Munich-based OCELL raises €10M to make forests more climate-resilient using AI

On Wednesday, Munich-based OCELL, a green-tech startup, announced that it has secured €10M in a Series A funding round led by Capnamic, who has previously made early investments in other successful tech companies such as LeanIX, Staffbase, and Strava.

Based out of Cologne, Capnamic is a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments in the German-speaking regions.

Christian Knott, Managing Partner at Capnamic, says, “The key differentiation of the OCELL team is their deep roots in forestry. OCELL is not only providing them with a high quality product but also creating an opportunity to diversify their revenue streams. At a time when the market is experiencing a major shift in regulation and transparency requirements, OCELL’s offering stands out. No other solution knows the forest as intimately, because they are actively helping forest owners to manage it.”

Fund utilisation

Additional funding comes from Bayern Kapital and existing investors, including AENU and Summiteer, as well as business angels like Max Viessmann.

The company will use the funds to further develop its advanced AI-powered platform for creating high-quality carbon credits.

These credits support climate-optimised forest management, significantly increasing carbon storage in forests and promoting biodiversity as well as the urgently needed transformation of forests for greater climate resilience.

Additionally, the German company will use the funds to drive the advancements in OCELL’s underlying technology, fuel growth, and support the expansion of climate projects across Europe, with a focus on the Nordics and Baltics.

OCELL: Developing local climate projects

Founded in 2019, OCELL develops local, high-quality climate projects that are transparent, measurable, and effective.

By processing aerial imagery, LiDAR, and terrestrial forestry data, OCELL uses artificial intelligence to create digital twins of forests.

These digital twins provide insights into forest growth, current carbon storage capacity, and other metrics.

As a result, this allows for the prediction and implementation of climate-optimised forest management strategies to store more carbon in the long term while also proving the benefits of such projects through scientific data.

The German company manages forests covering over 810,000 hectares, which can absorb an extra 1.62 million tons of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) each year.

With agreements for over 100,000 carbon credits already secured, OCELL is set to significantly support sustainable forest management and climate action in Europe.

Since the last funding round, the Munich-based company has increased the managed forest area elevenfold in just two years.

David Dohmen, co-founder and co-CEO of OCELL says, “In recent years, the reputation of carbon credits has suffered significantly due to often inadequate data foundations, yet they remain a crucial tool in the fight against climate change – if implemented correctly. We aim to restore trust in the market by combining cutting-edge AI technology with nature-based solutions. Forests offer the advantage of being immediately available, scalable, and relatively cost-effective, while our technology ensures measurability, accuracy, and transparency.”