Press Release: Agreena Wraps Second Carbon Farming Harvest Year and Annual Payout to Farmers
PRESS RELEASE
AGREENA’S FARMER PAYOUT FOR A SECOND HARVEST YEAR DEMONSTRATES THAT CARBON CERTIFICATES HELP FUND AND EXPEDITE FARMERS’ TRANSITION TO REGENERATIVE PRACTICES
Farmer participation grew 4x for HY 2022 while increased farmland enrollment by existing members accounted for 20% of Agreena’s overall portfolio growth
(14 June 2023) Copenhagen, Denmark – Agtech company Agreena, whose soil carbon platform is the largest in Europe operating in 16 countries and developed to help farmers finance their transition to regenerative practices, today announced the results of its second harvest year (HY) and second annual early payout to participating European farmers. The number of hectares enrolled grew 10X over the previous year and farmer participation increased 4X. Agreena is paying the largest incentives to farmers under a soil carbon scheme to-date at €32 to €36 per anticipated carbon certificate generated depending on region, an increase of up to 45% from last year. The company is a pioneer in creating nature-based soil carbon removals. The associated certificates will soon be available on the market for companies that want to participate in the transition of the world’s farmers to practices that help address climate change, biodiversity loss and the future of food security.
While carbon sequestration in agriculture has been identified as one of the top solutions to scale climate action because of its accessibility and the immediate impact it can have, the primary hurdle to adoption is the high upfront costs for farmers. By leveraging the voluntary carbon market (VCM) to convert climate-friendly farming efforts into high-quality carbon certificates, Agreena is driving a new revenue stream to the farmer. Farmers are seeing the benefit too. Twenty percent of the year-on-year hectare growth in Agreena’s portfolio came from member farmers adding more land to the program.
“Agreena is introducing a new category of carbon certificates into the market and it will take time to build and scale, but farmers cannot wait - they need a reliable and liquid payment to help cover their transition efforts,” said Simon Haldrup, CEO of Agreena. “That is why Agreena takes a calculated risk and pays farmers each harvest year. Still, carbon certificates are just one part of the solution and a mix of incentives is needed to rapidly transition the world’s farmers to regenerative practices.”
Farmers and the companies that rely on carbon certificates for their ESG and sustainability efforts are on different timelines. Sales of credits can take a year or longer to occur after the impact has been certified. Agreena’s early payout option for farmers bridges the gap between the two. Farmers enrolled in Agreena’s program get to decide how they’d like to use the certificates that they generate, and one of those options is to be paid soon after the harvest year ends to help cover their upfront costs. The early payout is based on market prices at the time. Growth of the Voluntary Carbon Market and pricing for high-quality carbon certificates continue to grow, any upside when Agreena’s certificates are sold is shared with the farmer.
Agreena’s carbon certificates are the result of farmers taking measures to sequester additional carbon from the atmosphere within their soils and at the same time reduce their own emissions through practices like no till. The company has developed a highly credible programme that is in alignment with the latest IPCC science and the recognised principles of the VCM, and built relationships with agricultural partners and farmers across Europe.
More recently Agreena has developed its corporate unit that oversees certificate sales, and MRV and risk solutions. Agreena works with certificate buyers to tailor, structure and scale portfolios from across the company’s inventory, modelled after assets already sold and traded in traditional financial markets.
“Our first vintage of high quality carbon certificates originates from farmers in Central Europe and has just been made available for a limited quantity presale,” said Frederik Aagaard, Agreena’s Director of Carbon Markets. “We’re delighted to be able to facilitate the participation of companies in helping finance this journey for farmers.”
The deadline for enrolling in Agreena’s 2023 programme is quickly approaching. Farmers have until June 30 to enter this year’s harvest, and can calculate their earning potential and apply by completing this form on Agreena’s website. More information about the programme and how it works can be found here.
Agreena anticipates that as the VCM continues to grow and evolve, the market will see continued developments related to certification and new standards in the space. Agreena’s portfolio of GHG reduction and carbon removal certificates are accredited to the ISO 14064-2 standard and are currently undergoing Verra VCS certification. The outcome is anticipated before the end of the year.
About Agreena
Agreena unlocks the power of soil carbon removals and natural capital to finance the transition to regenerative agriculture. Working in close collaboration with partner farmers across 16 European markets and growing, AgreenaCarbon is Europe’s leading soil carbon platform. Combined with market-leading satellite monitoring technologies, Agreena’s solutions can support farmers, companies, and governments on the road to net zero.
