In Israel, nine startups selected for Reach Net Zero mission
The Reach Net Zero programme was launched in Israel by Good Company VC and its partners AB InBev, Continental, Ashtrom and Bridges Israel, LeumiTech, KPMG Israel and BCLP. It aims to support startups that are developing innovative technologies and solutions needed to achieve carbon neutrality objectives. It targets three main issues: carbon reduction, circular economy and energy.
The nine startups selected come from across the globe, including the UK, Denmark and Israel:
- Structure Pal: a startup that’s developed an AI-based tool for automating and optimising the concrete structure design process.
- Solight: a company that’s developed static solar lighting systems for lighting up buildings during the day.
- enSights: an asset management platform for renewable energy.
- CyanoCapture: a carbon capture solution on an industrial scale, and one of the winners of the Elon Musk XPRIZE for Carbon Removal competition.
- TEGmat ApS: a company that develops new ThermoElectric Generators (TEG) solutions, resulting in higher efficiency at a higher reliability and lower cost.
- Carbonade: a startup that’s developed a low-temperature CO2 electrolyser, which produces a new reusable fossil-free carbon-based compound that could be used to create synthetic fuel and plastics.
- Nettef: this startup’s system retrieves electric energy from the hydraulic resistance of regulators in pipelines.
- Luminescent: a company that’s developed a heat engine capable of generating zero-emission electricity from any source of waste heat, while also cutting cost by half compared to standard heat engines.
- Terrra: a carbon removal startup focused on restoring and re-wilding wetlands.
Dutch startup VonWood raises €2.7m to digitise the timber trade
The Dutch startup VonWood has just raised €2.7 million in seed funding from Peak, Dutch Founders Fund, Keen and several strategic partners. Its aim? To digitise the timber trading industry. These funds will help the company further develop its online platform that directly connects buyers and sellers of wood.
Amsterdam-based VonWood was created in 2022 to offer an innovative and sustainable solution for the wood industry by limiting intermediary trade and the associated costs. The platform offers 50,000 kinds of wood products, delivered throughout Europe. It promises to cut the prices by 15-75% compared to traditional distribution channels.
VonWood also champions transparency: on its website, users can view the origin, quality and sustainability of the materials on sale. What’s more, the startup also compensates for every transaction on the platform by planting new trees.
Australian modular solar manufacturer 5B raises €37.4 million
The Australian modular solar manufacturer 5B has just announced a €37.4 million fund raising round, including €13.7 million from BP Ventures, the venture arm of the British energy giant, BP. Its existing investors AES Corp. and Artesian Venture Capital complete the funding round.
These Series B funds will enable 5B to accelerate the development of its modular, pre-fabricated and redeployable solar panel technology. Marketed under the name Maverick, its prefabricated photovoltaic systems are quickly deployable and modifiable thanks to modules that come pre-assembled on concrete blocks, which replace conventional mounting structures.
The modules are oriented in a concertina shape at a 10-degree tilt and are electrically configured, allowing for rapid installation. In 2022, the startup set a new speed record for solar deployment with 1.1 MW installed in a single day by a team of 10 workers, in the Atacama desert in Chile. The Maverick solution is already deployed on more than 100 sites, with an energy production capacity of more 60 MW.
There’s more…
LA-based Azure uses recycled plastic to 3D print tiny homes
US startup Snaptrude raises $6.6M seed to take on Autodesk
British startup Water-Filled Glass develops a window heating and cooling system
