Category: 🚀 STARTUP REPORTS

Leveraging Existing Infrastructure To Generate & Store Energy

Hyperlight Energy is an energy generation company building directly upon the existing infrastructure of legacy O&G. Hyperlight focuses on those wells that leverage enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as the basis for their two-part energy generation and storage solution.

Sniffer Robotics Sets The Standard For Detecting Methane Leaks And Gas Emissions

Sniffer Robotics Sets The Standard For Detecting Methane Leaks And Gas Emissions

Leak detection and emissions quantification are wildly significant data points for effective control over pollution
Sniffer Robotics is a technology as a service company that leverages innovative technology to automate gas emissions detection and management services
Sniffer Robotics’ technology provides data-rich, actionable information that allows clients to transform operations to quickly analyze and address emissions issues digitally

Takachar: A Win-Win For Farmers And Air Quality In Rural India

Takachar Impact Startup Report

Takachar is focused on deploying small scale portable equipment to convert waste biomass into resources such as fuel, fertilizer, and biochar. Instead of burning agricultural or forestry waste, responsible for major air quality impacts in India and beyond, farmers and utilities can use Takachar’s small scale portable equipment to convert that waste into a biochar based fertilizer blend.

Charging Your EV While Eating Your Lunch • ChargeNet

ChargeNet Startup Report

EV charging stations are increasingly needed to accompany the arrival of EVs in the US market. While traditional gas stations can’t be deployed anywhere, the flexibility of the electrical grid allows for charging stations to be installed in innovative locations.

The Biomass Replacement For Diesel • Farm to Flame Energy

Farm to Flame Energy (Cleantech Open 2020) Startup Report

Farm to Flame Energy replaces dirty and expensive diesel generators with biomass generators that operate at half the cost. By replacing diesel generators with Farm to Flame Energy’s technology, 250K tons of CO2 can be abated from diesel generators per year by 2026.

How Extracting Natural Biogas From Lake Kivu Can Prevent A Limnic Eruption

(Image: Envato Elements)

Philip Morkel, Hydragas’ founder, built expertise in major energy projects in Africa over the past 30 years, which includes ins and outs of Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu can extract up to $50 billion in revenues from the lake over at least 50 years. The technology has the potential of managing the arctic permafrost being threatened by climate change.

Osmoses: Transforming Chemical Separations

(Image: Osmoses)

Osmoses (CleanTech Open Northeast Finalist), founded by CEO Francesco Maria and CTO Holden Lai, is working on scaling and marketing molecular membranes to reduce energy and resource use in the industrial chemical industry.

Precision Ag’s ‘Right to Repair’ Issue • Howe Neat

Precision Ag’s ‘Right to Repair’ Issue. (Image: Unsplash)

Daniel Howe runs a precision agriculture venture called Howe Neat which is providing farmers the flexibility with both hardware and software solutions that avoid the ‘right to repair’ limitations placed upon existing products and services.

The Spheromak Approach To Fusion • CTFusion

The world is moving towards clean energy sources. (Image: CTFusion)

Fusion is a suitable replacement for fossil fuels because it is carbon-free and provides equal or greater reliability with higher power density working in concert with conventional renewables to provide deep decarbonization across the entire energy ecosystem.

The Company Scaling Reforestation to One Trillion Trees

How Terraformation is enabling us to scale our reforestation efforts globally. (Image: Terraformation)

Terraformation is working on fighting climate change through scaling reforestation efforts. Their team starts at the ground level for reforestation projects, where they come to assess the land, plan out what seeds and native trees are in the region, plan and monitor using their apps and sustain and scale projects through financing mechanisms such as carbon offsets.

An Alternative to Food Based Bio-Fuels

An example of a Xano Grass plot of land. (Image: Hexas)

Hexas may stem negative externalities from both deforestation and the use of marginal cropland with the successful deployment of its biomass solution. This would be accomplished by converting marginal farmlands into quality farmland in about five years while providing biomass to be used for a number of applications instead of trees.

