10 million for OCELL

The Munich-based climate tech start-up receives €10 million in a Series A round to drive forward the digitalization of forestry and carbon storage.

Landshut/Munich, January 29, 2025 - Bayern Kapital, the venture and growth capital company of the Free State of Bavaria, is investing in the climate tech startup OCELL with its Bayern 2 growth fund. The Series A financing round comprises a total of 10 million euros and is led by Capnamic as lead investor. Existing investors Aenu Ventures, Summiteer and several business angels are also participating again. The fresh capital will be used for further technological development and expansion into other European markets.

Forests as CO₂ storage: digitalization as a solution

Healthy mixed forests play a crucial role in the fight against climate change, as they act as natural carbon sinks that absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere. However, current forestry use often focuses on wood production in monocultures, which are less climate-resilient and are often harvested before their CO₂ storage optimum.

Forest owners need economically viable alternatives to allow trees to grow for a long time and bind more CO₂. OCELL combines digitalization with ecological sustainability and simultaneously promotes biodiversity and species protection.

Hubert Aiwanger, Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs

The Munich-based start-up OCELL, founded in 2019 by David Dohmen, Christian Decher and Felix Horvat, has developed a digital solution to promote sustainable forest management and create economic incentives for forest owners.

"Digital twin" for sustainable forestry

OCELL combines aerial imagery, LIDAR data and AI-supported analyses to create a digital twin of the forest. This data flows into the company's proprietary "Dynamic Forest" software - a forest management system that provides precise, data-based insights into tree species, site conditions and age classes. This enables more efficient, more sustainable management in an industry that has been less digitized to date.

CO₂ certificates as an economic alternative

OCELL is also developing regional climate protection projects to make the CO₂ storage of forests economically viable. Companies can participate financially in sustainable forest management via CO₂ certificates. The data-driven approach ensures transparency and traceability - an important aspect for companies that want to improve their sustainability reporting (CSRD).

OCELL's scalable, data-driven approach convinced us. We look forward to accompanying the company on its growth path.

Monika Steger, Managing Director of Bayern Kapital

For forestry companies, this opens up an economic alternative to traditional timber production. In addition, climate-resilient mixed forests contribute to biodiversity, water protection and soil erosion prevention. Almost 3,000 forestry experts are already using the Dynamic Forest app, and over 800,000 hectares of forest are managed with OCELL's technology - an area the size of more than a million soccer pitches.