5 hours agoShareSaveDaniela RelphRoyal correspondentShareSaveCoralVitaCoralVita grows corals to restore dying reefs.Of this year’s Earthshot nominations, only 9% have entered the “Revive Our Oceans” category.”We are land creatures, it is out of sight and out of mind for a lot of people,” says Sam Teicher.He will be in Monaco this weekend and describes his approach to raising money for his business as “trying to harness capitalism for good”, stressing that “you need to be genuine and maintain integrity, you don’t want to blue wash or green wash”.And that strategy is working.The BBC has learnt that CoralVita has just won funding of about £6m ($8.1m) with investors led by Builders Vision – a philanthropic organisation created by Lukas Walton, whose grandparents founded the Walmart chain in the United States. It is one of the biggest funding offers for oceans work and will mean CoralVita can scale up and accelerate its restoration projects to help preserve the ocean’s biodiversity.The investment power of Builders Vision will now also support the Earthshot Prize in a newly announced partnership. It again highlights the impact Prince William can have in linking up environmental solutions with investors.Royal stardustThe Prince William factor has been a huge benefit to CoralVita as it works to scale up its business.”He helps getting in front of people who would normally not think it was investible or that it mattered,” says Mr Teicher.”We need to expand out to bankers, government leaders, tech specialists. He gets more people around the table.”And ultimately this is an event where money matters.For Mr Teicher the target is always the right type of investor.”We aren’t looking for people wanting a traditional five to seven year return,” he says. “This is a long-haul problem. We need people in it for the long haul.” …
