Open Forest Protocol

Jan 19, 2023

Switzerland-based Open Forest Protocol (OFP), an open platform to measure, verify and fund forestation projects, announced on Wednesday that it has raised € 3.8M in a pre-seed round of funding from multiple VCs and angel investors. Some of the investors are Shima Capital, Übermorgen Ventures, Not Boring Capital, Mercy Corps Ventures, Byzantine Marine, Big Brain Holdings, and Valor Capital. The Swiss platform says it will use the funds to continue to build and ship the system’s core infrastructure and accelerate the onboarding of projects across governments, NGOs, and individuals. Founded by Swiss scientist Frederic Fournier and American web3 specialist Michael Kelly, Open Forest Protocol (OFP) is an open platform allowing forest projects globally, regardless of their size, to measure, report, and verify their forestation data. Built on the NEAR blockchain, OFP allows individuals, communities, NGOs, and governments to create transparent, immutable, proof-of-impact data that is comprehensively verified by a network of independent experts. OFP uses blockchain technology to verify and record forest data publicly, so anyone can see what is happening with the forests registered with OFP. The company aims to create the foundation for more inclusive, scalable, and data-backed financing mechanisms for nature-based climate solutions.