The Future of Solar

A new type of approach to building solar panels. (Image: NovaSolix)

NovaSolix is developing a new solar device that will generate the cleanest and cheapest form of energy on Earth by converting all light in the solar spectrum.

Sequestering Carbon in the Built Environment

Using timber bamboo to deliver a customized, code-compliant wall system that is redefining the low-rise built environment. (Image: BamCore)

Carbon sequestration is a critical component to mitigate climate change. Where technology innovations to capture carbon fall short, traditional techniques can help.

BamCore is harnessing the power of timber bamboo and industrialized construction techniques to decarbonize the built environment.

Eliminating Hexavalent Chromium from the Coating Industry

Solving climate change through corrosion resistant coatings. (Image: Maxterial)

Corrosion and wear are two major problems with manufacturing metals. The impacts of corrosion costs industry around $2.5T. Current solutions, such as hexavalent chromium and cadmium, are ineffective and dangerous. Creating a better solution for corrosion can protect the environment. A durable corrosion resistant coating can address all the issues enable the future. This is what Mehdi Kargar, CEO of Maxterials, is solving.

Helping Green Hydrogen grow with… Oil Storage Assets?

Storing energy in Hidrilyte. (Image: ICL Innovation)

Carbon 280 has basically developed a liquid battery, except rather than holding energy in the traditional electrochemical sense (i.e. lithium-ion battery), they have developed a material called hidrilyte which enables them to store hydrogen in a mineral-based magnesium oil. It is one of the few technologies I have come across that manages to improve its storage capacity with each cycle rather than diminish, and CO2 is never emitted during their process.

How To Convert A Diesel Engine To Run On Ethanol

Clear Flame is adapting diesel engines to run on Ethanol. (Image: ClearFlame)

Electrification of everything is a growing trend in the market. However, electrification is not necessarily the be all, end all solution, especially when it comes to transportation. ClearFlame Engine Technologies offers a complementary solution to reducing emissions from diesel engines. BJ Johnson, ClearFlame CEO and co-founder, talks about how the company is enabling heavy-duty and off-highway industries to transition to fossil-free heavy-duty powertrains faster and at a lower cost than any alternative.

Re-Nuble – Enabling Vertical Farms to go Organic

Re-Nuble: The world's enabler of closed-loop food for soilless farms. (Image: Re-Nuble)

Globally, agriculture accounts for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, uses nearly two-thirds of freshwater, and in many countries is also the biggest contributor to water pollution. Vertical and indoor farming is one solution that can fix these problems by reducing carbon footprint and resource usage. The one catch is if these farms want to produce organic produce, some of the inputs used are not organic. This is where Re-Nuble comes in, producing inputs for vertical and indoor farms that are organic-enabling. Tinia Pina digs into this issue and how Re-Nuble is filling in this gap.

The Leading Edge Of Solar Wafers

Leading Edge is revolutionizing the solar industry with their new silicon wafer manufacturing technology. (Image: Leading Edge)

The solar industry is booming, and it is going to keep accelerating – solar is here to stay, and Leading Edge is innovating to improve on energy generation in solar cells. In 2020, 82% of all new power capacity at the utility-scale was renewable. Leading Edge’s technology will only continue to help drive the prices of new solar projects down.

Daily Catch – The Hidden Story Behind Our Food

Telling the story behind our food. (Image: Unsplash)

This combined with social media can make for rapid changes in consumer trends as well as how producers operate and produce food. More importantly, the value that Daily Catch mentions can be amplified by promoting its value through creative outlets like TikTok, Instagram, and live and in-person. Effectively bringing education to the masses by leveraging technology could spur a “climate education sector” that could contribute to significant carbon reduction by promoting climate positive brands and practices.

