Around the world, environmental startups are tackling climate change concerns head-on by pioneering products, services, and climate action resources through eco-friendly startups. From algae microfarms to solar paneling design software — these sustainability startups and their ambitious founders will motivate you to greenify your startup and make the world a better place.
Best Environmental Startups to Watch in 2024
Green startups are on the cutting edge of new technology while also helping the world at large recover from years of overuse. While environmental sustainability can help every human hope for a better future, these companies are taking action on green practices that will help everyone in the years to come. Here are some of the top environmental startups, along with detailed information on what they do, their funding, and how they are changing sustainable business.
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1. Biome Makers
Location: Davis, California
Recovering soil health is an essential step towards a more sustainable future. Biome Makers, a startup founded in 2015 by Alberto Acedo and Adrián Ferrero, is dedicated to improving the world’s soil health — one farm at a time. Detailed reporting and analytics provide farmers with soil fertility, biodiversity, and health stats to help them make informed, impactful changes.
2. Aurora Solar
Location: San Francisco, California
Industry: Climate Tech
As the demand for alternative energy sources increases, developing solar energy solutions is more popular than ever. Aurora Solar provides solar energy companies with software to design and sell solar paneling systems for customers remotely. With the US government planning to invest nearly $2 trillion into the industry, the sky’s the limit for sustainability startups like this.
3. Treeapp
Location: London
Industry: App
What if you could plant a tree across the world, from your phone in just one minute? With Treeapp, you can. Within its first year, it planted 230,000 trees across the globe. Customers simply select a reforestation project to support, plant a tree, track the global impact for free due to Treeapp’s partnerships with businesses and organizations around the world that are equally passionate about sustainability.
4. EcoCart
Location: San Francisco, California
Industry: Ecommerce
EcoCart is a browser extension startup company that allows users to offset their carbon emissions for free from select businesses. This eco-friendly startup, founded in 2019 by Peter Twomey and Dane Baker, claims to have offset 4 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, saved more than 8,000 trees, and helped power more than 700 homes thus far.
5. Bluebird Climate
Location: New York
Industry: SaaS
Bluebird Climate is on a mission to help brands across the world measure their sustainability practices to open partnership opportunities with other businesses. The software focuses on the consumer products industry, which is responsible for a large number of carbon emissions let go into the atmosphere. Bluebird hopes to decarbonize the industry by giving consumer brands the ability to produce and market products that have little or no carbon emissions.
Listen to our podcast interview with the founder of Bluebird Climate below!
6. Viva Maris GmbH
Location: Germany
Industry: Food
Based in Schenefeld, Germany, Viva Maris GmbH is a green startup company that is committed to protecting the ocean through nutrition, education, and raising awareness about the human impact on the ocean. To do this, Viva Maris GmbH creates food products using an ultra-sustainable oceanic ingredient — algae.
7. Algenesis
Location: San Diego, California
Industry: Material Science
It’s no secret that plastic is polluting our oceans, land, and air. Algenesis, an eco friendly startup founded in 2016 by Dr. Stephen Mayfield, is doing something about it. Using their patented Soleic™ technology, Algenesis produces fully biodegradable plastic made from algae. Not only is this a renewable product, but it is also a high-performance material allowing it to compete with plastics we currently use.
8. Bottle+
Location: Switzerland
Industry: Consumer Goods
Bottle+ is making a reusable water bottle that can turn flat water into sparkling water with the use of a small CO2 tank attached to the bottom of the bottle. The bottle will ultimately reduce the production of single-use plastic waste that ends up in our landfills and in our oceans.
9. Smart Microfarms
Location: Richmond, California
Industry: Algae
Smart Microfarms doesn’t just grow highly sustainable, profitable, and nutritious algae known as Spirulina. Their smart microfarms technology makes this type of farming accessible to even novice algae growers, decreasing the need for expert advice during production and helping to boost food security and entrepreneurship.
Learn more about the fascinating world of algae startups such as Viva Maris, Algenesis, and Smart Microfarms by watching our Business Ideas Using Algae video:
10. Fuergy
Location: Slovakia
Industry: Renewable Energy
Not only is Fuergy focused on providing alternative energy sources — they prioritize making this transition as seamless and appealing as possible. Founded in 2018 by Branislav Safarik, Radoslav Stompf, Rastislav Kuba, and Vladimir Miskovsky, Fuergy hopes to help speed up the trajectory of mitigating the use of fossil fuel energy. The company has developed both a highly scalable hardware device and AI-powered software known as “BrAIn” to optimize energy consumption and reduce energy costs for users.
11. MPOWERD
Location: New York
Industry: Clean Energy Solutions
Founded in 2012 by John Salzinger, MPOWERD, a B Corp that aims to help create a more sustainable future while providing light to those without access to electricity. The startup offers a suite of green products, however, their primary product is their packable, solar-powered Luci Light.
12. Heliogen
Location: Pasadena, California
Industry: Sustainable Energy
Attempting to solve the world’s CO2 issues, Heliogen looks to replace fossil fuels with a suite of innovative products. The company is a renewable energy tech startup that uses sunlight to help replace fossil fuels. Their HelioHeat is a carbon-free high temp heat that can power industrial processes that produce steel, cement, and petrochemicals. They also have HelioPower, which uses sunlight to create power using supercritical CO2 turbines that can help power up data centers and mining operations.
