Impact ventures blending scientific innovation with commercial insight and philanthropic investment to drive measurable environmental gains.
As a venture studio, EnviroStrat advances the Blue Economy through projects that blend ocean regeneration with economic outcomes including seaweed farming, regenerative ocean farming, reef restoration, sustainable aquaculture and scallop restoration.
A powerful call to action in restoration rather than extraction was shared with more than 100 community and political leaders at the Te Kori a te K? Nature Symposium in Akaroa on New Zealand’s South Island. Opening the event held by ?nuku R?nanga at Akaroa marae, R?nanga Chair Rik Tainui shared the 200-year vision guiding action to restore the mauri of Akaroa harbour and create pathways for ecological repair and local jobs – including through regenerative seaweed farming. Home to generations of wh?nau and of immense significance to Ng?i Tahu, ?nuku was the site where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed within the Ng?i Tahu takiw? on May 30, 1840 — the first of three Treaty signings on Te Waipounamu, New Zealand’s South Island. More than 150 years later, in 1998, it was also the…
Turning possibility into practice has shaped everything we do. Much of our focus has been on activating
new revenue streams and attracting investment to deal with large and often seemingly unsolvable
environmental challenges.
We are grateful for our advisory clients and the investors and collaborators in our impact ventures
returning and new – for trusting us to design and deploy approaches that value ecosystem services, co
design interventions for freshwater, ocean, and land-based ecosystems, and grounded approaches to
adaptation and resilience, risk mitigation, and regeneration.
By Laura Read EnviroStrat Geospatial Analyst EnviroStrat is combining geospatial analysis, Earth Observation (EO) and impact ventures to accelerate restoration of New Zealand’s coastal ecosystems. Since joining EnviroStrat in 2023, I’ve been building our GIS and Earth Observation capability to better understand and support our impact ventures aimed at regenerating our natural environments. The ORA Reefs project has initially been focused on clearing kina barrens, a symptom of the overfishing of their key predators and global warming. This phenomenon is not just seen in Aotearoa but globally. Once healthy, thriving kelp forests are reduced to barren areas by sea urchin…
Fresh from the ANZSA Seaweed Summit 2025, Huna Hough talks us through some of the highlights for this year’s themed event: From Niche to Noticed: Building the Value Chain for our Seaweed Economy. Huna: I attended the ANZSA Seaweed Summit with the rest of the Greenwave Aotearoa team, and being new to the seaweed space, it was great to meet the people behind much of the work I’ve followed and researched over the past year. I also met others doing exciting projects I hadn’t yet discovered. There were many highlights from the day, but I particularly enjoyed hearing Dan Crossett…
We want to thank and acknowledge the work by EnviroStrat intern Ryan Whitener, 23, who joined us from a small coastal town of El Segundo in California. Ryan completed a degree in Organisational Communication at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU). His professors included Dr. Rob Gailey – who met EnviroStrat founder Dr Nigel Bradly and together developed the opportunity for EnviroStrat to host graduates from the University through international internships. Reflecting on his three-month with EnviroStrat in 2025, Ryan says he’s grateful for the knowledge and confidence gained from being an integral part of a small team that’s working across…
Now is the time to support and scale what works and ensure finance flows to where it can drive real, lasting impact.
Natasha Jacobs
I would say to young people worried about the state of the ocean and climate, don’t be too doom and gloom about it. I know it’s really hard, and I know it can be really sad and scary sometimes – but when you start to meet people that are working in this space, you realise just how many people actually care.
CEO Dr Nigel Bradly talks business model shifts, environmental impact, and the benefit of hindsight to New Zealand's National Business Review Journalist: Kate McVicar. About five years ago, EnviroStrat wanted to create environmental change rather than wait for it to happen, and started to develop its own startup ventures. In 2021, Envirostrat launched its first venture, Greenwave, followed by Kinanomics, Save Our Scallops, and ORA Reefs. The ventures are owned under the Regenerative Ocean Trust, which also receives philanthropic donations to help fund the projects. However, the intention is to grow the startups to a scale where they can be…
EnviroStrat is pleased to announce it is the 49th member of the global 1000 Ocean Startups coalition. The Coalition seeks to invest in and scale at least 1000 transformative startups by the end of the UN Ocean Decade - and to join, members must be active beyond the stage of ideas or concepts, with an innovative, scalable and “ocean positive” model. EnviroStrat has been directly investing in, and leading, multiple ventures in New Zealand in recent years - which began with our Greenwave Aotearoa venture and our Kinanomics venture. We've expanded to sustainable scallop aquaculture and the restoration of wild…
One of the greatest challenges in marine restoration is the lack of visibility. Unlike terrestrial ecosystems, where changes can be observed easily, much of the work being done underwater remains hidden from view. At the start of the year, EnviroStrat was gifted an underwater ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) to support our regenerative aquaculture and reef restoration efforts for Ocean Regeneration Aotearoa (ORA). We are currently exploring this specialised piece of equipment as a way to supplement monitoring work, helping us assess marine habitats before and after restoration interventions. The ROV provides a solution by allowing us to see, document, and…
