June Week 5, 2023: In this monthly series, we highlight 5 climate tech startups to watch by featuring the incredible startups, companies, or projects that are leading the fight against the climate crisis.
Each month, we add these startups to our running list, which we have categorized based on fuel emission sector data from the most detailed, recent data SBC could identify from the World Resource Institute in 2016.
This initiative from Startup Basecamp aims to support founders by giving them access to networking and exposure opportunities that help them to scale and finance their climate tech solutions.
Do not hesitate to join our collective movement by requesting your membership.
With care,
Guillaume and the SBC TEAM
Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use
1. Rhizocore
Founded:
2021 – Edinburgh, Scotland
Founders:
Toby Parkes and David Satori
Elevator Pitch:
Working with symbiotic fungi to grow healthier, more resilient forests.
Problem they solve:
GBelow the surface of almost all forest floors, are networks of extraordinary fungi that support their trees by supplying essential nutrients through their roots. These fungi quickly die when their host trees are felled, and when we try to replant on these areas, trees have a harder time establishing, leading to slower growth rates, higher mortality, and lost potential for carbon sequestration.
Impact:
At Rhizocore, we develop technologies to grow symbiotic fungi that enhance the growth, resilience, and carbon sequestration potential of newly planted forests and woodlands.
Whether it is for woodland restoration, commercial productivity, increasing tolerance to environmental stresses or capturing more carbon, our unique approach for growing locally-sourced mycorrhizal fungi ensures local adaptability to suit our customer’s sites and needs.
Stage:
Seed
Interested in Rhizocore?
To learn more about their technology or get in touch, see here
Cross-cutting enablers
2. Nanomox
Founded:
2020 – London, UK
Founders: Francisco Malaret, Dr. Kyra Sedanks Campbell, and Jason Hallett
Elevator Pitch:
Sustainable advanced materials.
Problem they solve:
It is well established that advanced ZnO particles have properties that outperform the ones of conventional ZnO grades. However, the generation of these advanced particles are often high energy, high cost, and production is limited to small scales. These limitations reduce the affordability of these products and this cascades to the application. As such, without reducing this price point of production these emerging and high-cost applications for ZnO may not be able to penetrate the market effectively.
Impact:
We develop sustainable and cost-effective advanced materials and thin films, such as metal oxide particles, with sizes ranging from nano to macro, for widespread applications of today and tomorrow. Our fine control of particle properties enables us to create advanced materials that are more efficient than conventional ones, which allows improvement of existing products and development of new ones.
Stage:
Seed
Interested in Nanomox?
If you are interested in learning more, see here.
Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use
3. Hyfe Foods
Founded:
2021 – Berkeley, California
Founders:
Andrea Schoen and Michelle Ruiz
Elevator Pitch:
Transforming the carbon we have into the carbon we need.
Problem they solve:
The glucose needs of the bioeconomy are forecasted to outpace supply over the next 10-20 years. Future feedstocks must come from underutilized waste streams that are abundant, low-cost, and non-disruptive to food and agricultural systems.
Impact:
Hyfé uses nutrients washed away in trillions of gallons of food manufacturing wastewater to power the creation of carbon-negative essential goods.
Biomanufacturing can solve some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity – but it’s too expensive. The feedstocks that power bioproduction account for a significant portion of operating expenses and are vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.
Stage:
Seed
Want to learn more about Hyfe Foods?
To learn more about their technology or get in touch see here.
Cross-cutting enablers
4. Deep.Meta
Founded:
2020 – London, UK
Leadership:
Osas Omoigiade
Elevator Pitch:
AI you can understand, that identifies metallurgical defects in real time and suggest parameter adjustments.
Problem they solve:
We’re in full swing of a new iron-age, evident from the 1.8 bn tonnes of steel produced every year. However, steel making is tricky and around 25% needs to be reworked due to production errors. For every tonne of steel made, two tonnes of CO2 are produced.
Impact:
Using Deep.Meta’s software to optimise production efficiency directly reduces the amount CO2 produced by minimising rework. This makes the steel produced greener and frees up energy on mills for other activities. We envisage a world where increased efficiency of steel mills means that excess energy can be allocated to power nearby communities and towns.
Stage:
Seed
Interested in Deep.Meta?
To learn more about this company, see here
Cross-cutting enablers
Founded:
2021 – Oakland, California
Founder:
Lukas Hackl and Bilen Akuzum
Elevator Pitch:
Electrified chemicals manufacturing for a carbon-free future.
Problem they solve:
Our supply chains for the transportation, utility, and aviation sectors will be vulnerable and beholden to others for key technologies necessary for advancement. Without action, the U.S. risks long-term dependence on foreign sources of batteries and critical materials.
Impact:
Aepnus develops low-cost electrolysis equipment to electrify and decarbonize the production of commodity chemicals needed to transition to a carbon-free industry. Salts of Lithium, Sodium, NMC Cathodes, as well as Hydrochloric acid, Sulfuric Acid, and Caustic Soda, are some of the chemicals we currently focus on.
By electrifying mineral and chemical refinement trains, we enable domestic production of these materials and position the US as a leader in the global energy transition.
Stage:
Undisclosed
Interested in Aepnus Technology?
If you are interested in learning more, see here.
Do you know of other startups we should include in our Startups to Watch Series? Submit to our list!
How do these startups fit in with all the others we have looked at?
Check out our running list of the 400+ climate tech startups to watch we have featured.
