March Week 1, 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,
Energy use in Industry and Buildings
1. Cylib
Founded:
2022 – Aachen, Germany
Founder:
Lilian Schwich, and Gideon Schwich
Elevator Pitch:
cylib offers an innovative and sustainable technology for Lithium-ion Battery recycling. For a true circular economy instead of further depletion.
Problem they solve:
As part of a renowned battery recycling team at RWTH Aachen University, the cylib founders developed an innovative recycling process for the true circularity of batteries. The years of development led to a sustainable and efficient recycling end-to-end process.
Impact:
cylib’s proprietary end-to-end process is characterized by the efficient, resource- and climate-friendly recovery of all valuable metals in an electric car battery from pack to cell level.
Stage:
Seed
Interested in cylib?
To learn more about their technology or get in touch, see here.
2. phelas
Founded:
2020 – Munich, Germany
Founders:
Justin Scholz and Masoud Ghods
Elevator Pitch:
We at phelas are developing an electricity storage system to use solar and wind power even when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing.
Problem they solve:
Our system Aurora uses a newly developed thermodynamic process to store energy in liquid air. Through this modular, affordable and sustainable technology, we pave the way towards a 24/7 renewable energy supply worldwide.
Impact:
On the way to the transition to 100%, a sustainable and resource-efficient storage is the missing piece of the puzzle. The phelas team is building exactly this piece.
Stage:
Pre-seed
Interested in phelas?
If you are interested in learning more, see here.
3. Rondo Energy
Founded:
2020 – Oakland, CA, USA
Founders:
John O’Donnell and Pete von Behrens
Elevator Pitch:
Rondo is delivering the world’s lowest cost zero-carbon industrial heat.
Problem they solve:
The Rondo Heat Battery powers industrial processes with renewable electricity, cutting energy costs and eliminating emissions. We deliver complete solutions to large-scale industrial energy needs worldwide – both as major capital projects and on a Heat as a Service basis. The Rondo Heat Battery provides temperatures up to 1,500°C, at less than half the cost and twice the efficiency of hydrogen.
Impact:
Rondo’s mission is to help the world’s most energy-intensive industries rapidly reach zero carbon emissions, at lower cost than fossil fuels and at large scale, today.
Stage:
Series A
Interested in Rondo Energy?
To learn more about this company, see here.
Industry
4. Oxara
Founded:
2018 – Zurich, Switzerland
Founders:
Thibault Demoulin and Gnanli Landrou
Elevator Pitch:
Oxara is transforming the construction industry by enabling a circular economy and offering healthier building materials.
We provide a range of sustainable building solutions with earth-based construction materials.
Problem they solve:
Our solution consists of using the landfill waste (excavation materials) that is locally available to produce a poured earth concrete. Because we would like the process to be simple and competitive to concrete, we developed a cement-free concrete technology that allows us to cast the excavation materials in fresh state using concrete infrastructure and accelerate the hardening over time in order to remove the formwork after 24 hours
Now Oxara poured earth concrete has all the advantages of concrete but it is cheaper and 90% more ecofriendly. And when industrialized, it constitutes a sustainable solution for the affordable housings problem and will contribute to the reduction of global CO2 emissions, construction waste and sand consumption.
Impact:
The construction industry is facing major challenges including scarcity of resources especially sand, CO2 emission due to large production of cement. Finally there is an increasing demand for affordable housing worldwide. Meanwhile, billions of tons of excavation materials are landfill per year. This waste material is currently un-used and occupy large volume of space.
Stage:
Series A
Interested in Oxara?
If you are interested in learning more, see here.
Waste (water & landfills)
5. Rebel Tech
Founded:
Berlin, Germany
Founder:
Jack De Santis
Elevator Pitch:
Rebel Tech is reducing e-waste by performing scalable high technology repairs.
Problem they solve:
Electronics repair is a laborious, expensive, and unscalable task. Too often, it costs more to repair a device than to buy a new one, since the industry hasn’t kept up with innovation. Rebel Tech is challenging the status quo by developing high-tech repair solutions. This allows scalability, a cost reduction of 80-90%, customer transparency, and an efficient e-waste reduction strategy.
Impact:
Electronic devices contain a range of materials, including precious metals, that often are extracted through environmentally damaging processes. Every year, more than 55 million metric tonnes of e-waste are generated globally, highlighting significant needs for effective repair and recycling strategies to mitigate such environmental impact.
Rebel Tech’s repair solutions provide an efficient and cost-effective service: helping significantly increase the lifespan of electronic devices, reducing the need for production and new purchases, while tackling the overall amount of e-waste generated and sent to landfill. Every device repaired delays the need to manufacture a new one to take its place.
Stage:
Seed
Want to learn more about Rebel Tech?
To learn more about their technology or get in touch 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 350+ climate tech startups to watch we have featured.
