OnlyPlants Food lands a matching ticket: Wyss Academy for Nature matches Brainforest's investment

Dear Brainforest Follower,

We are looking back at Q1 with a lot of pride and quite some excitement, especially because this week marks the official kickoff of our 7th Venture Program cohort. But before we dive into what lies ahead, let us take a moment to celebrate the big thing that happened in Q1.

OnlyPlants Foods, the company we invested in the Spring 2025 Venture Program, has secured an additional $125,000 from our partner Wyss Academy for Nature. This matches our own commitment and brings real momentum to a venture we believe in.

Founder Marie Louise Wiegert, based in Kenya, founded OnlyPlants Food and is creating plant-based milk from the Bambara groundnut, an indigenous African crop that is drought resilient, nitrogen fixing, and rich in protein.

The partnership goes beyond capital. Together with Wyss Academy for Nature, OnlyPlants is now running a pilot in Northern Kenya with the Chui Mamas, a women’s group in Laikipia, building income through farming on their own land.

You can find the announcement (and colourful pictures!) here.

Our founders have had a busy and rewarding start to the year.

🌳 Ceres Seeding won the Innovation Award from the Yale Chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters. Read more here.

🌳 Nature Perspectives brought their Talking Plants exhibition to the Cambridge Botanic Garden. The project was featured on ITV News, on BBC Look East, and in an article on BBC News. Read more here.

🌳 Orijin is looking for a Commercial Co-Founder. Five years in, with a strong product, paying clients across multiple countries, and deep roots in origin markets, they are ready to scale their B2B SaaS platform. Read more here.

• Hack Summit, April in Lausanne: We are co-hosting a side event with our partner Fondation Valery at Impact Hub Lausanne: Capital for Nature: The Hidden Rules of Funding Pre-Seed and Seed Nature Startups. The centrepiece is our biodiversity allocation game.
  Sign up here.

• The Canopy is Calling You, May in Zurich (Climate Week): We are hosting our own event during Climate Week Zurich, bringing together investors, founders, and partners around our Canopy Pool and the future of private capital for early-stage nature ventures. And because we believe nature should be experienced, not just discussed, we will put the forest on your plate… Pickled pine cones and fresh fir tips... Let us surprise you!
  Sign up here.

Events Brainforest is attending

• Momentum Summit, May in Zurich (Climate Week): We will be on the ground connecting with the wider climate and nature finance community.
  More information here.

• Katapult, May in Amsterdam: Joining the conversation with one of the most established impact investing ecosystems in Europe.
  More information here.

If you are attending any of these, reach out. We would love to connect in person.

Over our Substack channel, we have launched a “Capital for Nature” learning series over the past 10 weeks that makes nature investing practical and understandable. Every week, we unpack one topic, from where the money can actually flow, to how deals are structured, to what it takes to deliver both impact and financial returns.

Learning Series

As you read this, our 7th Venture Program cohort is officially kicking off. Ten weeks of hands-on work, expert sessions, mentor matches, and yes, a lot of Miro boards.

We cannot wait to introduce you to the new founders and will share the full cohort reveal in our next newsletter soon.

Thank you, as always, for being part of our forest! 🌳

Warmly,
Your Brainforest Team