GOVO Venture Partners, along with M4 Investing and the Florida Opportunity Fund, is co-leading a $5M seed investment round in Miami-based Kind Designs.
This is the third portfolio company investment GOVO has made since announcing the launch of its venture fund, GOVO Fund I, in January.
It’s estimated that by the year 2100, Miami will be completely submerged by water by 6 – 10 feet “resulting in mass migration,$217 Billion in lost homes and Miami being submerged,” according to the Kind Designs. Empowering nature with technology, Kind Designs is a climate-tech startup that’s addressing rising sea-levels by revolutionizing the outdated and traditionally toxic seawall construction industry.
Anya Freeman
Through its use of innovative, patent-pending 3D printing technology, and eco-friendly materials, Kind Designs is producing the world’s first 3D-printed Living Seawallsâ„¢ï¸. The Living Seawallsâ„¢ï¸ mimic coral reefs and mangroves which protect coastal communities from floods and storm surges, while creating marine habitats that host biodiversity and improve the quality of the water, The Living Seawalls sequester carbon and collect essential water quality data through embedded sensors.
Anya Freeman, Kind Design’s founder and CEO shared, â€we are thrilled to have a Florida-based firm with deep roots in the community and government expertise lead our round, enabling us to protect all coastal cities with Kind’s Living Seawalls and grow far beyond our home state of Florida.â€
In a recent social media post, Anya also shared this sentiment, “Your team of investors knows how to get stuff done. It’s GO TIME in Miami!!”
Rob Panepinto
Rob Panepinto, GOVO’s managing general partner, said of the investment, “In response to sea level rise, government agencies throughout the world will seek to adopt policy and guidance for ecologically responsible sea walls. By applying its proprietary and innovative technology, Kind Designs is setting the standard and solving a global problem. We look forward to collaborating with our co-investors and the Kind Designs team as they work to become the market leader in the space.â€
GOVO Venture Partners is a Winter Park, Florida based company. GOVO Fund I is a venture fund that invests, seed round through series A, in early stage companies for which doing business with government or navigating government regulations is an important success factor.
4 Investing is a Florida based family office that owns and operates a diverse portfolio of companies. The firm also invests in real estate, private equity funds, and direct venture capital.
Earlier this summer, The Florida Venture Forum and co-host, Space Florida, hosted the 2023 Aerospace + EmergingTech Forum awarding over $200,000 in cash and VC investment and Kind Designs took home $40,000. In addition to the cash prizes awarded, DeepWork Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Orlando, is announced they will also invest in Kind Designs.