Insurer Aviva has joined Nattergal’s investor line-up after taking part in the European nature restoration company’s seed funding round.
Aviva’s corporate venture capital fund participated in Nattergal’s recent £40m ($37m) fundraising round, which was led by Nattergal’s co-founder Lansdowne Partners.
As part of the investment, Aviva’s chief sustainability officer Claudine Blamey has joined the Nattergal board as a board advisor.
Nattergal said a number of “pioneering institutional, venture and angel investors” also joined in the fundraising as shareholders.
The capital raised will allow the nature restoration company to expand its operations, which has already led to the acquisition of three sites, including the most recent one, Harold’s Park Wildland in the East of England back in June.
Nattergal said nature restoration work has already begun at Harold’s Park Wildland in Essex, which will be funded in part by the sale of biodiversity-net-gain units to the property sector as well as delivering a range of benefits for the local community, including employment opportunities and enhanced access to nature.
Archie Struthers, CEO of Nattergal, said: “Our ambition to deliver nature restoration at scale is only possible with the support of leading institutional investors such as Aviva.
“This strong support we have received in our equity raise is testament to our business model, and a clear signal that Nattergal is playing a leading role in making nature an investable asset class. We’re excited to work alongside Aviva and all our shareholders in our next phase of growth.”
Blamey said: “Investing in Nattergal supports an important element of Aviva’s sustainability ambition, to protect and restore biodiversity through nature-based solutions.
“I’m delighted to be appointed to the Nattergal board and I’m looking forward to contributing to their gold-standard approach to delivering nature restoration at scale.”
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