Land Life Company is on the rise. The Amsterdam-based scaleup has raised 6 million euros with the Achmea Innovation Fund, sustainable investment fund Meewind, DOEN Participates and the Grantham Environmental Trust. As of January 1, 2021 Ernst-Jan Stigter, general manager of Microsoft in the Netherlands, will join Land Life Company as the new CEO.
Developing and applying innovative technology across the reforestation value chain, Land Life Company plants trees at scale around the world. The business model focusses on nature restoration projects as a way to compensate for business to reach their climate and sustainability goals. The capital injection will be used for the growth of the company and to increase the speed of technological developments.
Land Life Company’s mission is to help restore the world’s two billion hectares of degraded land.
With an array of technologies, from robots, drones and artificial intelligence to monitoring technology, all of the projects produce extensive scientific data and transparency. The results are diverse forests in places where trees were unable to regenerate due to severe land degradation. The company is quickly expanding and continues to increase its large-scale reforestation, with a focus on Spain, the U.S. and Australia. In 2018, over 300,000 trees were planted, and 1 million trees were added the following year. During this 2020/2021 planting season, more than 2 million more trees will go in the ground.
“It is fantastic to see that large investors such as Achmea en Meewind are joining us. They bring unique expertise. Ernst-Jan Stigter will use this investment to push the company up to the next level in the coming years. This is great news for all stakeholders of Land Life Company, as well as local communities where nature is being restored.” — Jurriaan Ruys, acting CEO at Land Life Company
Investing in impact
DOEN Participates and the Grantham Environmental Trust were already on board as investors of Land Life Company. The Achmea Innovation Fund is taking a significant minority participation in Land Life Company, and it will become the largest external investor of the company. Fund manager Katharina Maass, will join the Supervisory Board of Land Life Company. In addition, several informal investors have also joined this funding round.
“Land Life Company has an ambitious mission and uses technology to create a continuous improvement loop. This is a perfect match with the positive impact we want to stimulate with the Achmea Investment fund. The cooperation with Land Life Company is also valuable because we are starting to develop customer propositions with them. Carbon removal will become more and more important in the coming years for companies, institutions and individuals.” — Katharina Maass
Managerial transition
Jurriaan Ruys, former McKinsey partner, founded Land Life Company in 2013 together with the founder of Bugaboo International, Eduard Zanen. Under his wings, the company has flourished to a successful scaleup with an international team of dedicated entrepreneurs, ecologists, engineers and operations specialists and a portfolio of successful global reforestation projects. As of January 1, 2021 Ernst- Jan Stigter takes the position. Ruys will be the majority shareholder and will transition to the supervisory board of Land Life Company.
“I’m looking forward to making an active and impactful contribution to the sustainability and livelihood of our planet together with the entire Land Life Company team. After a career of 25 years in the tech sector, I want to commit the second half of my working life to this mission and to make sure we apply technology in an optimal way and create a better world for everyone.” — Ernst-Jan Stigter
