In this episode of Investing in Regeneration, André Sturmer - founder of the Regenerative Investing Academy (RIA) and co-founder of Atreyu, a regenerative investment firm - explores what happens when investors stop trying to control outcomes and start showing up as participants in a living system.
Before founding Atreyu with Ebru Kaya and launching the Regenerative Investing Academy, André spent over 15 years in investment banking with JP Morgan in London and Johannesburg, and later managed Tribest, a South African growth capital investor. It was the growing discomfort with the mechanistic, separation-based logic of traditional finance - and the realization that individual thriving cannot exist inside a broken system - that led him to co-create a new practice: one grounded in living systems principles, deep listening, and the understanding that investing is, at its core, an act of care.
Together, they explore how the Regenerative Investing Academy blends complexity science and the frameworks of the Regenesis Institute with the inner work investors need to do to shift their mindset. From the Ooooby investment in the UK organic food system to a schools financing fund in Kenya and a convertible in Latin America, André makes the abstract concrete - showing how patient capital, steward ownership models, flexible financial instruments, and relational due diligence can deliver both financial returns, wellbeing for communities and ecosystem health. A conversation about wholeness, aliveness, emergence, and what it truly means to co-invest alongside a living system rather than act upon it.
▶️ Investing as an Act of Care: Living Systems Principles & the Regenerative Investing Academy
00:00:00 Giving Up the Illusion of Knowing the Answers: André Sturmer's Opening
00:01:16 Introducing André Sturmer & the Regenerative Investing Academy
00:02:06 What Made the Standard Toolkit Insufficient for Regenerative Investing
00:05:36 The Theory of Change of RIA: Blending Living Systems & Inner Work
00:10:40 Investing as a Practice of Care, Not Control
00:11:33 André's Life Journey: From Investment Banking to Regenerative Finance
00:18:35 Transitioning from JP Morgan to Atreyu: What Had to Be Unlearned
00:25:08 Deal Origination the Regenerative Way: The Ooooby Case Study
00:31:20 Reconciling Site-Specific Care with Fund Mandates & Return Timelines
00:37:29 How Regenerative Investors Source & Cultivate Their Pipeline
00:40:00 Translating Insight into Capital Structure: Equity, Convertibles & Revenue-Based Loans
00:43:28 Covering the Cost of Deep Listening: Management Fees & Business Expenses
00:46:18 Scaling Like Mycelium: Depth Over Breadth
00:50:20 Living Systems Principles at the Core of the RIA Investment Paradigm
00:52:45 What Regenerative Investing Is Only Beginning to Understand: Measuring Aliveness
00:54:53 Magic Wand: From Individual Risk Profiles to Systemic Views of Capital
Resources:
🎧 From Impact Investing to Regenerative Investing: Co-Investing with Living Systems (Sidney Cano): Spotify | Apple Podcasts
Connect with Guest:
📱 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andré-stürmer-aa477/
Connect with Mónica:
📱 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/altamiranomonicaa/
