Founder Friday: Climate Tech Startups
NPR recently posted, “Climate Change And Record Breaking Heat Around The World.” A few days before that article, CNN published, “Hot records are outpacing cool by more than 10-to-1 this year as Europe, US brace for dangerous heat.” MIT recently announced that they may have discovered how to reverse climate change fully through space bubbles (link to story), but that seems like it wouldn’t be a viable solution for decades to come, if ever.
Scientists and innovators around the globe are racing to slow down and potentially reverse climate change. We thought it was time to share some of our favorite Climate Tech links highlighting notable startups tackling this global crisis…
- Business Insider: Climate tech startups raised nearly $40 billion in funding last year. Check out 5 of the best pitch decks that caught the eyes of investors.
- Exploding Topics: 20 Surging Climate Tech Startups (2022)
One of those startups, Proterra, even has a deep connection to our hometown of Greenville, SC. It’s now based in Burlingame, CA, but it’ll always be a Greenville company in our eyes.
That said, here are some of the startups that jumped out to us between those two articles…
- Carbon Engineering: Imaging the impact you could have if you could pull carbon dioxide directly out of the atmosphere. Carbon Engineering’s Direct Air Capture technology does that at scale.
- Framework: Creating modular electronics that reduce cost, are easy for consumers to repair, and reduce e-waste. We couldn’t help but think that this should have been an idea that RadioShack came up with back in the day.
- AMP Robotics: AI automation to identify and recover even the hardest-to-recycle materials. They are working to eliminate material waste from the world. Notice we didn’t say recyclables.
- ZeroAvia: Their solution powers planes with hydrogen-electric powertrains. And, by 2026, they believe their solution will have the same range as standard turboprop engines. Lower emissions. Lower operating costs. Lower maintenance costs. Not too shabby.
- ecoLocked: Eco-friendly concrete? ecoLocked is close to having carbon-negative concrete admixes. That’s a big deal when you consider cement clinker is responsible for 8% of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Redwood Materials: As Redwood points out, Lithium-ion demand growth will grow by +500% by 2030. Redwood is offering large-scale sources of anode and cathode materials being produced from recycled batteries.
- Juicy Marbles: We’re always skeptical that someone can replace a hearty steak, but we’d be lying if we didn’t say that these steaks look appetizing.
We’ll be closely watching these and other climate tech startups and what VC funding looks like for the space.