01 — Thesis 02 — Portfolio 03 — About us 04 — Beyond Returns Pitch Us

Supporting founders building a better world.

Pre-seed and seed investments into tech startups operating in the field of climate or education.

i.

We invest our own capital.

No outside LPs, no fund cycle. Every cheque is our own — so we can decide fast and stay for as long as it takes.

ii.

We back exceptional founders.

We invest in people first: mission-driven teams who refuse to accept a broken part of the world.

iii.

We think in decades, not fund cycles.

Patient capital with no exit clock. We stay close through the long, non-linear work of building something that lasts.

iv.

We've been in the founder's seat.

Bernhard built Busuu from an idea to 100M users and a landmark exit. You get an operator who has done it — not just funded it.

01 / Thesis

Education and Climate:
two of the world's biggest challenges.

First cheques into mission-driven teams. Fast decision-making. Hands-on experience from a founder who has been in the trenches himself.

α

EducationLearning · Skills · Literacy

Where it started. Busuu taught 100 million people a language; since then we've backed founders working on coding, speech therapy, financial literacy and leadership.

A あ 汉 ñ Ω ع 100M learners
β

ClimateEnergy · Carbon · Adaptation

Home-energy intelligence, carbon markets, climate-risk software. We back founders cutting emissions and helping people and places adapt to a warming world.

Building inside the mission but outside these lines? Pitch us anyway →

02 / Portfolio

In good company.

A selection of active investments. Every cheque is our own capital — invested with conviction, held patiently.

Alumni — Fatmap (acq. Strava) · Busuu (acq. Chegg, NYSE:CHGG)
03 / About

Bernhard Niesner.

Bernhard Niesner

"The best founders aren't chasing a market. They're refusing to accept a broken part of the world."

Bernhard is the co-founder and ex-CEO of Busuu, which he led for 15 years — building one of the world's largest language-learning communities, more than 100 million users — through to its acquisition by Chegg (NYSE: CHGG) in 2022, one of Europe's largest EdTech exits.

Today, Tarifa Holding is his family office: investing personal capital into exceptional founders across Europe and beyond. Every investment is made independently, with patience, conviction, and a long-term perspective. Founders gain not only an investor, but a partner who has built, scaled, and exited a global technology company.

04 / Beyond Returns

Impact is the thesis,
not the side effect.

Most of our portfolio carries a measurable social or environmental mission. The commitment continues outside the cap table.

i.

Education access

Widening access to learning and language — the mission that began with Busuu and continues through every cheque we write.

ii.

Climate action

Backing exceptional founders building practical climate solutions to reduce emissions, strengthen resilience, and protect our planet.

05 / Contact

Building for a
better world?

info@tarifa-holding.com ↗

Every pitch is read personally. Climate and education founders, pre-seed and seed, across Europe and beyond.