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Media Contact:
Nicole Shore
External Communications Manager
Nicole.Shore@agreena.com
Press Release: Farmers’ Fintech Agreena Raises €46m To Scale The Regenerative Revolution
PRESS RELEASE
FARMERS’ FINTECH AGREENA RAISES €46M TO SCALE THE REGENERATIVE REVOLUTION
Funding will support continued expansion of global carbon farming initiatives and new fintech solutions for the rapidly scaling company
(30 March 2023) Copenhagen, Denmark – Climate and fintech company Agreena, whose soil carbon platform is one of the largest globally, today announced its Series B raise of €46M. Led by Germany’s leading multi-stage investor HV Capital, the round has an exciting composition of new investors including impact fund AENU and fintech-focused Anthemis. The equity raise is also supported by a doubling-down from existing shareholders, including evergreen food investor Gullspång Re:food, well-established tech investor Kinnevik and Denmark’s Export and Investment fund.
The sizable raise comes just one year after the company’s €20M Series A. Since then, Agreena has scaled its activities 10X, expanded its geographic footprint to cover farmland in 16 European countries, and partnered with farms to help them transition more than 600,000 hectares towards climate-positive, regenerative farming.
“In order for the world’s farmers to transition to regenerative agriculture and create a scalable climate impact, the financial rails to support and pay them for it need to be built,” said Simon Haldrup, Co-founder and CEO of Agreena. “Agreena is building out technological and financial services infrastructure throughout the agriculture value chain as the industry increasingly becomes a focal point for decarbonisation efforts.”
Momentum around regenerative farming is sweeping the globe, with corporates, governments and supply chains turning their focus to our agricultural soils for carbon removals in order to meet global net-zero targets. Through the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices, farmers will play an increasingly essential role in tackling climate change, food insecurity, and other critical environmental issues. Agreena has developed a way to turn this impact into a new and additional revenue stream for farmers to help finance the transition by leveraging the carbon market.
Via the company’s digital platform, farmers plan, track and validate improvements for their regenerative journey, in the process transitioning from emitting CO2 to drawing CO2 down and storing it within their soils. The improved soil health and biodiversity reduce the need for inputs while enhancing farmers’ resilience to increasingly adverse climate conditions (such as drought or flooding), enhancing the overall operational performance of farms. On the other side of the equation, Agreena’s certificates and downstream services support climate-focused companies already working to decarbonise, as well as companies in the food supply chain increasingly requiring field-level traceability of their agricultural commodities to comply with Scope 3 reporting requirements.
Scaling with Technology
The recent acquisition of remote sensing company Hummingbird Technologies has enabled Agreena to expand its offering beyond farmers to encompass agridata services for supply chain players, governments and other institutions. Prioritising a science-based and technology-first agenda, Agreena’s platform now incorporates a world-leading, AI-based monitoring and verification solution that utilises satellite imagery, coupled with ground-truth data and machine learning to identify and report on-farm regenerative agriculture practices. Offering global monitoring, the company is on a mission to take the lead in supporting the road to net zero for the full value chain.
“Real climate impact is only created at scale and Agreena is perfectly positioned to distribute their carbon farming capabilities across the globe to bring high-quality, verifiable and nature-based carbon credits to the market. Only with carbon removals, can net zero targets be met,” said Alexander Joel-Carbonell, partner at HV Capital.
From Farmer to Fintech
Deeply rooted within the agricultural community, Agreena was originally founded with seed investment from Danish farmers and agricultural families. The company’s next phase introduces a vertically integrated platform and marketplace. Working first with farmers in the field to monitor the carbon impact, the resulting certificates are constructed into scalable portfolios for corporates, tailored to their unique ESG strategy.
The company is taking a lead in providing the technological rails for the growing market with innovative financial solutions. Examples include using sustainable blockchain technology for enhanced traceability and transparency of carbon credits, and e-money and smart contracts to facilitate payment exchanges between climate-conscious corporates and farmers with immediate reconciliation at scale.
“We are on a journey to remove the economic barriers to adoption of regenerative agriculture for farmers and their entire ecosystem - carbon is just the beginning,” concluded Haldrup.
About Agreena
Agreena unlocks the power of soil carbon removals and natural capital to finance the transition to regenerative agriculture. Working in close collaboration with partner farmers across 16 European markets and growing, AgreenaCarbon is the world’s leading soil carbon platform. Combined with market leading satellite monitoring technologies, Agreena’s solutions can support farmers, companies, and governments on the road to net zero.
About Agreena’s Carbon Certification
Agreena’s programme is accredited to the ISO 14064-2 standard, with a third-party verified methodology that is aligned to IPCC science. The company is standards-inclusive and will continue to evolve its offering as policies and science continue to develop. Further, the company is currently undergoing certification with Verra, completion of the process is expected later this year.
About HV Capital
HV Capital is one of the most successful and financially strongest early-stage and growth investors in Europe. Since 2000, HV Capital has invested in around 225 internet and technology companies such as Zalando, Delivery Hero, Flixbus, and HelloFresh through various generations of funds and is continuously looking for the next generation of disruptors from every industry, including FinTech, SaaS, climate tech, and consumer goods. The company supports startups with capital between €500,000 to €50 million and is one of the few venture capital firms in Europe that can finance startups through all growth phases.