The Hidden Impact Of Using Traditional Sunscreen

Sunscreen that doesn't hurt the enviornment. (Image: Unsplash)

Gadusol Labs, a synthetic biology university spin-out company based in Corvallis, OR, has begun to produce a natural, powerful antioxidant that harnesses the inherent UV protective abilities of marine life. Katie Pettinger, CEO and Co-Founder, explains why she and her team began to work on materializing new, organic UV-protective compounds to protect our skin and the environment.

Storage Innovation Is Key To Hydrogen’s Next 5 Years

Storage is hydrogen's most critical application in the next 5 years. (Image: Steelhead Composites)

Not many people know how to store the smallest element in the universe at nearly 700 times the pressure of our atmosphere (1 atmosphere= ~14.69 pounds per square inch). As it turns out, in the hydrogen economy, such knowledge is deeply coveted.

Banking On Climate Solutions

Financing the infrastructure of the future. (Image: Unsplash)

There are many new ways for people to take part in fighting climate change. Ravi Mikkelsen discusses how Atmos Financial is building banking solutions that anyone can contribute to and help the world transition to a clean economy while earning money on their deposits.

Finding The Next SOURCE Of Water

SOURCE’s revolutionary technology will do for drinking water what solar panels have done for electricity, making water a renewable resource. (Image: SOURCE)

SOURCE, a hydropanel technology startup backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, is focused on producing clean water for consumption. Cody Friesen, SOURCE’s CEO, elaborates how big this problem is, how SOURCE is tackling this problem, and how SOURCE is thinking about impact/impact metrics.

Mycelium As A Super Material For Reducing Plastic Pollution

Finding a place for mycelium in pollution reduction. (Image: Ecovative)

As reducing plastic pollution and greenhouse emissions from animal agriculture have become priorities in stopping the climate crisis, companies have been searching for material substitutes that can both sustain their business long term as well as promote a sustainable lifestyle for consumers.

Wildfire, You’ve Met Your Match

The machine that will give firefighters an edge against fires. (Image: PyroNemesis)

Wildfires are not only devastating to communities and habitats, but also to economies. The need for powerful new firefighting capabilities is higher than it’s ever been, and growing. The urgency to bring more technology to this market has never been stronger.

Acuity Agriculture Puts Data To Work for Farmers

Using data to help farmers manage their crops.. (Image: Unsplash)

Acuity Agriculture is a California-based precision agriculture company and Steven Dodge is the founder. Steven and his team have done a remarkable job contracting work with farmers in the West and delivering data-based solutions to help farmers manage their crops.

How To Deliver Supply Chain Transparency And Equity In Farming

AgUnitys’ global technology platform empowers thousands of organizations working toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals to connect with ‘the last mile’ farmers and communities. (Image: AgUnity)

Throughout the pandemic, sustainability and quality are back in focus for many brands, since consumers are paying attention to these issues and are willing to pay for a better product. David Davies took time to discuss how AgUnity is helping by providing transparency to the supply chain.

Using Phytoplankton To Sequester Carbon

This week, I had the opportunity to chat with Philip Kithil, CEO, and Salvador Garcia, CRO, from Ocean-Based Climate Solutions to chat about how their Autonomous Upwelling Pump systems are pumping deep-ocean nutrient-rich seawater to fertilize phytoplankton on the ocean surface to sequester carbon.

Building the utility of the future to support 100% EV adoption

Driving us quickly towards 100% EV adoption. (Image: Unsplash)

In a significant milestone for the development of its microgrid technology, ElectricFish has been issued a patent that uniquely covers the creation of a “utility of the future” that is built of locally decentralized energy storage units and dynamically optimizes energy to enable a seamless and grid-resilient transition to EV charging.

Oil wells for clean energy production and storage

Finding a way to repurpose oil wells for the clean energy transition. (Image: Unsplash)

Renewell Energy’s timing may be opportune as they’re working on a prototype in Texas and it should be ready to test in mid-July as the White House’s pending infrastructure plan includes about $17B to remediate oil wells, which is what Renewell would like to do.

