HIGHLANDS Rewilding, a pioneering Scottish project focused on scaling nature recovery and community prosperity through rewilding, has secured £1 million through its crowdfunding campaign, three weeks before it is set to close on 16 May 2023.
The company operates a frontier rewilding model that allows citizen rewilders to invest from between £50 to £200,000 to co-own rewilding land, earning a potential 5% return. This mass ownership approach has proved popular with smaller and larger investors alike, since it launched at the beginning of December 2022, despite the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Many founding funders who engaged with the company during its establishing year have also reinvested in Highlands Rewilding’s crowdfund, in a strong show of support for its pioneering project.
The £1 million has been raised by 622 ‘citizen rewilders’, 43% of whom live in Scotland, testament to the groundswell of support for nature restoration which is actively combatting climate meltdown and biodiversity collapse. The for-profit rewilding company hopes to achieve 1,000 investors in the crowdfund by the end of the campaign. Larger investors have also joined forces to raise many millions more, helping Highlands Rewilding expand its operations and take rewilding to scale in Scotland.
Further supporting the ambitions of Highlands Rewilding, this month the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) committed £12 million to support the acquisition of Tayvallich Estate, a 1,300-hectare estate in Argyll. The funding boost marked UKIB’s first deal exclusively in Scotland and will contribute to enabling Highlands Rewilding to develop new natural capital and revenue models on the Tayvallich Estate, and create an exemplar of community-company synergy.
Dr. Jeremy Leggett, CEO of Highlands Rewilding, said: “We are delighted to be hitting such a key milestone in our fight against biodiversity collapse and climate meltdown. We aim to play a lead role in the great diversion of investment from ruin to restoration, through rewilding. The more citizen rewilders invest at the £50 to £100 level, the more the financial institutions are likely to invest at the £50 million to £100 million level. Hitting the £1 million mark in our crowdfund shows that our model is working in offering tangible hope, not just for nature but also community prosperity.
“Tayvallich is a new opportunity which has arisen since the start of our fundraising campaign. The success of our crowdfund and off-platform fundraise to date, has enabled us to sign a contract for the unique Tayvallich estate and expand our rewilding and decarbonisation work to three sites. Each site – Bunloit, Beldorney and Tayvallich – is unique in their own right, but together they are a powerhouse for Scottish nature recovery, and a beacon of hope for the global biodiversity treaty, recently agreed by 200-plus governments.”
With three weeks to go, Highlands Rewilding is inviting investors to join it during its scaling campaign, that moves beyond the simple protection of nature towards nature recovery and restoration in Scotland, and later, beyond.
As with any investment, those interested in the Highlands Rewilding project are encouraged to make sure they fully understand the process, what their investment means, and the potential risks of investing.
Find out more about Highlands Rewilding and the crowdfund here: www.highlandsrewilding.co.uk/crowdfund
