Company: Verna
Founder: Rafi Cohen and Matthew Brown
Website: https://verna.earth
About Verna
Verna was founded in 2020, to produce software to help people manage land in the best way for the environment.
For context, 70% of wildlife has been destroyed since 1970, creating a potentially existential threat to civilisation by putting at risk global supplies of food and clean water, and causing natural carbon stores to collapse. Verna is addressing this challenge by creating the operating system for nature restoration.
The company’s first product, Forest Founder, is a geospatial engine designed to assist with land-use planning by discovering, assessing, and prioritising tree-planting opportunities across any land area. This set the stage for Verna’s broader mission: using advanced technology to drive better environmental outcomes.
In 2023, Verna introduced Mycelia, a software solution that supports the implementation of England’s Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) legislation, by supporting the work of Local Planning Authorities (LPAs). Recognised by the Harvard Kennedy School as “the most ambitious biodiversity policy in the world,” BNG requires that any habitats damaged during development are replaced and enhanced, with biodiversity uplift projects monitored for 30 years. LPAs play a crucial role in this process, and so Mycelia was developed to help them manage every aspect of BNG—from validation and assessment to monitoring and reporting.
The software has already made a significant impact, with 25% of LPAs using Mycelia already, and 45% more LPAs in the pipeline. This has resulted in £1M ARR less than a year since launch. Mycelia is designed to help ecologists, planners, and validation officers save time, drive better environmental outcomes, catch and manage risks, and create value for money.
It streamlines the BNG review process, cutting the time required to review BNG Metrics by over 80%; an Ecologist at an LPA that uses Mycelia stated that, “Mycelia allows me to review Metrics more quickly – for example, 30 minutes instead of 2.5 hours for a relatively straightforward Metric.” As a result, Mycelia has solved the challenge of making an incredibly complex and time-intensive process much quicker and simpler.
Looking ahead, Verna is poised for continued growth as more authorities and developers adopt Mycelia, ensuring that the company plays an essential role in helping the UK meet its ambitious biodiversity goals. By making it easier to manage BNG compliance and improve environmental outcomes, Verna is playing a key role in shaping the future of land management and sustainability.
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