News & Podcast

The Viessmann Foundation invests in TUM Venture Labs to strengthen Munich’s ecosystem for climate startups and accelerate science-based innovations into practice.

Gesa Biermann founded Pina Earth in 2021 together with Florian Fincke. Since 2021, the startup develops certified climate protection projects with the aim of creating future-proof forests throughout Germany. Our forests are already severely threatened by climate change. Pina Earth’s climate protection projects store additional CO2 by making forests biodiverse and climate-resilient against increasing heat, storms, and drought. By supporting the projects, the startup enables other companies to achieve their climate goals while promoting regional biodiversity. The forest projects already extend over 10 million square kilometers in Germany and are verified by independent third parties.

Point Twelve is a B2B platform that enables manufacturers of energy-intensive goods to easily and continuously certify their environmentally friendly production while saving up to 90 percent of time. The startup was founded in early 2023 by Flore du Durfort, Erika Degoute, and Quentin Cangelosi and also won this year’s Munich Startup Special Prize at the Bits & Pretzels. An interview with Flore de Durfort, CEO at Point Twelve.

The Munich-based startup Pina Earth wants to make German forests more climate-resilient. To do this, the startup has developed a forest conversion methodology and technology to make the resulting CO2 sequestration measurable. With this, Pina Earth offers climate protection projects for which CO2 certificates can be purchased, and provides forest owners with an additional source of income. The startup was founded by Gesa Biermann and Florian Fincke in 2021 and now has 15 employees. An interview with Gesa Biermann, co-founder and CEO of Pina Earth.

The Munich-based startup Govshare was founded in 2022 by Philipp Schwarz and Franz-Ferdinand Kress. The platform is designed to make it easier for municipalities to implement climate protection solutions. The startup uses data visualization and semantics to do this. Actors from administration and politics can quickly see what has worked or not worked elsewhere. Founder Philipp Schwarz discusses in an interview the (nearly) giving up, current challenges, and the company’s vision. The startup has also secured successful financing. FAZ Business Media GmbH made a strategic investment in an undisclosed amount.

Greencent has developed a loyalty system for CO2 savings. Through the app, users receive Greencents as a reward for saved CO2. They can use these to purchase offers from partner businesses. We spoke with Enée Bussac, the founder of Greencent, about his impact startup.