The magic mix needed to get to $1.50/kg Hydrogen – Origen Hydrogen’s solid state electrolyzer innovation

Figure-1.-Novel-combination-of-electrolyzers-and-advanced-electrodes-is-specifically-designed-for-large-scale-applications

Not even the best policy environments can overcome the reality of physics and unit economics. Cheaper materials to produce more efficient and affordable electrolyzers will enable low cost production of green hydrogen, but some rather steep market milestones still need to be met. Getting electrolyzers to a scale that enables sub $1.50 / kilo of hydrogen is a major milestone that will enable incredible decarbonization across the board.

Mending the Fashion Supply Chain

Making it easy to discover and buy ethically and sustainably made clothing. (Image: Unsplash)

The fashion industry is often cited as the second largest polluting of our planet today, and it’s often not just bad for the environment, but also for the garment workers who most often live in communities disproportionately affected by climate change.

Getting California Out Of A Drought – By Using Trenches

Leveraging underground trenches to mitigate water loss due to evaporation. (Image: Lauren)

Surface water evaporates and Umida AG’s underground trenches will try to mitigate evaporation. During the winter months, when there’s an abundance of water, the trenches will help recharge underground aquifers for future water use.

All Power Labs | Turning forests into clean energy and fertilizer

Process woody biomass into grid tied electricity. (Image: All Power Labs)

All Power Labs (APL) can help California manage the forest fuels that led to these wildfires and can provide clean energy remotely. And, APL’s biochar as output from their biomass conversion process can help sequester carbon in the soil that in turn grows food.

YellowTin – Helping Electrify America

Explore, learn, plan and consider clean energy choices at your own pace, with your own data. (Image: Emile)

Corporations and municipalities are working to meet greenhouse gas emissions reductions commitments. Additionally, many states in the US have announced climate action plans with a greenhouse gas reduction target. YellowTin is here to help by providing a clean electrification platform to engage residential consumers to advance their decarbonization goals.

Sway – Making Consumer Goods Compostable

Going straight to biodegradability. (Image: Sway)

The ocean is a unknown place whose resources are becoming more known as we innovate to reverse the effects of climate change. From power generation to carbon sequestration, ocean technologies span the gamete for how they can impact life on land. One specific case of this is in plastics, something often thought of as polluting the ocean.

Miravel – Distributed Food Resources

Bringing fresh ingredients, beautiful design, and sustainable living together into one easy and accessible package. (Image: Miravel)

One main driver behind foodtech innovation is to reduce food waste and the resources that go into producing food. Supply chain logistics is another contributor to the problem.

A Green Solution for Insulation Materials, Hempitecture

Using plant based solutions for insulation. (Image: Hempitecture)

Insulation is one of the fastest growing segments of the construction market, due to the increased focus on improving the energy efficiency of the built environment, which is currently responsible for approximately 40% of our domestic energy consumption and carbon footprint.

A World Powered by Algae

Manta Biofuel

Manta Biofuel is using algae to make a cost-competitive, renewable replacement for crude oil. They closed >$1.3M in seed capital

Now That’s A Great Wrap!

Great Wrap Plastic

Great Wrap is developing PHA-based products because it can break down in any environment – it’s marine biodegradable and home compostable

A Solution for Complex Plastics

Arqlite

This week Sebastian Sajoux, the CEO of Arqlite, talks about how Arqlite is fitting in to help with plastic recycling and re-use.

PlasticBack is Converting Plastics Back Into Oil

PlasticBack

PlasticBack has developed a unique and proprietary technology of plastic waste chemical recycling at far lower temperatures than current processes (below 100 degrees, compared to between 600 and 1000 degrees).

Brightmark is Turning Plastics into…More Plastics?

brightmark

Waste to value processes are gaining momentum. Brightmark, a startup innovating to solve the problem of waste, has announced its intent to form a joint venture with SK Innovation to build a plastics pyrolysis plant in South Korea.