13. Entomo Farms
Location: Canada
Industry: Food
In 2014, brothers Jarrod, Darren, and Ryan Goldin set out to change the food industry by creating products made out of an unlikely protein — crickets. Their company, Entomo Farms, creates flours, snacks, pet foods, and protein powders that are full of nutrients such as protein, fibers, and minerals. Not only does their business model stand out from the competition, but Entomo Farms’ products also help fight against food waste and pollution — altogether working toward a more sustainable future.
14. Encamp
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Industry: Software
Encamp’s mission is to increase compliance efficiencies for sustainability goals within organizations while also creating a positive environmental impact. Their goals to mitigate risk and transform environmental compliance programs are made possible through the use of tracking digital data and unifying workflows across multiple facilities.
15. FuelGems
Location: Austin, Texas
Industry: Nanotech
Rather than focusing on producing electric or hybrid vehicles, the folks at FuelGems have dedicated themselves to making traditional fuels more sustainable. Founded by serial entrepreneur Kirill Gichunts, FuelGems produces a fuel additive that reduces the emissions created by diesel, gasoline, and biofuels.
16. Handprint
Location: Singapore
Industry: Greentech
Handprint is another company looking to connect companies with their consumer’s demands on sustainability practices. By offering a host of different causes like habitat preservation, mangrove reforestation, coral reef reconstruction, and ocean plastics, businesses can align with one of these goals using Handprint’s software and contribute small amounts to each cause.
17. Grove Collaborative
Location: San Francisco, California
Industry: Ecommerce
Grove Collaborative is an increasingly popular home and personal care product brand that creates hardworking, environmentally-friendly products. Their product line ranges from laundry and home to pet and beauty products with an ambitious goal of being 100% plastic-free by 2025.
18. Next Gen
Location: Singapore
Industry: Food
Next Gen, a plant-based food startup, wants to provide a solution to the environmental impact the agricultural industry has by creating alternatives to animal products. Co-founded in 2020 by Timo Recker and Andre Menezes, Next Gen’s chicken alternative product TiNDLE uses 74% less land and 82% less water according to the startup while producing 88% less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional chicken farming.
19. Bowery Farming
Location: New York
Industry: Agriculture, Vertical Farming
Bowery Farming is developing new automation technology for growing and monitoring plants. Their unique growth monitoring solutions include vision systems, sensors, and automated elements to keep track of plant and crop health from seed to harvest.
20. Hempitecture
Location: Ketchum, Idaho
Industry: Sustainable Materials
With hemp legalized across the United States, startups are harnessing the versatility of the plant to create innovative solutions such as Hempitecture. Founder Matthew Mead launched the company to provide a sustainable alternative to traditional insulation products, and their HempWool does just that. A fiber batt insulation product, Hempitecture’s hypoallergenic HempWool is made of 92% hemp fiber and boasts a low carbon footprint.
21. Coral Vita
Location: The Bahamas
Industry: Marine Conservation
With a noble goal to restore the earth’s dying coral reefs, Coral Vita creates high-tech coral reefs to efficiently and effectively restore coral reefs while providing educational opportunities and serving as an eco-tourism attraction. They also offer an adopt-a-coral program for potential donors to get involved and make an impact of their own.
22. Krill Design
Location: Italy
Industry: Design
Krill Design is an Italy-based design startup that embodies the phrase “turning trash into treasure.” Their chief product, the Ohmie Orange Lamp, is a light fixture made of Sicilian orange peels making the lamp entirely compostable and supporting the circular economy of the area.
23. NatureDots
Location: India
Industry: AI
At the intersection of nature-based systems and artificial intelligence, you’ll find eco-startup NatureDots. AquaNurch, a system developed by NatureDots, uses AI to create more sustainable fisheries that result in higher revenue with farmers in mind. Founded in 2018 by Mohammad Aatish Khan and Snehal Verma, this New Delhi-based startup aims to help produce an environmentally friendly economy through nature-based and tech-driven sustainable solutions.
24. AMP Robotics
Location: Louisville, Colorado
Industry: Recycling Solutions
AMP Robotics, a recycling robot company, has pioneered AI technology that plays a pivotal role in enhancing the world’s recycling infrastructure. This advanced technology accurately identifies and sorts recyclables, ensuring that all materials capable of being recycled are effectively utilized. This innovation will not only decrease the amount of waste but also significantly streamline the recycling process.
25. AquiPor Technologies
Location: Spokane, Washington
Industry: Water
Instead of aggregating data or working to help sustainability from afar, AquiPor Technologies takes actionable steps to help fight water pollution across the world. With their innovative surface technology that filters water runoffs, they are able to help reduce flooding and promote thriving water ecosystems.
26. Grow a Wish
Location: Netherlands
Industry: Greeting Cards
Based in the Netherlands and founded by ambitious young entrepreneur Fabiënne Overbeek, Grow a Wish is extending the life cycle of greeting cards. Each card by the startup is laced with seeds incorporated into the paper and, when planted, grows into a flower and long-lasting memory. In addition to this, the startup puts a portion of its profits towards charitable causes.
27. Commons (Formerly Joro)
Location: Oakland, California
Industry: Software
With climate change weighing heavily on the minds of people around the world, many are looking for innovative solutions to greenify their own lives. Commons, a technology company founded by Sanchali Pal, developed an app that consumers can use to monitor their daily purchases and explore more sustainable alternatives.
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