Munich Startup: What does Hula Earth do? What problem do you solve?
Florian Geiser, Co-Founder and CEO of Hula Earth: Hula Earth develops precise biodiversity monitoring solutions by integrating IoT (Internet of Things) sensors and satellite images. This is particularly relevant for the more than 50,000 companies that will have to provide evidence of their biodiversity impact as part of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Our technology makes nature and its changes measurable and understandable in an affordable and scalable way. We started out with nature conservation projects, but are now receiving more and more demand from a wide range of industries with land use, be it agriculture or infrastructure.
Munich Startup: But that already exists!
Florian Geiser: No, because previous solutions were either based solely on satellite data or on expensive, annual on-site inspections. Hula Earth revolutionizes this approach: Our innovative BioT sensor network provides continuous real-time data directly from the ecosystems. Combined with satellite imagery, we achieve unprecedented precision in biodiversity monitoring – cost-effective and scalable.
Munich Startup: What’s your founding story?
Florian Geiser: As children of farmers and foresters, we founders experienced the dramatic loss of species at first hand. After our careers in the Munich high-tech sector, we decided to use our technological expertise for nature conservation in 2023. Our vision: to make the state of our ecosystems measurable in real time and thus make global nature conservation efforts transparent and effective.
Hula Earth: Building a completely new market
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Florian Geiser: Developing a completely new market brings two key challenges: Firstly, we need to find pioneering partners who will break new ground with us. Secondly, the complexity of biodiversity measurement – in contrast to “simple” CO2 measurement – requires intensive educational work with potential customers.
Munich Startup: How is business going?
Florian Geiser: In March 2024, we reached an important milestone: the development of the first German biodiversity credits based on our holistic monitoring system. The successful completion of our pre-seed round now enables us to scale up our technology.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Florian Geiser: Munich offers us ideal conditions: The close cooperation with the TUM Venture Lab and AI+ Munich as well as the networking in the Munich Urban Colab are invaluable for us. The excellent talent pool provided by CDTM, TUM and LMU is another decisive advantage of the location.
Munich Startup: Hidden Champion or Shooting Star?
Florian Geiser: The value of nature’s annual ecosystem services is estimated at around 150 trillion dollars. Even if we make this value measurable and help to ensure that our natural basis is preserved in the future, we are still the hidden champion behind the massive economic power of nature.
