Oxford: Dendra Systems, a leader in technology-driven ecological restoration, today announces the successful closure of its Series B funding round, raising $15.76 million1 (£12.5 million) to accelerate its mission of advancing global ecosystem restoration efforts.

The round was led by climate tech investor, Zouk Capital, with significant participation from new investor Aramco Ventures and existing investor Airbus Ventures. Additional contributions came from existing investor Understorey Capital and several new investors including Helium-3 Ventures.

Founded in 2014 and based in Oxford, Dendra Systems employs 87 dedicated professionals across the UK, Australia, UAE, and US.  The company provides an end-to-end RestorationOSTM solution to restore nature, powered by high-resolution data capture and drone-based seeding, and a comprehensive AI-enabled ecosystem insights platform. Dendra's innovative approach is able to achieve targeted, rapid deployment of restoration efforts at scale, in addition to ongoing monitoring, management and reporting for the duration of multi-year projects.

Dendra is applying its market-leading RestorationOSTM technology and ecological expertise to enabling customers such as Rio Tinto, Glencore, Liontown, BHP, and the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), in achieving their environmental objectives. Currently managing over 70,000 hectares, Dendra is setting new standards in nature restoration, with demonstrated capabilities in mining, infrastructure, mangrove and arid ecosystem restoration.

The fresh injection of capital will be directed towards Dendra Systems' expansion into new geographical markets and the continuous enhancement of its pioneering AI-enabled ecology platform. These efforts aim to address the urgent need for large scale and efficient restoration solutions in the face of escalating environmental challenges within the mining sector and other industries critical to the energy transition.

Dr Susan Graham, CEO Dendra Systems: "We are immensely proud of securing the support of these experienced and supportive investors as we embark on this next phase of growth. This funding will enable us to bring our AI-driven restoration solutions to more ecosystems around the world, helping to reverse biodiversity loss and mitigate the effects of climate change. Our RestorationOSTM technology and approach represent a game-changing opportunity for environmental monitoring and restoration, and we are excited to be able to double down on our efforts to empower environmental teams to reverse these global trends."

John Higelin, Partner Zouk Capital: "The drive to revitalise our planet's ecosystems is among the most pressing challenges of our era. As the global community strives towards environmental sustainability, Dendra Systems is tackling the critical task of ecosystem monitoring and restoration head-on and at scale. Zouk Capital is delighted to lead this Series B round, supporting Dendra's mission to expand their impact globally. "

Bruce Niven, Executive MD, Strategic Venturing, Aramco Ventures: “We are excited about the potential of Dendra Systems’ technology to make a huge impact on biodiversity by restoring ecosystems, thus contributing to increasing plant species richness and habitat restoration, as well as its impact on forestry and mangroves plantation management, which is a key enabler for scaling nature-based solutions”.

1 On 3rd May 2024 conversion rate of $1.26 USD per £1 GBP

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For more information, please contact: Louise Ballard, Zouk Capital LLP, lballard@zouk.com

About Dendra Systems:

Dendra Systems is an environmental technology company that is building the most powerful tools for ecosystem restoration today, combining decades of research in ecology and land restoration with cutting edge artificial intelligence and drone technologies to speed up and scale up ecosystem rehabilitation. Successful restorations across arid, tropical and coastal environments from desert ecosystems to mangrove forests mean that Dendra is increasingly the platform of choice for environmental managers leading multi-year government, infrastructure and mine rehabilitation programmes.

About Zouk Capital 

Zouk Capital is an infrastructure and private equity fund manager investing in the sustainable economy. Zouk’s investment strategy focuses on the opportunities emerging at the intersection of infrastructure, technology, and sustainability that stem in response to some of the most pressing environmental and social challenges of our time. Our Climate Tech track invests in companies that are building the application layer of the Net Zero economy. Based in London, Zouk manages approximately €800m, including the Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF), sponsored by the UK Government and focussed on the public EV charging market in the UK

About Aramco Ventures

Aramco Ventures is the corporate venturing arm of Aramco, the world’s leading fully integrated energy and chemical enterprise. Headquartered in Dhahran with offices in North America, Europe and Asia, Aramco Ventures’ strategic venturing programs invest globally in start-up and high growth companies with technologies of strategic importance to its parent company, Aramco, primarily supporting its operational decarbonization, new lower-carbon fuels businesses, and digital transformation initiatives. Aramco Ventures also operates Prosperity7, the company’s disruptive technologies investment program.

For more information, please visit www.aramcoventures.com