We are delighted to announce that applications are now open for the Oxygen Accelerator, an innovative venture programme designed to support entrepreneurs building the rural businesses that will transform the future of conservation in the UK.
Scaling Conservation across an entire economy is not something one organisation can do alone. It requires an ecosystem. Hundreds of businesses. Thousands of jobs. Specialist supply chains rooted in place, solving the operational problems that restoration actually requires. The natural capital economy needs operators who understand that rebuilding nature is also about rebuilding local economies. That’s what the Oxygen Accelerator exists to build.
Building the future of restoration
Earlier this year, we piloted the Accelerator with a specialist local business delivering herbivore management services at Invergeldie. Now applications are open to the next wave of entrepreneurs. The ambition is bold: to support the environmental start-ups solving the real delivery challenges restoration requires. To create the high-performance supply chain that conservation has always needed. To demonstrate that Scaling Conservation means supporting those doing the actual work – and that those businesses create jobs, skills, and opportunity for their communities.
“The natural capital economy needs a far greater range and diversity of operators,” said Fiona Milden, Managing Director of Oxygen Conservation. “Small businesses solving the real delivery challenges that landscape restoration requires. The Accelerator exists to build them, because scaling conservation means growing an entire ecosystem of businesses and jobs alongside it.“
The Accelerator is built on a simple insight: that there are exceptional entrepreneurs in rural communities with game-changing ideas for nature-based businesses, but they may need access to land to test ideas on, people who’ve actually done this before to learn from, and a path to early revenue that doesn’t depend on chasing grants for the next five years.
Capital, contrary to what most pitch decks suggest, is rarely the problem.
Why the next generation matters
The natural capital sector is growing fast. Demand for carbon credits, biodiversity units, regenerative products – it’s all increasing. But as the market grows, the bottleneck isn’t capital. Capital is starting to show up. The bottleneck is execution. It’s the operational fabric that makes restoration happen. And crucially – it’s the jobs. The skills. The employment and local supply chains that those businesses create.
“Initiatives like the Oxygen Accelerator send a strong signal that there’s real value and long-term opportunity in rural land management and conservation,” said Rab Robertson, Founder of Taiga Upland. “It will help create new businesses and skilled, meaningful jobs in Scotland’s hills, forests and wild places, supporting not just environmental outcomes but the long-term health of rural communities and families.”
What we’re offering
The Accelerator is built on a clear principle: entrepreneurs might not need capital as much as they need a platform. Here’s what we’re offering:
- Land to work on. Invergeldie Estate – 12,000 acres in Perthshire. Real working land where you can build and operate your business alongside our estate team, the ecologists, the people who deal with the actual constraints.
- Senior mentoring from Oxygen Conservation’s leadership team.
- Data that grounds your decisions. The carbon, biodiversity, hydrology, wildlife monitoring data we’ve collected across years of operating real natural capital at scale. The kind of evidence-led foundation that turns ideas into credible businesses.
- Revenue certainty. Supply agreements, offtake contracts, long-term service agreements. Where your business solves operational problems we face, we’ll contract with you.
- Institutional backing. Direct investment where ventures align with our strategy.
Everything we ask of applicants boils down to this: Can you, given access to our land, our expertise, and, where appropriate, our capital, build a commercially viable business that delivers real environmental and social impact in your local community?
We’re looking for people who can answer yes to that question. People who understand that rebuilding nature and rebuilding rural economies are the same project.
Piloting the Oxygen Accelerator
As part of the estate’s wider social impact strategy developed in collaboration with local groups, Oxygen Conservation has already piloted the Accelerator with a specialist business delivering herbivore management and environmental restoration services at Invergeldie.
Through this pilot, Oxygen Conservation is providing not only financial support but also drone and survey capability training, long-term contract security, access to proprietary data and monitoring software, and investment in surveying and monitoring capability to support evidence-led decision-making.
Every business will get a bespoke offer shaped around what they actually need to move from idea to operation.
What we’re looking for
Entrepreneurs working across natural capital and land restoration. Ecological surveying and biodiversity monitoring. Herbivore and wildlife management. Regenerative agriculture. Carbon measurement. Rural construction and infrastructure. Forestry and woodland management. Nature-based tourism and education. Local food production. Professional services supporting land management.
This programme is open to entrepreneurs based within 30 miles of Invergeldie Estate – Crieff, Comrie, Auchterarder, and the surrounding settlements. If you grew up in the area, or have family ties, we want to hear from you.
And we mean it: if you get through initial screening, your application will be reviewed by Ben Bidmead and the Invergeldie estate team – the people you’d be working with on the ground.
“This is genuinely one of the most exciting things we’ve launched at Invergeldie,” said Ben Bidmead, Invergeldie Estate Manager at Oxygen Conservation.“There are brilliant people out there that could fundamentally shape how restoration happens on the ground, that perhaps haven’t had the platform on which to trial and build out their ideas. The opportunity to support local entrepreneurs to build something that has lasting, scalable impact is incredibly exciting.”
How to apply
Submit a short Expression of Interest form telling us about your proposition, what stage you’re at, and what support would make the difference. Those shortlisted will interview with the Oxygen Conservation leadership and finalists will present their full business plans in September 2026.
If you’re building a business that solves a real problem in nature restoration, and you’re rooted in the communities around Invergeldie, we want to hear from you. This could be the beginning of something that transforms how conservation scales.
More information, the Expression of Interest form, and guidance for applicants: masterplan.invergeldie.com
For media enquiries please contact:
Abbey Dudas
Marketing Manager
abbey.dudas@oxygenconservation.com