Our Story
How we got started
EarthBase was founded in early 2023 but its genesis starts way back in 1995, when our founder Mark had just completed his postgraduate studies in sustainable development and natural resource development. This was the time when climate science was still frowned upon, big data was just a dream, and before the world recognised the problems of climate change and biodiversity loss, as it does today.
Mark spent 20 years in corporate and startup technology companies like Microsoft and Google specializing in GTM strategy and partnerships as a critical lever for growth, while working on side projects in sustainability, environmental impact, agriculture, and rural amenity as he did so.
Like many others, he was drawn back into a more sustainable-focused career because it is the biggest issue facing us today. He transitioned into climate and AI start-ups and as as Chief Commercial Officer and Chief of Partners he created and refined partnership networks and programmes built for scale and adaptation and tightly aligned to corporate goals.
Working in that world, he very quickly understood the challenges of climate change, nature loss and economic growth and resource consumption being deeply interconnected.
Mark realised that if businesses face shared problems that no-one can actually tackle alone, then radical collaboration is key.
In 2022, Mark co-founded Refi Venture Studio with Antony Yousefian, former CEO of BX-Earth and now VP of Climate at Wiliot. It brings a group of impatient engineers, scientists, and commercial experts who accelerate food system regenerative and decarbonization technology through joint development, investment, & talent from multiple sources. Refi Ventures now partners with EarthBase to provide the talent and backing needed to support an ever growing collaboration need.
The problem can’t be solved through linear thinking
To truly take on a system problem like climate or ecological sustainability and address its effect on human systems – food, energy, supply chains, sustainable cities - you need to collaborate.
Many businesses and government collaborate through strategic alliances, programs, ecosystems or co-development...
But many just don’t know:
- What to even collaborate on vs. build themselves
- How to collaborate with other organizations without losing competitive advantage
- How to pitch a sustainability collaboration internally
This is where EarthBase comes in.
We work with multiple companies in the same supply chain or process to fix their system problems & create new ways to commercialize through rapid collaboration.
This may call for new ways in which a businesses interacts with another, and profound ways to knit shared talent, IP and capital
It’s an ecosystem not an “ego system”
Most businesses have partner ecosystems and programs but often times see themselves as the apex of it, watching on and feeding it.
We do it differently: we create ecosystems that starts with quantifying the shared added opportunity of collaboration, where each participating organisation establishes it's current and future contribution to the overall economic or social value. This creates a more symbiotic relationship that drives different ways to innovate, co-develop and create.
EarthBase is committed to helping these balanced partnership ecosystems evolve rapidly and in as automated a way as possible, and at some level simply mimicking nature.