How Two Beards are Tackling Waste

mobius

mobius is making plastics that are good for the environment from industrial organic waste. They turn that waste into plastic like materials.

Startup Storing Energy in Ice Cream

Axiom Cloud

Before Axiom Cloud there was Axiom Energy. Both companies were set out to make commercial refrigerators efficient. Axiom Cloud made it out.

Stepping Up Towards Zero Waste

ALBA W&H Smart City (ALBA W&H)

This week Sandra Sajen from ALBA W&H Smart City talks about their solution for waste collection, and how they are thinking about the future of the sector.

LAVO is building hydrogen based batteries for your home

LAVO Hydrogen Battery

LAVO is betting that hydrogen becomes ubiquitous in the residential/consumer space as well – proposing a 40 kWh hydrogen battery that competes with the Powerwall 2 – which has 3x less capacity than the first iteration of a hydrogen battery from LAVO.

Eradicating Poverty With Upcycled Food

Agricycle

Agricycle recently won FoodBytes! Pitch 2020 with their vertically integrated portfolio of ethically sourced and upcycled CPG brands with the mission of eliminating extreme rural poverty through market-based solutions. The team gratefully shared more information on their business and impact.

Automate Your Recycling Efforts

Cleanrobotics recycling

CleanRobotics is a mission driven startup that is reinventing the way we think about recycling across the globe. We are creating a robotic trash can by combining next-generation robotics and sensor technology to automatically sort recyclables from everyday trash. By deploying our TrashBots, we can achieve huge impact.

Making Ecommerce More Sustainable

Mandatum

This week, Damian Estrada, the Founder and CEO of Mandatum, discussed what he is working on. Mandatum is turning e-commerce’s unsustainable inefficiencies into money for the Amazon Rainforests, savings for shoppers, and profits for brands. Below are the key takeaways from the conversation.

Susty, a Marketplace for Conscious Consumers

Consumer behavior plays a big role in trends and markets. Tara Jafarmadar Mujica, the CEO of Susty, explains what she is working on and how she is hoping to influence consumer behavior through product awareness – social, health, and environment.

Analytics That Turn Waste – Green

This week Nik Balachandran, Founder and CEO of Zabble, discusses what he is working on and the broader waste management sector. Can you describe what Zabble does and its impact?Zabble’s mission is to enable organizations to achieve zero waste by delivering real-time actionable insights. We have developed a 360-degree zero-waste management platform that: 1) helps universities and […]

Coffee Lovers, You Can Now Use Coffee Grounds As Oil

The Kawa Project is taking spent coffee grounds and upcycling them to create coffee oil and refined oil – both have multiple use cases, from soap and cleaners to candles. Following a previous piece on Kaffe Bueno’s business, Aaron Feigelman, the Founder of The Kawa Project, discusses more about coffee upcycling and what he is working on […]

Leather Made From Mycelium

MycoWorks, a startup creating materials at the intersection of art, nature and biotechnology using mycelium, recently raised a $45M Series B.

The Seed (g)Round for Coffee

Wake up and smell the coffee! Kaffe Bueno, a startup upcycling coffee grounds, raised $1.3M in seed funding. Kaffe Bueno is using green chemistry and biotechnology to extend coffee’s potential – minimizing emissions and maximizing reuse.

An Apeeling Raise

Apeel Sciences announced $30M in new funding, in addition to its $250M raise earlier this year. Apeel Sciences develops plant-derived shelf life extension technology for fresh produce that improves quality and reduces food waste. Why does this matter? According to the UN FAO, over 40% of fresh produce goes to waste. More than 50% of the global fruit supply is […]

The Future of Clean Hydrogen

Ways2H just secured a $2.5M investment from Pacific6 Enterprises. The company uses a thermochemical process to convert waste into renewable hydrogen with a net zero-carbon footprint and without incineration.

