Klim Co-founder Dr Robert Gerlach. “We’re very happy to have won such renowned impact investors who share our purpose for a more sustainable agriculture. We’re looking forward to collaborating with them in order to achieve our ambitious climate goals, and to doubling down on our mission to foster the transition to regenerative agriculture."

"In times of global crisis and macroeconomic uncertainty, the agri-food industry is in the midst of its most profound transformation," added Manon Littek, Founding Partner at the Green Generation Fund. "The food industry must be sustainably transformed to both meet global climate goals and feed 10 billion people at the same time. To achieve this, innovative and scalable technologies are needed to support farmers in their transition to regenerative agriculture. Klim is a great example of this, so we're excited to join Robert, Nina, Adiv and their team on this journey."

“Regenerative agriculture is a crucial strategy for carbon drawdown, but it has seen relatively slow adoption,” said Tom Shields, Partner at AgFunder. “We believe the key to scaling is Klim’s combination of tools farmers need for real-world implementation, and pragmatic, scientifically-backed validation that customers can rely on.”

In addition to benefiting the environment, consumers and farmers, regenerative agriculture also has advantages for food companies, whose supply chains produce significantly fewer emissions while safeguarding yields and product quality over the long term. Alongside the measurement, accounting and reduction of Scope 3 emissions, Klim also offers transparent communication of the ecosystem services provided by farmers via the Klim label. The Klim label enables consumers to make their positive contribution to climate protection and the well-being of farmers, in doing so creating a movement in which farmers and consumers jointly contribute to the sustainable transformation of agriculture.