Kuyua puts biodiversity on the corporate agenda
Climate change and biodiversity loss are developments that have a major impact on almost all areas of life, including the economy. Companies need to be able to assess risks and increasingly comply with reporting requirements. The startup Kuyua has developed a software solution for this purpose and has already won numerous well-known customers.
The name Kuyua comes from a Hawaiian children's song
Hawaii has unique flora and fauna and is therefore a prime example of biodiversity, meaning the variety of animal and plant species. However, the archipelago in the Pacific is also a negative example, as over 60% of its species are threatened with extinction, mainly due to human influence. The term Kuyua appears in a Hawaiian children's song that praises the natural beauty of the islands. Tobias Wildner remembered this when he and Christian Dietrich founded a startup in which biodiversity plays an important role.
For both founders, this was not their first step into professional self-employment. Dietrich studied mechanical engineering with a focus on renewable energies and worked as a sustainability consultant for several years. In 2021, he founded his first startup, Sfeerie, which aimed to make biodiversity a topic of interest for companies. He was ahead of his time, however, and the business was shut down in early 2023. Just a few months later, awareness had changed, and the time was ripe for Kuyua. Co-founder Wildner, who comes from investment banking and had also focused on sustainability, recognised this too.
Increasing reporting requirements give Kuyua a boost
An EU directive called the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) gave rise to hopes that the new startup could be successful. It came into force at the beginning of 2023, with concrete application beginning with the first steps on 1 January 2024. The reporting requirements associated with the CSRD cover a range of sustainability criteria, for example social standards, but also environmental issues such as climate protection, resource consumption and biodiversity. Companies must document the extent to which their activities impact the environment and make corrections where necessary.
But even aside from this, biodiversity plays a greater role in many corporate decisions than is apparent at first glance. This applies, for example, to the search for new locations in regions with high environmental risks. An intact ecosystem has a major impact on the supply of fresh water and can reduce the risk of storm or flood damage, for instance through robust forests and natural floodplains.
Five modules for analysis and recommendations for action
Taking all this into account requires comprehensive research, which poses major challenges for companies. This is where Kuyua comes in. The startup's software makes it eminently easy for its customers. To get started, all you need to do is enter your location and some information about your industry and business model. Kuyua then searches its comprehensive database from numerous sources covering the entire world. The artificial intelligence-powered solution delivers results on the same day.
There are five modules available, which can be booked individually or in combination. In the first place are nature and biodiversity risks, which are analysed on a site-specific basis. Kuyua assesses the condition of local ecosystems and measures the impacts and dependencies between a company and nature. The risk of deforestation can be considered separately, which is particularly relevant due to the EU Deforestation Regulation, which is set to come into force by the end of 2026 at the latest.
Of course, there is also a module on climate risks. Here, Kuyua uses 28 acute and chronic criteria to assess the current status and make forecasts up to the year 2100. In the fourth available module, the various risks are quantified, so their economic damage is determined, but also the economic advantage that can result from intact nature. Finally, the fifth module recommends strategies and concrete measures based on the data obtained. By the way, the entire offering applies not only to individual locations, but also to entire supply chains.
An award-winning collaboration with Melitta
The hoped-for success was not long in coming. The coffee company Melitta was one of the first major customers to be won over. Sustainability and compliance with environmental and social standards are major issues in the industry, so Melitta was very interested in working with Kuyua. The collaboration was award-worthy: On 14 November 2023, the project received the special prize in the ‘Die Lieferkette lebt’ (The Supply Chain Lives) competition, with the award ceremony being conducted by the then Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke.
The jury was particularly impressed by the scope of the work that had been accomplished up to that point. Kuyua had used AI to analyse more than 5,000 locations in the cultivation and supply chain for biodiversity risks. The analysis was carried out according to the principle of double materiality from both a financial and a socio-ecological perspective, and resulted in the development of tailor-made action plans for 15 locations with increased risk.
Major customers and significant growth opportunities for Kuyua
Melitta is by no means the only prominent name on Kuyua's customer list. It also includes DAX-companies such as BASF, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens and Volkswagen. And that is just the beginning, because the software processes information from all over the world, so it can also be used by international customers without any problems. A larger round of financing could be helpful for expansion beyond Germany's borders. So far, the startup has received support from three business angels and the InnoFounder programme of IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH.
A recent evaluation by market research company StartUs Insights shows that Kuyua is already attracting international attention. It examined 3,244 startups and scaleups dealing with the topic of climate adaptation. Ten of them were described as particularly noteworthy, and Kuyua is one of them. The team, which is set to grow to 20 people by the end of 2025, can therefore look to the future with optimism. There was already a strong new addition in June: Dr Myriam Rapidor, deputy chair of the environmental organisation BUND, joined the management team as co-founder. Whatever direction the company takes, there is no doubt about its location in Hamburg. CEO Christian Dietrich explains:
