Innovation to tackle the climate crisis is a rapidly growing area with significant societal impacts and financial returns. Right now, not only VC firms but also conservative institutional investors are increasingly investing in early-stage climate companies.
Want to know where your money could make an impact? Check our listings below.
Here, we highlight a few promising startups addressing specific climate-related issues and
Plastic recycling
Plastic pollution is one of the most pervasive environmental challenges of our time. Therefore, solutions in this sphere not only offer significant ecological benefits but also present attractive financial returns as the demand for sustainable practices continues to grow. Here is a list of our three favorites in plastic use and recycling.
ByFusion produces construction-grade building material called ByBlocks made entirely from repurposed, often non-recyclable plastic waste. Then you can use them for sound walls, sheds, fencing, terracing and landscaping, accent walls, furniture.
And more, it not only converts plastic waste into high-demand, usable products but also enables communities, corporations, and municipalities to create new jobs and improve infrastructure.
Empower has found a way to generate value out of plastic waste, it uses blockchain technology to digitize waste streams and make them accessible to purchasers and auditors.
Despite millions of tons of plastic going to waste each year, there is a distinct lack of quality recycled plastic stock on the global market. So, Empower helps companies to make their impact and meet their environmental pledges allowing them to fund plastic clearing activities all over the world. At the same time, the blockchain-enabled tracking allows all collected plastic to be fully certified, standardized and sold on the global market.
A lot of plastic food and waste comes from the food industry. At Journey Foods, a team of food scientists and packaging experts helps food companies to optimize food journey monitoring its efficiency throughout the packaged foods market.
It is a software that analyzes hundreds of different parameters to suggest optimized portfolio recommendations. To date, the database of this climate tech startup has gathered over 2 billion ingredient insights.
Waste management
As global waste production continues to rise, innovative waste management solutions are critical to transitioning to a circular economy. These projects reduce environmental pollution, mitigate the impact of waste on public health, and often present lucrative investment opportunities. Here is a list of our three favorites in waste management.
Greyparrot is transforming waste management with its AI-based technology, providing 100% visibility into waste composition. Their AI Analyzers sit above conveyor belts in sorting facilities, using cameras to capture real-time images of waste flows.
Greyparrot’s AI can identify over 89 categories of material with 95% accuracy, analyzing characteristics such as mass, brand, and emissions potential. Currently, Greyparrot identifies over 25 billion waste objects annually in 50+ facilities across 20+ countries, partnering with global waste leaders like Veolia, Suez, and Biffa.
Great At-Home solution – “smart” recycling bin that senses, sorts and cleans recyclable waste. They actually get to the bottom of the recycling line – a single household.
Lasso is a home appliance that converts waste of all different types back into the raw material from which they were made. Items are loaded into the Lasso where they are scanned, identified, steam-cleaned, dried, and shredded into a pure raw form prized by manufacturers. Then each different material is deposited into separate bins.
Anaergia maximizes resource recovery from virtually any waste stream. It can transform waste into renewable energy, clean water, high-quality fertilizer, and recyclables.
Their technologies include waste separation, anaerobic digestion, and biogas upgrading and can handle every step in the waste-to-value process which makes it essential for municipal solid waste management, resource recovery in wastewater sector, and large‐scale farming and food production waste management.
Renewable energy
Clean energy solutions means more resilient and sustainable energy infrastructure. It also means a lot of new jobs. These projects not only help protect the planet but also drive economic growth. Here is a list of our three favorites in energy solutions.
It decarbonizes buildings with emissions-free geothermal energy. Bedrock’s technology makes geothermal borehole fields affordable, fast, and space-efficient to install, with predictable performance.
Their heat pumps have the highest efficiency of any HVAC solution, even compared to air-source heat pumps and VRF, and typically save >50% on annual energy and maintenance costs compared to a conventional system.
It is the next generation of solar cells. Solaires’ key innovation is their perovskite-based PVModules that, unlike traditional materials, can generate electricity from both indoor and outdoor light. They were one of the first companies to market PVModules for small, light, and flexible indoor applications. These modules are half the price, yield 2x better performance, and generate 50% less greenhouse gas emissions than conventional modules.
They have also patented their technology for Solar Ink that can be coated on different surfaces and used in a roll-to-roll manufacturing process.
Widely used lithium-ion batteries are flawed: kinetic impact can cause fire, making them unsafe and unreliable. In mitigating risks, available solutions are costly and involve added weight (heavy shielding) or reduced battery performance. This is where Safire comes into play.
Its patented Li-ion advanced battery safety technology prevents explosion/fire through an instantaneous liquid-to-solid transformation upon mechanical impact, and imparts ballistic protection — all inherent in the electrolyte chemistry. They rightly call it next generation safety for electric vehicles, electric aircraft defense industry.
