The Natural Investments Platform, is a USD 100M staged financing vehicle that transforms underfunded African conservation landscapes into investable, multi-revenue assets, mobilizing private capital for conservation and restoration at scale.

Global land conservation faces a USD 200 billion annual funding gap. Africa receives just 6% of global conservation spending, leaving landscapes with 10-20% of the funding they need, and resulting in degradation of over 80% of the continent’s conservation areas. Secondary Protected Areas, the buffers and corridors between national parks, are hit hardest: they receive the least funding and depend instead on limited commercial activity.

Annually, USD 1.5 trillion in alternative investment capital bypasses nature investments due to high transaction costs, high perceived risk, low liquidity for early exits, and governance and country risk.

The Nature Investments Platform (NIP) closes this gap by turning fragmented, degrading land into a portfolio of investable multi-revenue landscapes. The platform secures long-term rights to a landscape and absorbs the early development risk, restoring it and building green and grey infrastructure. Through contracting commercial operators across ecotourism, carbon and renewable energy, it shares in revenues. As each project matures and risk declines, the NIP attracts progressively more commercial capital and creates pathways to refinancing and investor exits.

NIP targets the conservation of ecologically important African landscapes while generating sustainable livelihoods and commercial returns. Over its lifetime, the Platform aims to bring approximately 3 million hectares under sustainable management, sequester 13 million tCO2 e and create 2,000+ permanent jobs. Initial implementation will focus on Zambia, Kenya and South Africa.

The pilot project SPV is currently launching in Zambia to prove concept. In parallel, the Platform is securing Development Facility funding ahead of a targeted first close of the Equity Facility late 2027 (~USD 25M first close). From there, the platform will scale across 4-6 target countries, with a Debt Facility launch targeted for post 2030.

NIP deploys capital through three staged facilities into project-level SPVs managed by PlatformCo, matching capital to project risk as they mature. The Development Facility uses recoverable grants that recycle as projects repay, funding early-stage development and community engagement. The Equity Facility combines concessional junior equity, commercial senior equity and mezzanine finance to commercialise projects; and the Debt Facility uses institutional senior debt to refinance mature, cash generating assets.

Priority markets, Zambia, South Africa, and Kenya, receive a minimum 50% capital allocation given their stable macro outlook, conservation potential and alignment with three core revenue streams (ecotourism, carbon and renewable energy). NIP screens opportunities at site level against five criteria: prime wilderness, conservation impact, financial viability, long-term scalability, and structural integrity.

NIP has a growing pipeline of 35 large-scale conservation projects for operators to tap into, representing approximately USD 350 million in capital requirements and a potential final land area of 27 million hectares. Capital will be deployed progressively into priority landscapes as they advance from development through commercialisation and ultimately into operating assets.