Klim, the German agriTech startup making Regenerative agriculture mainstream

Berlin-based agriTech startup Klim, led by founder and CEO Robert Gerlach, is helping farmers adopt ‘regenerative’ production methods, tackling climate change and farmers wellbeing. The company was founded in August 2020 and has raised a total of €8M, recently closing its seed round of €6.5M.

Cofounders Robert Gerlach, Nina Mannheimer and Adiv Maimon

Berlin-based agriTech startup Klim, led by founder and CEO Robert Gerlach, is helping farmers adopt ‘regenerative’ production methods — which positively impact soils health and biodiversity as well as an improve carbon sequestration in the soil, reducing the global carbon footprint of agriculture. The company was founded in August 2020 and has raised a total of €8M, recently closing its seed round of €6.5M led by Berlin-based Green Generation Fund a foodTech early stage VC.

What is the problem Klim is tackling, how does it affect our society and environment in a broad sense?

In a broad sense, we are tackling the sustainability of our food production systems.

Agriculture is responsible for nearly a quarter of our emissions (not just CO2, but methane among other gases). By practicing intensive industrial agriculture, the carbon stored in the soil is gradually released into the air, at the same time the soil becomes less productive reducing yields over time. In fact, the UN estimates that significant regions of the world have only a few harvest left. Fortunately for us, this can be reversed by introducing regenerative agriculture methods, also known as carbon farming.

At a micro level, the main problem we are tackling is the difficulty farmers face when they try to transition to regenerative practices. Farmers often lack the financial means needed to transform their plantations, and many lack the knowledge to properly transition. Unfortunately, until recent times regenerative agriculture has been a niche practice and its many benefits were unknown by the great majority of farmers.

How does Klim start, what moves you?

My first touch with the field of sustainability was in engineering sciences a while ago working on improving the efficiency of aircraft engines. Ever since then, I mostly worked in projects that that were related to environmental and impact. Most products I worked with were focused on efficiency gains, but at some point it became obvious that just by reducing our emissions we are not going to achieve our climate targets. So I started learning about solutions that could capture CO2 and started to compare them and their achievability. The more I looked at them, the more clear it appeared that regenerative agriculture is one of the best solutions we have at hand. At the same time I felt extremely excited by huge challenge that transforming our agricultural systems represents.

What is the real potential for Regenerative agriculture?

Regenerative agriculture has an holistic impact on our ecosystems and economy: it provides increased biodiversity, increased water retention, protection against pests, increased carbon retention and of course, food with higher nutritional value. On the economic side, it increases yields, and it can lead to more resilient farmers.

Just one example (focused on carbon) of the potential of Regenerative Agriculture. It is estimated that by switching towards Regenerative Agriculture, we could store up to 11 billion tons of CO2 on the ground every year globally. Currently, we are emitting nearly 36 billion tons a year. Even if we reach a 10th of that figure it would be a significant contribution.

How are you helping to solve the problem?

We have built a holistic platform to help farmers, offering them online trainings on how to transition towards regenerative agriculture. At the same time, we allow them to measure and sell the additional carbon stored in the soil by implementing improved practices, which translates into increased income for the farmer and more resilient agriculture.

From your experience speaking to farmers, if there’s a message they could get across to consumers, what would it be?

They would love customers to understand how food is produced, the impact it has on the land and on the farmers. What we buy has implications for the land, for the economy and for the people taking care of the land that feeds us. For example, a product that is labeled as bio, if shipped across the world, is probably not much better for the environment than a conventional product produced locally.

What is the biggest challenge you have faced leading Klim and as a sustainable company?

Without a doubt, the most difficult challenge has been finding the right people. To scale a business like this you need people who are excellent, ambitious and in it with their heart. Often it’s not easy to find the right match. Additionally, I would say that regulation has at times represented a challenge.

In your experience raising funds, do you think investors understand the rise of this sector and the urgency of a transition towards a more sustainable supply chain in the food industry?

Investors truly understand the need of change and are onboard. On the other hand, public institutions need to understand that impact companies need the space and stability to operate. Otherwise they can be easily squashed by changing regulation etc.

Is there any institution that you feel is doing things right, that has inspired/helped you?

We have meet very impressive Venture Capitals along the way, which in our perspective are doing things right. I would highlight Food Labs and Ananda VC as two funds committed to innovative high risk sustainable solutions that can radically transform our economy.

What message would you like to get across?

A regenerative transition of our economy is a task that is enormous and that requires everyone to come together and to be pragmatic. It’s simply too late to wait and think what is the perfect approach. We have no time to waste. We need to help farmers to transition if we want to be able to keep harvesting in 50 years. We have no justification to delay action.