Climate tech advancements will play a vital role in diminishing the negative effects of global warming by addressing renewable energy, carbon capture, energy transition, electric mobility, leveraging abundant and regenerative materials and so much more. As funding continues to pour into the sector, climate tech startup PR efforts are necessary to show investors, partners, customers and the general public what brands are doing to achieve sustainability.
Listed below are recent, trending pieces of startup climate tech PR activity, and informative news pieces to review:
Equator secures $40M in commitments for fund targeting climate tech startups in Africa: Tech Crunch
Despite the precise role that technologies such as renewable energy, recycling and green transportation play in improving the world’s environmental footprint, raising venture capital has proved chiefly hard for the companies behind them in years past. However, investor appetite has been enhanced in recent times. In 2021, climate tech startups raised over $60 billion, about 14% of VC dollars raised that year; in Africa, clean tech accounted for 15% to 18% (about $863 million) of the total funding that venture capitalists poured into the region last year in companies such as Sun King, making clean tech second only to fintech.
Development finance institutions (DFIs), including the British International Investment (BII), FMO and Norfund, are active investors in the clean tech space, as are clean tech–focused funds such as All On, Ambo Ventures and Catalyst Fund. In the latest development, Equator, a climate tech venture capital firm focused on sub-Saharan Africa, has reached an initial close of its first fund with $40 million in commitments. Its limited partners include BII, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), the Shell Foundation and impact investor DOEN Participaties, according to the company’s statement.
3 tech startups transforming how people produce and consume: Landscape News
Pink Farms
Agriculture is at the center of the climate, land, and biodiversity agendas. It generates up to 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, accounts for 70 percent of freshwater consumption globally, and leads to air and water pollution through the overuse of agrochemical inputs. What’s more, millions of tons of crops are lost each year to drought, floods, pests, and the long journey from farms to cities.
SunCulture
In sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of the labor force works in agriculture, but yields for key cereal crops achieve less than 25 percent of their potential, according to the FAO. Most crops are rainfed, and as such are significantly impacted by the increase in droughts and floods caused by climate change; food prices and security are affected in turn.
Algramo
Humans produce 300 million tons of plastic waste each year – equivalent to the weight of all the entire human population – and only 9 percent of that is recycled, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). To shift the dial, Chilean startup Algramo is working to drive a refill revolution, in collaboration with large detergent brands and supermarket chains operating in four countries. “We want to empower customers to radically change their consumption habits,” says the company on its website.
Climate Startup Removes Carbon From Open Air in Industry First: The Wall Street Journal
One of the most important technologies to address climate change got a boost Thursday when a startup said it pulled carbon dioxide from the open air and stored it underground. The company has cashed in on the effort, potentially creating a viable business model that could kick-start a new industry.
Climeworks AG is a leader in the race to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, using a process known as direct-air capture. Customers, including Microsoft Corp., paid a significant premium to buy carbon credits generated by Climeworks, allowing them to effectively offset their own emissions.
Why Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund is investing in this entrepreneur and her plastic waste solution: About Amazon
As part of our commitment to support women climate tech entrepreneurs, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund is investing in Genecis, a bioplastics company founded by scientist Luna Yu. Genecis uses organic waste, like table food scraps, to create a biodegradable bioplastic that is an alternative to conventional plastic packaging.
The Climate Pledge Fund, which invests in climate tech companies developing innovations that help address global warming, recently announced its Female Founder Initiative to invest $50 million in women-founded and women-led climate tech companies. The program also invests money in incubators and accelerators that support women entrepreneurs, and it’s designed to help address the gender-equity funding gap that currently exists for women in climate tech. Women founders and their companies often receive a fraction of the venture capital funding—less than 3%—according to Pitchbook.
Ashton Kutcher’s Venture Firm Leads $15 Million Investment in Climate Tech Startup: Skift
Actor (and travel tech investor) Ashton Kutcher is at it again, as his Sound Venturesventure capital firm has co-led a $15 million investment in climate tech company Chooose.It’s the latest in a long chapter of travel investing for Kutcher, revealed on Friday, with previous deals including Affirm, Airbnb, Hipmunk and Citymaps, which was bought by TripAdvisor .
