Naia Trust
Naia Trust is a Switzerland-based animist trust (founded 2024) that deploys both return-seeking capital and strategic philanthropy into a portfolio of 50+ nature-oriented organizations across Latin America, North America, and Europe, spanning regenerative agriculture, biodiversity conservation, Rights of Nature advocacy, and earth-centered consciousness initiatives.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- Headquarters—
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Naia Trust does
Naia Trust is a Switzerland-domiciled (Zug) animist trust founded in 2024 that operates simultaneously as an impact investor and a strategic philanthropic foundation. It deploys both return-seeking capital and grant funding into a curated portfolio of more than 50 organizations across three intentionally nested thematic dimensions: Earth-centered Consciousness, Living Landscapes, and Economic & Political Systems. Geographically, the trust concentrates on Latin America (with particular depth in Mexico via partnerships such as Terra Habitus and CO Capital), North America (USA and Canada), and Europe.
On the investment side, the trust backs regenerative agriculture (e.g., Cairnspring Mills, Highlands Rewilding, Commonland, NESsT Lirio Fund), biodiversity science and conservation (e.g., SPUN, SEED Biocomplexity, Re:wild, Jocotoco Ecuador, Tompkins Rewilding Chile), Rights of Nature and Ecocide legal advocacy (e.g., Earth Law Center, Stop Ecocide International, Earthjustice), and nature-aligned venture funds (e.g., At One Ventures, ReGen Ventures, Superorganism, SWEN Blue Ocean 2). On the philanthropic side, it supports consciousness, wisdom, and cultural-movement initiatives (e.g., Plum Village, Animas Valley Institute, Project CETI, Center for Wild Spirituality, School of Lost Borders) and indigenous/lifeways organizations (e.g., IINAH Institute, Global Diversity Foundation). The trust does not develop proprietary technology; its offering to portfolio entities is capital plus strategic network access, supplemented by thought-leadership content distributed through the Lifeworlds podcast, essays, and conference appearances.
The organization is led by Founder Alexa Firmenich (formerly co-director of SEED at ETH Zurich's Crowther Lab) and Investment Partner Hiba Larsson (former Investment Director at UBS and New Hope Group; founder of Bydand Ag Partners with an initial AUD $50M portfolio), with strategic-direction support from Daniela Litowitz and a Foundation Board seat held by Nathalie Widmer. The team comprises approximately 5 employees, supported by an advisory bench of senior figures from biodiversity science, conservation, impact investing, and systems thinking (including Thomas Crowther, Lisbet Rauning, Cristian Samper, Daniel Schmachtenberger, and Nate Hagens). No revenue, AUM, deployed capital figures, or external funding rounds are disclosed in the source material.
Naia Trust firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Naia Trust
- Legal name
- Naia Trust
- Website
- https://naiatrust.com
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Naia Trust is a Switzerland-based animist trust (founded 2024) that deploys both return-seeking capital and strategic philanthropy into a portfolio of 50+ nature-oriented organizations across Latin America, North America, and Europe, spanning regenerative agriculture, biodiversity conservation, Rights of Nature advocacy, and earth-centered consciousness initiatives.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Naia Trust industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Impact Investing
- NAICS
- Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts (52592), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Philanthropic & Charitable Trust Services (FSAAANAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Land Trusts & Protected Areas (BPAGAGAC), Corporate & Institutional Trust Services (FSAAANAB), Conservation Easements & Land Trust Services (AFAMAMAH)
Keywords
Naia Trust business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Investment Returns: Return-seeking capital deployed across nature-oriented investments in Latin America, North America, and Europe. The trust generates returns through equity investments, venture funding, and other financial instruments in portfolio companies focused on biodiversity, regenerative agriculture, ecological restoration, and novel economic models.
- Strategic Philanthropy: Philanthropic funding deployed to support initiatives in earth-centered consciousness, living landscape restoration, and economic/political systems change. This includes grants to organizations advancing Rights of Nature, biodiversity valuation, regenerative economics, and cultural movements in service of life.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
Naia Trust product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Naia Trust is an animist trust that deploys return-seeking capital into nature-oriented ventures and channels strategic philanthropy toward initiatives that protect and regenerate living systems. Operating across Latin America, North America, and Europe with 50+ portfolio investments, the trust pursues three interconnected dimensions: Economic & Political Systems, Living Landscapes, and Earth Centered Consciousness. Its customer base is mission-aligned founders and capital partners in nature restoration, biodiversity, regenerative agriculture, Rights of Nature, and earth-centered consciousness.
Product overview
Naia Trust operates as a unified animist trust organization offering a synergistic ecosystem of services rather than a traditional product platform. The organization combines investment activities across return-seeking capital and strategic philanthropy, organized around three interconnected dimensions: Earth-centered Consciousness (advancing new worldviews and spiritual practices), Living Landscapes (partnering with nature for ecological restoration), and Economic & Political Systems (shifting rules of the game). Media offerings include the Lifeworlds Podcast and published essays. The investment portfolio spans Latin America, North America, and Europe, with ventures ranging from Rights of Nature legal advocacy to regenerative agriculture, biodiversity research, and consciousness transformation initiatives.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Lifeworlds Podcast: A podcast focused on the mindsets, skills and actions needed to partner with other forms of life, and how people can engage practically in restoration.
