Munich Startup: What does Hula Earth do? What problem are you solving?
Florian Geiser, Co-Founder and CEO Hula Earth: Hula Earth develops precise biodiversity monitoring solutions by integrating IoT (Internet of Things) sensors and satellite imagery. This is particularly relevant for the over 50,000 companies that will need to demonstrate their biodiversity impacts under sustainability reporting (CSRD = Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) in the future. Our technology makes nature and its changes measurable and understandable in an affordable and scalable way. We started with nature conservation projects, but we’re increasingly receiving inquiries from various industries with land use, whether agriculture or infrastructure.
Munich Startup: But that’s been around for ages!
Florian Geiser: No, because existing solutions are based either 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 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 agriculture and forestry, we founders experienced the dramatic loss of species firsthand. After our careers in Munich’s high-tech sector, we decided in 2023 to apply our technological expertise to nature conservation. 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 an entirely new market
Munich Startup: What were your biggest challenges so far?
Florian Geiser: Building an entirely new market brings two central challenges: First, we need to find pioneer partners who are willing to venture into new territory with us. Second, the complexity of biodiversity measurement – unlike “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 Germany’s first biodiversity credits, based on our comprehensive monitoring system. The successful completion of our pre-seed funding round now enables us to scale our technology.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Florian Geiser: Munich offers us ideal conditions: close collaboration with the TUM Venture Lab and AI+ Munich as well as networking in the Munich Urban Colab are invaluable to us. The excellent talent pool through CDTM, TUM and LMU is another decisive location advantage.
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 ensure that our natural foundation is preserved for the future, we are still a hidden champion compared to the massive economic power of nature.