Norway-based Chooose, which offers climate solutions such as carbon offsetting, carbon removals and sustainable aviation fuel, already works with global companies and airlines including British Airways, Air Canada and Japan Airlines. It also works with Booking.com, Trip.com and SAP Concur.
Startups like this have fast emerged out of the need to give companies better insight into their carbon footprints when flying. This extra capital will go towards scaling up its platform, and further “embed climate action solutions into customer experiences.” It also plans to expand into new geographies, thanks to the funding provided by Soundwaves, which is the sustainability-focused vehicle of Kutcher’s fund.
5 Climate Tech StartUps Tackling Existential Global Problems: GritDaily
Checkout these climate tech startup PR stories:
ReSeed
ReSeed’s program begins with the farmer entering data through ReSeed’s mobile app, providing information about their crops, farming practices, and other relevant details. ReSeed then verifies this data using an AI engine that collects information from trusted sources. Based on this data, ReSeed generates carbon credits for each farm, representing the amount of carbon sequestered by the farmer. The credits are then paid directly to the farmers, incentivizing them to maintain and grow their carbon stocks. This creates a cycle of environmental stewardship, which benefits not only the farmers but also consumers, companies, and investors who support sustainable farming practices.
Impossible Metals
Impossible Metals is a robotics company that has successfully developed a new technology to collect critical metals from untouched regions five miles under the sea. The metals collected are important in developing batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). With the rising demand for EVs, mining efforts for these critical metals like nickel, cobalt, copper, and lithium, among others, have had detrimental impacts due to land-based mining and seabed dredging. Impossible Metals provides a sustainable solution by collecting these metals safely and harmlessly in the seabed using their robotic vehicle, Eureka 1, which hovers above the seabed without touching it. This new technology will combat the mining industry and provide more sustainable solutions, positively impacting global supply chains.
OceanShot
OceanShot is a coral restoration project that aims to protect coastal communities from the effects of climate change. By building a huge coral module and growing hundreds of baby corals that can be planted into reefs, OceanShot can revitalize marine biodiversity and bolster local economies that depend on the ocean. The project launched off the coast of Antigua and Barbuda in collaboration with the nation’s government and philanthropist JP DeJoria, has already seen promising results. In just four months since its deployment, fish that had left dead coral have returned, providing hope for the recovery of the ecosystem. With scalable solutions, OceanShot can protect coastal communities worldwide from the ravages of the climate crisis.
CarbonCure Technologies
CarbonCure Technologies is a company shaking things up in the concrete industry with a groundbreaking solution to reduce carbon emissions. They inject carbon dioxide (CO2) into wet concrete during mixing using innovative technology. But here’s the kicker: the CO2 makes the concrete stronger and reduces its carbon footprint. This means that their solution benefits the environment and leads to stronger and more durable concrete. With over 300 concrete plants worldwide already using their technology, CarbonCure has avoided over 200,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, which is no small feat.
Terramera
Terramera is a company that is developing sustainable pest control solutions to protect crops while reducing the use of harmful chemicals. The company’s technology is based on a patented platform called Actigate, which delivers plant-based pest control products more efficiently than traditional methods. Terramera’s mission is to create a world where healthy food is grown without compromising the health of the environment, farmers, or consumers.
Interested in learning more about our climate tech startup PR chops?
FischTank PR works with companies ranging from climate tech startup PR to Fortune 100. Our cleantech PR team has deep expertise working with technologies and innovators across the renewable energy spectrum spanning solar, energy storage, grid edge technologies, battery chemistry, electric vehicles (EVs), alternative fuels, decarbonization technologies, agtech, project financing, venture capital and so many more. Please contact us at [email protected] to learn more.
*Article written by intern Tessa Meehan*
