The voluntary carbon market has had a bruising few years, but institutional investors are doubling down on the “next generation” of high-integrity projects.

Aix-en-Provence-based Hummingbirds has raised €50m ($59m) in a financing round to develop and scale nature-based solutions (NbS) across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The vehicle — structured as a mix of equity and project finance — was led by a trio of development finance institutions (DFIs): Proparco (France), Swedfund (Sweden), and British International Investment (UK), who each committed €15m.

The startup, founded in 2022 by Anaïs Bach and Damien Ricordeau, positions itself as an early-stage developer. It provides the “technical capital” needed to bring greenfield projects — like mangrove restoration in Kenya and reforestation in Uganda — to a stage where they can generate tradable, verified carbon credits.

The “Greenfield” Bet

Most carbon finance enters the market once a project is already operational. Hummingbirds is moving further upstream to address the supply-side bottleneck: a lack of high-quality, “bankable” projects.

The company’s portfolio includes:

• Papariko (Kenya): A 300-hectare mangrove restoration project.
• Mount Kei (Uganda): Sustainable timber and forest conservation.
• Improved Cookstoves: Distribution of efficient stoves in Benin and Uganda to reduce biomass fuel consumption.

By providing in-house engineering and ESG oversight, Hummingbirds aims to de-risk these assets for long-term off-takers — corporates and sovereign buyers looking for credits that meet the stringent IFC Performance Standards.

Hummingbirds’ expansion in Kenya comes at a precarious moment for the country’s carbon ecosystem. On January 31, 2026, the Nairobi-based clean cooking pioneer KOKO Networks abruptly ceased operations and laid off its entire 700-person workforce.

KOKO, which had raised over $300m from backers like Microsoft and the World Bank, entered liquidation after the Kenyan government refused to issue a “Letter of Authorisation” (LoA). This regulatory hurdle prevented KOKO from selling its carbon credits on international compliance markets — a revenue stream the company relied on to subsidise its bioethanol fuel for 1.5 million households.

The government cited concerns over “carbon accounting integrity” and risks of a single player monopolising Kenya’s national emissions quota. This collapse has sent shockwaves through the sector, highlighting the extreme sovereign risk inherent in business models that depend on government-validated carbon revenue.

Hummingbirds is attempting to navigate this regulatory minefield by focusing on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) rather than just avoidance credits (like cookstoves, which have faced intense scientific scrutiny over emission-reduction calculations).

The platform has pledged to:

• Selective Off-take: Sell only to buyers with verified science-based decarbonisation targets.
• Social Co-benefits: Target 250,000 beneficiaries, with a 50% focus on women’s economic inclusion.
• Transparency: Use the EDFI Carbon Sinks guarantee to provide a financial safety net for EU-backed climate investments.

“The challenge is creating a French ecosystem that fosters these initiatives,” says Jean-Gabriel Dayre, Co-head of Natural Capital at Proparco. “We need credible carbon markets that serve biodiversity and local communities simultaneously.”

Hummingbirds is entering the market at a moment of flight to quality. The collapse of KOKO Networks has highlighted the vulnerability of subsidised utility models to shifting political priorities. By contrast, Hummingbirds’ focus on physical land restoration — including mangroves and forests — may offer more tangible and verifiable assets. Still, as Kenya moves to assert greater control over its carbon sovereignty, even developers positioning themselves as high-integrity will need to demonstrate that their projects generate meaningful value for the local economy, not just returns for overseas shareholders.