A Bright Outlook for Solar

SunDensity just closed their $2.5M initial round of financing, which was led by Clean Energy Ventures. SunDensity has developed a photonic smart coating (PSC) technology that increases the power output of any solar module by as much as 20%. The coating turns blue photons red, allowing for greater absorption.

Proteins From Bugs – But It Tastes Good

When you hear sustainable or alternative proteins, most people often think about plant-based or cell-based meats. However, there’s much more than just meat – there are also other forms of protein, like insects.

Act Soon Or Face a Liquid Death

Throughout human history, transporting food and water has been critical for survival. Today we have plastic water bottles, but how did this start?

Carbon Offsets Driving Reforestation

Let me begin by saying Pachama is one of my favorite up and coming startups that has entered into the market selling carbon offsets to corporations.

Clean Concrete Is Here

CarbonCure Technologies just closed a round of funding for an undisclosed amount of money.

Keep Your Cocktails Clean and Classy

Air Company uses proprietary technology to transform carbon dioxide from the air into vodka while helping solve some of our planet’s most forthcoming problems.

An Interview With Gate 5

Gate 5 was founded in 2011, and the Gate 5 System has recently been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy as a superior method for processing wastewater solids (sewage sludge) and other organic waste.

An Interview With SolarX

Solutions that are consumer facing are great but are not enough on their own. There needs to be a bigger push for innovation in cold chain and supply chain.

A Conversation With Compost Crew

Compost Crew provides curbside compost collection for thousands of homes in Maryland, Northern Virginia and D.C. and helps many areas businesses to recycle their organic waste.

Company Spotlight on Wasteless

Wasteless is an AI-based tracking solution for grocery stores to offer customers dynamic pricing based on product expiration date, helping retailers optimize markdowns, increasing their profitability.

1,000 Miles PER Tank – Hydrogen Super car!!

The Hyperion XP-1 is everything a hydrogen and car enthusiast has dreamed of. The perfect hybrid of ridiculous and borderline unnecessary performance specs while also doing right by the environment.

A Meaty Seed Round To Watch

New Age Meats, a biotechnology company growing meat from animal cells, announced $2M in seed extension funding, bringing their total seed round to $4.7M. New Age Meats crafts meat to be tastier, safer, and more sustainable than meat made any other way.

Renewal Mill Company Spotlight

Renewal Mill

This week, we talked with Caroline Cotto, Co-Founder and COO of Renewal Mill, to discuss how Renewal Mill is looking to the future of food upcycling and organic waste bans.

$3.5M To Sort Trash – With AI

AI-model-Detecting-impurities-in-Plastics-PET-line

Greyparrot, a startup that automates waste composition analysis using AI-powered computer vision software, announced additional funding of $1.1M, bringing their total seed round to $3.5M.

“Dirt Cheap” Hydrogen Production Is Nearly Here

Compared to other green hydrogen producers, SGH2’s process displaces 23-31 tons of carbon dioxide (others displace 10-12 tons) and requires only 1.8 kWh per kg of hydrogen (others require 62 kWh per kg of hydrogen).

Pulling Water Out of Thin Air With Solar Panels

Zero Mass Water Raises $50M

Zero Mass Water raised $50M this past week to further the development and deployments of it’s Hydropanels which provide clean drinking water to communities, commercial and industrial properties in over 45 countries.

Freewire Raises $25M in Series A to Push EV Charging Infrastructure Forward

Freewire Raises Series A

The two big headlines that stood out the most was Freewire – a battery integrated EV charger – raises $25M in Series A funding to bring their yet to be priced – but likely priced at ~$120K battery integrated fast charger to market. How we got that pricing for Freewire’s boost charging solution – insider info…

Historical Sites can now host Solar

freesuns solar

Freesuns – which has been designing and piloting a “tesla solar roof” equivalent product for historic buildings where they utilize their tile like design to maintain the historic building’s roof look and feel.

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