agriportance GmbH" was born out of the vision of bringing more climate protection into agriculture. At the same time, an economic solution for the future was to be developed together with the farmers - the founding story tells the beginning, the status quo and the vision for the future.
Thorsten Rohling as a software developer and Henning Dicks as a farmer have embarked on the journey together with many companions and started the project "agriportance" in 2020. Many hurdles, great successes and almost daily exciting new experiences have been experienced by agriportance and its companions since then.
Vision and mission for the energy market of tomorrow
After many discussions with customers and intensive development work, our vision has solidified as agriportance. We want to be the market pioneer for renewable energies from agriculture. Along the way, we are focusing on the currently flourishing biomethane market. This creates a climate-friendly source of energy that is independent of natural gas imports. We are currently leading the way in shaping the European market with an innovative business model developed in cooperation with the target group.
An IT specialist and a farmer in search of ideas
In the early days of agriportance, we were a small team consisting of the founders Thorsten and Henning. We were employed by companies in Münster. Thorsten as a software developer and Henning as an agricultural journalist. We emerged from a weekend and after-work project during the first coronavirus lockdown.
Our companions and supporters were various agricultural businesses who were passionate about the agriportance vision and some of whom also became our first customers. These included family farms from the Münsterland region as well as larger companies from all over Germany. They helped, for example, with the critical assessment of business models and with their network in the sector.
In the early days, we looked at a variety of possible business models. These included the topics of humus formation, emission reduction in animal husbandry and the use of biochar.
Biogas and biomethane was one of many topics on a long list, but we quickly realized that, on the one hand, it was the topic of more climate protection in agriculture and, on the other hand, it was also the most likely to correspond to a scalable and possible business model. Collaboration with potential customers was therefore the key to developing and testing the right idea for agriportance.
First paying customers as an important milestone
When Henning spoke to biogas producers, he quickly realized: "Regardless of whether I was talking to a farmer from Münsterland or a municipal utility from Bavaria, there were always two recurring problems that needed to be solved."
The first problem concerned the complex and bureaucratic greenhouse gas balance sheet that producers have to draw up in order to participate in the new and lucrative market.
Many people described the second problem to us as follows: "I received my EEG remuneration for almost 20 years - it just went through." How does that work with biomethane?" Questions were frequently asked about potential customers, contract design and the quality classification of biomethane. However, when we spoke to the other side, i.e. energy and mineral oil companies as customers, we also realized that these companies do not have the right network or approach to be able to reach the other side easily.
From these discussions we developed our solution, a software with which producers can solve all questions around the sustainability certification and behind it a match-making process with which producers and buyers are linked fairly and efficiently. In this way, we were able to acquire the first paying customers in the pilot phase in the summer of 2021 and thus start with a relevant business growth.
Scaling and market growth of the young company agriportance
Nach der Pilotphase ist uns eine schnelle Etablierung im deutschen Biomethanmarkt gelungen. So könnten wir nicht nur eine Handvoll Pilotkunden sondern bereits nach wenigen Monaten über 100 zahlende Kunden gewinnen. Und das nicht nur aus Deutschland, sondern auch aus einer Vielzahl weiterer europäischer Länder. Die ersten Mitarbeitenden ergänzten Thorsten und Henning. Als wichtige Stütze sind sie Antreiber der Unternehmensentwicklung bis heute. Über 30 Mitarbeiter:innen zählen mittlerweile zu unserem agriportance Team und weitere Stellen sind bereits ausgeschrieben. Kleiner Fact am Rande: Unsere Büros waren in der Regel schon beim Einzug zu klein. Gestartet sind wir in einem Co-Working-Space und über verschiedene kleine Büros sind wir nun auf in der Nähe des Münsteraner Hafens in einem hellen, modernen und offenen Office mit einer Bürofläche von 200m² tätig.
The market pioneer for biomethane in Europe
European, digital and customer-oriented - these are the three keywords that are currently driving us forward. Because we see a central strength of biomethane in being able to make the decentralized production of a green natural gas substitute and the circular economy possible throughout Europe. However, the scaling of the biomethane market is only possible through a digital infrastructure that enables an optimal development basis for all market players. Our proximity to customers in the past as well as in the future also gives market players exactly what they need.
