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§ Private Profile · Benesisstr. 29, Koeln, North Rhine-Westphalia, 50672, Germany
Planted Green is a technology company.
Planted Green designs and installs ecologically beneficial landscapes, specializing in native plant gardens. The company provides consultation, bespoke hand-drawn garden plans, and professional installation services. It emphasizes locally-sourced native plants and uses organic soil amendments to create sustainable, habitat-supporting outdoor spaces.
The company was founded by Sara Strother, a Certified Master Naturalist and professional gardener. Her insight into the necessity of localized, sustainable landscape practices, informed by ecological principles and horticulture, led to the establishment of Planted Green. Strother’s expertise guides the company’s mission to integrate native flora into conventional green spaces.
Planted Green serves clients seeking to cultivate sustainable and biodiverse landscapes, including home gardeners transitioning to eco-friendly practices. Beyond design and installation, the company offers educational classes to empower clients with knowledge for maintaining their native gardens. Its vision is to foster widespread adoption of native plant landscaping, enhancing regional ecological health.
Planted Green has raised $6.0M across 2 funding rounds.
Planted Green has raised $6.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Planted Green (planted.green) is a Cologne, Germany-based GreenTech startup founded in 2020 or 2021, developing an AI-powered ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management platform.[1][2][3] The platform automates ESG reporting, carbon footprint analysis, decarbonization planning, and CSRD/ESRS compliance while enabling real-world impact like local forest planting, serving over 350 companies including Caritasverband Bruchsal, Senacor Technologies AG, and Insta GmbH.[1][3] It solves the problem of compliance-heavy ESG tools by integrating operational sustainability—achieving over 50% emissions reductions and saving up to 75% of reporting time—transforming regulatory burdens into profitable decarbonization strategies for tech and other businesses.[1][3]
The company recently raised €5 million in seed funding from investors like TechVision Fonds, WENVEST Capital, neoteq ventures, AWS Gründungsfonds, and Smart Infrastructure Ventures to expand its holistic solution combining software, AI automation, and consulting.[1][3]
Planted Green was founded by Wilhelm Hammes (CEO), Heinrich Rauh (COO), Jan Borchert (Climate Forester), and Cindy Schüller, blending expertise in sustainability, digital products, forestry, and business.[2][3] Hammes, with a focus on turning CSRD obligations into opportunities, leads the vision of automating CO₂ measurement to free resources for decarbonization.[1][3] Rauh brings a background in international management and product development, while Borchert's forestry passion drives real-world planting initiatives.[2]
The idea emerged amid tightening ESG regulations like CSRD and EU Taxonomy, where founders saw a gap in tools beyond mere reporting—evolving from a simple tree-planting service (offsetting user footprints with European trees and CO₂ certificates) into a full ESG platform.[2][3] Early traction came via SpinLab acceleration and rapid adoption by 350+ German firms, culminating in the €5M seed round in early 2025 to scale AI features.[1][3]
Planted Green rides the wave of mandatory ESG reporting under CSRD and tightening regulations, where corporate accountability demands shift from box-ticking to verifiable impact.[1][3] Timing is ideal as EU Taxonomy and biodiversity rules escalate, pressuring tech firms to decarbonize amid investor scrutiny—market forces like rising compliance costs (months of manual work) favor Planted's automation.[1]
It influences the ecosystem by enabling SMEs and enterprises to achieve climate-positive status efficiently, fostering genuine value creation over greenwashing; this could accelerate GreenTech adoption in Germany and Europe, where 350+ users already demonstrate scalable transformation.[1][3]
Planted Green is poised to expand beyond Germany via its €5M funding, enhancing AI for global CSRD/ESRS compliance and deeper decarbonization tools amid proliferating regulations.[1][3] Trends like AI-optimized sustainability, biodiversity mandates, and profitable net-zero strategies will propel it, potentially capturing share in the booming ESG software market.
As regulations evolve, Planted's blend of tech and tangible impact positions it to redefine ESG as a growth driver—turning today's compliance challenge into tomorrow's competitive edge, much like its core mission of making sustainability profitable from the start.[1][3]
Planted Green has raised $6.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Planted Green's investors include Creandum, Lakestar, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Amino Collective, Antler, Hanno Renner, Jonas Rieke, Mathias Ockenfels, Michael Wax.
Planted Green has raised $6.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $5.0M Seed in February 2025.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1, 2025 | $5M Seed | — | Creandum, Lakestar, Lightspeed Venture Partners | Announced |
| Jun 1, 2022 | $1M Seed | — | Amino Collective, Antler, Creandum, Lakestar, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Hanno Renner, Jonas Rieke, Mathias Ockenfels, Michael WAX | Announced |