Products and services
- Naia Investment Portfolio
- Naia Strategic Philanthropy
- Lifeworlds Podcast
Companies that use Naia Trust
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Naia Trust technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability2 records
Naia Trust partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- Terra HabituscoreTerra Habitus is a Mexican environmental fund operating large-landscape conservation and watershed restoration. Alexa Firmenich serves as a founding board member, connecting Naia Trust to major land conservation initiatives in Mexico.
- Crowther Lab (ETH Zurich)coreFormer affiliation through co-director role at SEED center developing world's most holistic measure of biodiversity. Dr. Thomas Crowther serves as advisor, connecting to cutting-edge biodiversity science and valuation methodologies.
- Small GiantssupportingBerry Liberman and Danny Almagor from Small Giants serve as advisors, connecting to Australian impact investing and business leadership network.
- Biome TrustsupportingMatthew Monahan from Biome Trust serves as advisor, connecting to biome-focused conservation and restoration initiatives.
- Civilization Research InstitutesupportingDaniel Schmachtenberger serves as advisor, connecting to research on civilization-scale challenges and solutions navigation.
- The Great SimplificationsupportingNate Hagens serves as advisor. The Great Simplification is a media platform exploring complex systems and resource constraints, featuring interviews with thought leaders including Alexa Firmenich.
- BEF & WCSsupportingCristian Samper serves as advisor, connecting to Bird Endowment and Wildlife Conservation Society's conservation and biodiversity work.
- NatureFinancesupportingHiba Larsson serves as senior advisor to NatureFinance, a Swiss NGO working at intersection of finance and nature conservation.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Naia Trust competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- New Forests: A sustainable forestry and land-use investment manager operating across Australia, Southeast Asia, the US, and Europe. New Forests is comparable to Naia Trust's Living Landscapes portfolio in its focus on forestry, restoration, and landscape-scale natural capital investing.
- Landbanking Group: A nature-asset valuation and capital platform focused on embedding nature into economic decision-making and balance sheets. Landbanking is a Naia Trust portfolio company but operates a similar hybrid investment-plus-philanthropy mission at the intersection of ecological economics and capital markets.
- Arcadia Fund: A charitable environmental fund established by Lisbet Rauning supporting biodiversity, land conservation, and open knowledge. Arcadia is the most structurally comparable peer to Naia Trust as a charitable trust deploying capital into nature-focused initiatives, and Lisbet Rauning serves as an advisor to Naia.
- NatureFinance: A Swiss NGO operating at the intersection of finance and nature conservation, advancing biodiversity and natural capital into financial decision-making. NatureFinance is highly comparable to Naia Trust given its Swiss domicile, finance-nature interface focus, and direct advisor overlap (Hiba Larsson serves as a senior advisor).
- Equilibrium Capital: An impact investment management firm focused on climate-smart agriculture, food systems, and natural capital. Equilibrium is comparable to Naia Trust in deploying capital into regenerative and natural-capital-aligned ventures with a long-term orientation.
Broad incumbents
- The Nature Conservancy: One of the world's largest environmental organizations, operating across conservation, restoration, and natural climate solutions with an investment arm (NatureVest). Overlapping mission with Naia Trust in biodiversity protection and landscape restoration, but at much greater scale and institutional maturity.
- Generation Investment Management: A sustainable investment management firm combining fundamental equity research with sustainability analysis. Generation is a broader incumbent in sustainable investing with a more conventional financial-services structure and greater scale than Naia Trust.
- Patagonia (Holdings): An environmental apparel company whose ownership is held by the Holdfast Collective and used to fund land conservation and climate action. Patagonia is a comparable hybrid business-plus-philanthropy model that converts commercial success into ecological impact, mirroring Naia Trust's blended investment/philanthropy approach.
- Schmidt Futures: A philanthropic venture founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt supporting ambitious talent and ideas across science, technology, and environmental challenges. Comparable to Naia Trust in its willingness to fund unconventional, catalytic initiatives and its systems-change orientation, but at far greater scale.
- Bezos Earth Fund: A $10 billion philanthropic fund focused on climate and nature. It is a much larger incumbent operating with overlapping themes (biodiversity, restoration, food systems transformation) but without Naia's animist/consciousness framing or European anchor.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Naia Trust social profiles
Digital presenceNaia Trust financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Naia Trust leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Naia Trust funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Naia Trust M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Naia Trust
What does Naia Trust do?
Naia Trust is an animist trust that deploys return-seeking capital into nature-oriented ventures and channels strategic philanthropy toward initiatives that protect and regenerate living systems. Operating across Latin America, North America, and Europe with 50+ portfolio investments, the trust pursues three interconnected dimensions: Economic & Political Systems, Living Landscapes, and Earth Centered Consciousness. Its customer base is mission-aligned founders and capital partners in nature restoration, biodiversity, regenerative agriculture, Rights of Nature, and earth-centered consciousness.
Is Naia Trust a public or private company?
Naia Trust is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Naia Trust founded?
Naia Trust was founded in -1. It employs 1 to 10 people.
How does Naia Trust make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Investment Returns are the primary driver. The others are strategic Philanthropy.
Who are Naia Trust's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are New Forests, Landbanking Group, Arcadia Fund, NatureFinance and Equilibrium Capital. Broad incumbents are The Nature Conservancy, Generation Investment Management, Patagonia (Holdings), Schmidt Futures and Bezos Earth Fund.
Does Naia Trust have an API?
No public API is recorded for Naia Trust.
What industry is Naia Trust in?
Naia Trust's product category is Impact Investing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAAANAI, Philanthropic & Charitable Trust Services, with a secondary code of BPAGAGAC, Land Trusts & Protected Areas. Its NAICS code is 52592.