September week 2, 2022: 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
Founded:
2021 – Reston, VA
Founder:
Serge Znu
Elevator Pitch:
X3EM is building a network of 3D printed sustainable skyscrapers to help solve the housing and climate crisis for young families in need of affordable housing.
Problem They Solve:
1 billion people globally are homeless. X3EM can build sustainable homes for homeless people across the country.
Impact:
X3EM address SDGs 11 (sustainable cities), 1 (no poverty) , 6 (clean water and sanitation), 7 (affordable energy and clean power), 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure)
Stage:
Seed
Interested in X3EM?
To learn more about this company, see here.
Waste (water & landfills)
Founded:
2021 – Saratoga, CA, USA
Founder:
Roger Smullen, Dede Smullen
Elevator Pitch:
We deliver sustainable forest waste disposal by up-cycling forest waste into carbon negative products and energy. Our goal is to #EndCatastrophicWildfire in California.
Problem They Solve:
Our goal is to end catastrophic wildfire by improving forest health. By creating value in otherwise unmerchantable forest waste from vegetation management projects, we will lower the cost of forest management enabling more of it. Simultaneously, our end products such as biochar have follow on benefits, e.g. improved soil health, water holding capacity and carbon sequestration. Ending catastrophic wildfire will have profound effects on people’s health and welfare and will have a positive impact addressing our climate crisis.
Impact:
As a first step, we are partnering with licensed timber operators and bringing mobile pyrolysis equipment to the forest eliminating costly (in $ & GHG’s) trucking of forest waste and generating carbon sequestering biochar. At the same time with grant funding we are developing biochar demonstration projects that highlight the techno-economic benefits of biochar in compost, stormwater remediation and manure management applications.
Stage:
Pre-Seed
Interested in earth foundries?
If you are interested in learning more, see here.
Founded:
2010 – Kibbutz Shomrat, Israel
Founder:
Alex Harel
Elevator Pitch:
EZPack provides off-grid clean water solutions for drinking and agriculture.
Problem They Solve:
Water scarcity is huge problem the world is facing, and farmers all over the world suffers from significant reduction in water availability. In rural areas and in undeveloped countries many times it comes with minimal or no availability of electricity grid.
Impact:
Our solutions aim to provide water by:
1. utilizing existing water sources that are not suitable for drinking or irrigation (contaminated, brackish water, seawater) by using RO technology for purification and desalination,
2. Using atmospheric water generator technology to condensate water from the air.
All our solutions are working on green energy, and therefore helping fighting climate change and reducing CO2 emission.
Stage:
Series A
Interested in EZPack Systems?
To learn more about their technology or get in touch, see here
Cross-cutting enablers
4. Hazel
Founded:
2019 – Atlanta, GA, USA
Founder:
Ed Thomas
Elevator Pitch:
The carbon removal industry needs consumer funding to hit the 10 gigatonnes of carbon that need to be removed annually. Hazel makes it fun and rewarding for consumers to fund carbon removal by providing NFT-based rewards in a fun, web3 mobile app.
Problem They Solve:
Society needs to remove 10 gigatonnes of carbon from the atmosphere annually to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Last year, we removed 200 megatonnes–or 2% of the target. And virtually none of that came from consumers.
If we’re going to hit the removal volumes we need, we need to bring consumer spending to the carbon removal market.
Although consumers want to have an impact on climate change, they historically won’t pay for carbon removal. We’ve identified the reasons why, and we’ve built a platform to bring them to the climate change fight.
Impact:
Hazel, our consumer mobile app, sells carbon removal credits to consumers by focusing on the rewards consumers get for funding a project. Instead of focusing on guilt or people’s altruism, we focus on having a fun, measurable impact on the climate change challenge.
In Hazel, our buyers are rewarded with valuable digital rewards–non-fungible tokens, or NFTs — that they can use in-app in a light, gamified experience. This makes it fun for users to fund carbon-removal projects and have an impact on climate change, and critcally, it gives them a direct personal incentive for making a purchase.
No other solution out there combines the three elements Hazel does: top-quality carbon removal projects, valuable NFT rewards and a fun, gamified mobile app experience. Based on our testing, we know that this combination has the potential to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for our carbon-removal partners annually.
Stage:
Seed
Interested in Hazel?
If you are interested in learning more, see here.
5. Tourastio
Location:
Lithuania
Founder:
Aurimas Virzintas
Elevator Pitch:
Tourastio is an online travel agent that offers only carbon neutral trips.
Problem They Solve:
Travellers look for ways to offset the carbon footprint from their holidays however it is hard to find and book a sustainable journey.
Impact:
We created a platform where travellers can book travel packages that are carbon neutral.
Stage:
Pre-Seed
Want to learn more about Tourastio?
To learn more about their technology or get in touch see here.
Do you know of other startups to watch we should include? 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 250+ climate tech startups to watch we have featured.
