German eco-startup the nu company closes a €3.7M financing round

As reported by der brutkasten, Leipzig-based eco-startup the nu company has closed a €3.7 million investment round led by German expert for green impact investing ForestFinance. Austrian food and beverage investor Square One Foods, CEO of Develey Michael Durach, Zurich-based VC firm BackBone and other business angels including Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg also participated.

Founded in 2016 by Mathias Tholey, Thomas Stoffels and Christian Fenner, the nu company produces “climate-positive” and healthy chocolate, seed and nut bars, protein shakes. The idea is to plant one tree after the customer buys any of the company’s organic products.

“We show that a green way of doing business is possible. Since 2016 we have saved 9 tonnes of plastic, replaced over 37 tonnes of industrial sugar and planted over 3 million trees,” Thomas Stoffels said. 

The startup is already partnered with huge supermarket chains dw, REWE, Kaufland, ROSSMANN and EDEKA among others. It is planning to spend the proceeds on the further development of new sustainable products and packaging, as well as expanding the trade distribution and increasing sales growth up to 200%. Besides, the nu company is intended to plant 1 billion trees until 2030.