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Media Contact:
Nicole Shore
External Communications Manager
Nicole.Shore@agreena.com
Press Release: Agreena goes ‘first-ever’ on blockchain with ZTLment
PRESS RELEASE
Agreena goes ‘first-ever’ on blockchain: tokenized carbon crediting attached to real currency
Carbon farming scaleup Agreena announces its latest endeavor to enable a regenerative revolution in agriculture. The company is launching the world’s first product that can tokenize carbon certificates and move euros on blockchain in collaboration with the European payments institution Ztlment.
COPENHAGEN (3 November 2022) – While many tech junkies get into blockchain as a solution looking for a problem, farmer’s fintech Agreena has taken a different approach.
Today the company announced that it is enhancing its core product offering - soil carbon certificates - with tokenization on blockchain for automated money movement. Using on chain e-money, Agreena and Ztlment are taking a first-ever position in the market, bullying out unregulated stablecoins or volatile cryptocurrency. Agreena says its Web3 solution has been developed to meet farmers’ needs for instantaneous payments while retaining the credibility and security of a regulated payment system.
“We see our new ability to use blockchain for issuing payments as a key to unlock the market for farmers to transition from conventional agriculture to carbon farming,” says Simon Haldrup, CEO of Agreena. “With agriculture responsible for approximately one-third of the global carbon footprint, the switch to regenerative farming practices creates one of the greatest opportunities for climate action in the world - we are here to enable that.”
Regenerative agriculture not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions - but actually turns soils into carbon sinks, naturally removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it. But the most significant hurdle for thin-margin farmers to take up climate-friendly practices are the upfront costs associated with the transition. With virtually no incentives aside from the private sector to subsidize the change, Haldrup co-founded Agreena in 2019 to support farmers’ entrance into the green economy by connecting them to the voluntary carbon market.
To deliver seamless and instant payments for farmers, Agreena partnered with the first regulated European payments institute built on blockchain, Ztlment. The two Danish fintech players have just successfully tokenized carbon credits on the world’s most powerful and sustainable blockchain, Algorand, and have connected the payment for those tokens to real euros with smart contract software.
“We set out to do away the complexity of blockchain and open banking regulation,” says Mads Stolberg-Larsen, co-founder and CEO of Ztlment, who offer automated payment solutions that can move euros instantly and automatically on blockchain in full regulatory compliance. “With Agreena, we have built one of the first examples where real-life assets on blockchain can be traded for real-life money.”
The money gets on- and off chain via Ztlment’s e-money partner, Monerium. Under existing open banking regulation e-money is just as much money as bank deposits and cash are. All three things are simply called “funds.”
“Farmers don’t need to know a thing about tokens or on-chain payments to see the reward we are bringing,” says Haldrup, “But nonetheless, this is a hallmark moment, not only for carbon farming but also for the blockchain community and people driving real-world use cases of Web3.”
About Agreena
Agreena is scaling regenerative agriculture through finance and technology. Founders Simon Haldrup, Ida Boesen, and Julie Koch Fahler developed one of the world’s first internationally accredited soil carbon payment programmes, AgreenaCarbon, in 2021. The AgTech platform quantifies farmers’ greenhouse gas emission baselines aligned to the latest United Nations IPCC guidelines, and monitors and reports GHG reductions and carbon removals. The company then mints third-party verified soil carbon certificates for farmers which can be sold on the voluntary carbon market. Since launching, Agreena has spanned its offering to farmers in 13 countries throughout Europe and recently acquired world-leading regenerative agriculture remote sensing company Hummingbird Technologies. Read more at agreena.com.
About ZTLment
ZTLment is a European payments institution offering smart contract software that is fully compliant with Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2). With a snippet of code, digital marketplaces and cloud based B2B platforms can offer business workflows, which instantly and automatically move money and value between buyers, sellers and financiers. The company is founded by Mads Stolberg-Larsen, Jason Spasovski and Harry Kearney and is headquartered in Copenhagen. It is registered as a payments institution with the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FTID 22043). Read more at ztlment.com
About Algorand
Algorand is transforming economic models and economies of all kinds. Founded by Turing Award–winning cryptographer Silvio Micali, Algorand’s high–performing Layer-1 blockchain is unparalleled for bringing fast, frictionless, and inclusive technologies to everyone. Algorand is reshaping every industry–from TradFi and DeFi to new creator economies and beyond. With an extraordinary commitment to interoperability and consistent delivery, the company’s sustainable technology powers more participation, transparency, and efficiency for all. As the technology of choice for 2000+ global organizations, the Algorand ecosystem is transforming the next generation of financial products, protocols and exchange of value.
Read more at algorand.com
About Monerium
Monerium is a financial technology company with the mission of making digital currency accessible, secure, and simple to transact online. Monerium is the first and only company authorized to issue regulated e-money on blockchains. Using e-money issued by Monerium, individuals and businesses can store and send programmable digital currency online without going through traditional financial institutions and payment providers.
Read more at monerium.com
Contact:
Erica Johnson
erica.johnson@agreena.com
+45 3152 4980
