Munich App Studio Shows Love for Tapirs

Matthias Laabs of Tapir Apps in Munich, Germany, named his business for his favorite animal: the Tapir. His company’s logo is a Malayan Tapir, which is a species of Tapir that can be found in Sumatra and other parts of Southeast Asia. Peaceful creatures, Tapirs eat various understory vegetation and fruits found on the ground. The largest threat to Endangered Malayan Tapirs is deforestation in places like Sumatra; because of land clearing, they’re losing both their source of nutrition and protection from predators.

“When I founded Tapir Apps, I chose the Tapir name… not only because those odd-toed ungulates are incredibly amazing animals, but also with their critical status [IUCN Classification] in mind,” said Matthias.

Matthias is not a first time philanthropist, as he supports a variety of organizations on a personal level. However, he wanted to be sure that his corporate donations were going to a reputable, transparent and responsible organization.

“In general I strongly prefer organizations like [Rainforest Trust] over those… who seem to have a bit too many industry-interests and support green-washing,” said Matthias.

Since 2012, Tapir Apps has been donating 10 percent of its revenue to protecting Tapir rainforest habitat. Their product, aCalendar, is a leading calendar app for Android phones. For World Tapir Day in 2016, they ran a promotional sale and donated an additional 40 percent toward protecting Tapir habitat, contributing a 50 percent donation for each purchase of the app. Through their generous donation, Rainforest Trust was able to help support a project in partnership with Yayasan Konservasi Ekosistem Hutan Sumatera (KEHUS) to create a reserve in the Bukit Tigapuluh ecosystem in Sumatra.

“From the beginning it was clear that once I earned money with aCalendar, some of it should go into protecting Tapirs – which means protecting rainforests,” said Matthias.

In the past, Matthias and Tapir Apps were able to save over 296 acres of Indonesian rainforest for their beloved mascot. This year for World Tapir Day on Thursday, April 27, Tapir Apps ran a special sale and contributed to Airo Pai Community Reserve in the Peruvian Amazon, which is home to the South American Tapir. Tapir Apps was able to raise funds to help save 3,000 acres of Peruvian Amazon in honor of their mascot, the Tapir.

Header photo: Matthias Laabs, founder of Tapir Apps, helps protect Tapir habitat through Rainforest Trust. Photo by Axel Öland.