Alvéole, a global provider of urban biodiversity solutions, has acquired Apicoltura Urbana S.r.l. Società Benefit, an Italian company specializing in urban beekeeping. The purchase brings Italy into the group’s growing European footprint, which already covers France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Apicoltura Urbana works with large Italian companies, among them Pirelli, Barilla, Siemens and Petronas. Its offer pairs urban beekeeping with biodiversity monitoring, environmental data and employee engagement programs, and it relies on an established network of local beekeepers across the country. The company also describes environmental education as one of its core activities. The two businesses are not strangers. They have worked together since 2017, a relationship both sides now describe as built on shared ideas, mutual esteem and a common outlook on the future. Founder Giuseppe Manno will stay at the head of Apicoltura Urbana. Alvéole says it will invest to speed up the next stage of the Italian company’s growth.
The deal comes as biodiversity moves higher on corporate agendas, prompted in part by frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), which has increased demand for tools that measure and enhance environmental impact. Alvéole began as a pioneer of urban beekeeping in Canada and now works with some of the largest real estate groups in the world. Its current approach combines data gathered on the ground with satellite data to gauge how buildings affect biodiversity. Landlords can use the results to show investors how they manage nature-related risks, and to give tenants sustainability stories they can engage with. Alex McLean, Alvéole’s founder and CEO, said the Italian company has built something extraordinary in Italy. In his view, real estate is starting to treat biodiversity as a strategic priority, and he sees a major opportunity to help property investors turn those ambitions into concrete action.
The companies plan to grow faster in Italy by offering a wider range of biodiversity solutions to the commercial real estate market. The stated aim is to combine Apicoltura Urbana’s local experience and long-standing relationships with Alvéole’s international biodiversity platform, so that more property owners can understand, measure and improve the natural ecosystem around their buildings.
