ZAS Ventures Invests €50,000 in Upwood to Accelerate Sustainable Forest Investment Platform
ZAS Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Ukrainian entrepreneurs, has invested €50,000 at the pre-seed stage in Upwood, an ESG-focused fintech startup building a platform for regulated financial instruments backed by forest assets. The firm shared the news with Scroll.media.
Deal Details
- Upwood is developing an equity and debt crowdfunding platform that connects forest owners with individual and institutional investors.
- The startup’s team includes Ukrainians Volodymyr Havrylyuk-Yensen (Chief Legal Officer) and Maksym Semak (Chief Sustainability Officer), as well as Latvians Lauris Borodovskis (CEO) and Armands Rudzitis (CFO).
- According to ZAS Ventures, Upwood has already validated its legal framework with a financial regulator, received industry awards, and built a waitlist of future investors and partners. The company is currently preparing for a broader platform rollout and obtaining regulatory approvals in the EU.
- The investment from ZAS Ventures will be used to support product development, the regulatory roadmap, and go-to-market activities.
«Having ZAS Ventures onboard is an important validation for our vision,» commented Volodymyr Havrylyuk-Yensen, Co-Founder of Upwood. «Their experience in scaling early-stage platforms and navigating regulated environments will be highly valuable as we move toward launch.»
About Upwood
- Upwood operates in the ESG investment market, which, according to the firm, is expected to grow at an average annual rate of around 19% (CAGR) through 2030. This growth is driven by rising demand for transparent, impact-driven investment opportunities in real assets, particularly in forestry.
- The platform lowers entry barriers to sustainable forestry assets while enabling transparent, technology-driven capital formation.
- Upwood combines geospatial verification, tokenization, and EU Taxonomy–aligned green financial instruments, including plans for tokenized green bonds backed by forest assets.
«Upwood is tackling a real inefficiency at the intersection of ESG, real assets, and modern capital markets,» said Andrew Zinchuk, Founder & Managing Partner at ZAS Ventures. «Their approach to tokenized, regulated forest investments aligns strongly with our thesis around capital-efficient platforms that unlock new asset classes for global investors.»
ZAS Ventures Invests €50,000 in Upwood to Accelerate Sustainable Forest Investment Platform
ZAS Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Ukrainian entrepreneurs, has invested €50,000 at the pre-seed stage in Upwood, an ESG-focused fintech startup building a platform for regulated financial instruments backed by forest assets. The firm shared the news with Scroll.media.
Deal Details
- Upwood is developing an equity and debt crowdfunding platform that connects forest owners with individual and institutional investors.
- The startup’s team includes Ukrainians Volodymyr Havrylyuk-Yensen (Chief Legal Officer) and Maksym Semak (Chief Sustainability Officer), as well as Latvians Lauris Borodovskis (CEO) and Armands Rudzitis (CFO).
- According to ZAS Ventures, Upwood has already validated its legal framework with a financial regulator, received industry awards, and built a waitlist of future investors and partners. The company is currently preparing for a broader platform rollout and obtaining regulatory approvals in the EU.
- The investment from ZAS Ventures will be used to support product development, the regulatory roadmap, and go-to-market activities.
«Having ZAS Ventures onboard is an important validation for our vision,» commented Volodymyr Havrylyuk-Yensen, Co-Founder of Upwood. «Their experience in scaling early-stage platforms and navigating regulated environments will be highly valuable as we move toward launch.»
About Upwood
- Upwood operates in the ESG investment market, which, according to the firm, is expected to grow at an average annual rate of around 19% (CAGR) through 2030. This growth is driven by rising demand for transparent, impact-driven investment opportunities in real assets, particularly in forestry.
- The platform lowers entry barriers to sustainable forestry assets while enabling transparent, technology-driven capital formation.
- Upwood combines geospatial verification, tokenization, and EU Taxonomy–aligned green financial instruments, including plans for tokenized green bonds backed by forest assets.
«Upwood is tackling a real inefficiency at the intersection of ESG, real assets, and modern capital markets,» said Andrew Zinchuk, Founder & Managing Partner at ZAS Ventures. «Their approach to tokenized, regulated forest investments aligns strongly with our thesis around capital-efficient platforms that unlock new asset classes for global investors.»
