Investors Swarm to Cleantech Venture Day
Against the backdrop of the UK retaining its position as the largest tech sector in Europe, the new year showed no signs of investor fatigue as 18 innovative start-ups pitched to venture capitalists, fund managers and angel investors at Cleantech Venture Day 2023.
Held at Barclays global headquarters in Canary Wharf, London, the event provided the perfect platform for circular economy, low carbon transportation, and alternative energy start-ups to showcase their amazing cleantech solutions.
With the venue packed to the rafters, Cleantech Venture Day opened with an overview of private capital market trends from Henry Waite, Director of Private Capital Markets at Barclays.
Vicky McIvor, an Investment Associate with the €350m climate tech World Fund, told delegates about the trending term ‘patient investing’ and why it is important to invest in transformational not transitional technologies.
The investor-only session concluded with a great discussion between Carolyn Hicks, Co-Founder of Brill Power, and Cath Wong, Vice President, Principal Investments, Barclays, on how to nurture CEOs from different backgrounds to enable a fairer society and easier access to investment for their innovations.
After the interval Mark Daly, Tech and Innovation Analyst at BloombergNEF, pointed to the increase in energy prices as the main catalyst for driving more money into climate tech during 2022. China and the US accounted for 60% of global climate tech funding with the UK ranking third (£4.1billion) last year.
Then came the second part of Cleantech Venture Day, the main attraction. Each startup was given a strict five minute time limit to deliver their investor pitch with a further five minutes to answer questions from a panel of experts.
The first cluster consisted of cleantech platforms from the Circular Economy.
Adrian Black, CEO of Bio-Sep, introduced his proprietary ultrasonic technology as the cleanest way to convert low-value woody biomass into high-value green chemicals. Andrew Terentjev, CEO of Cambridge Smart Plastics, talked about tackling barrier packaging with nanocellulose coating technology. Alexandra Harrod, CEO and Co-Founder of Zori Tex, spoke passionately about technology for closed loop recycling of textile feedstocks. Sunil Rajan, Co-Founder and President of e.pop, pitched his company’s carbon negative contactless digital receipt platform. Carlo Fedeli, CEO, and Founder of FlexSea, unveiled his seaweed-derived biomaterial that replaces plastic film packaging. Steve Clarke, CEO of re-universe, is looking to change consumer behaviour through his reuse and recycling digital technology.
Sam Goodall, Head of International Projects at Cambridge Cleantech, presented the OXTO Energy case study which chartered the global energy storage and technology provider’s amazing progress from pitch day success, to scaling through software development partnerships with the University of Twente, to securing its first pilot contract with Japanese corporation Shimizu.
Other examples of international collaboration focussed on the growth of the hydrogen economy between the UK and India. Shuayb Ismail, a Principal with purpose-driven advisory firm Xynteo, said hydrogen was a critical component of India’s clean energy transition, especially in hard-to-abate sectors such as its steel industry. The Indian hydrogen market is expected to grow by 14% CAGR through to 2050 when it is forecast to be worth $340 billion and represent up to 20% of global demand. More importantly, it can help eradicate 500 million tonnes of CO2e emissions per annum in the steel sector alone through hydrogen-fuel produced green steel.
The second pitching session involved start-ups focussing on Transport and Emission Reduction.
The self-styled ‘G’, real name Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, CEO of Enso Tyres, spoke to the audience about the environmental impact of ‘tyre dust’ and why his durable tyres for electric vehicles could break up the distribution model currently monopolised by the world’s top five tyre manufacturers. Anmol Manohar, Founder and CEO of GreenJets, outlined the go-to-market strategy for his Integrated Propulsion Module (IPM) electric engines for 2nd generation drones, air taxis, VTOL and electric aircraft. Sean Moroney, CEO of Cambridge Electric Transport, outlined the advances made with his micro mobility product, Citipod. Roman Bublik, CCO of Real Carbon Tech, pitched his modular solutions for green methanol synthesis to decarbonize industrial facilities. Alban Bressand, Co-Founder of Reforestum, introduced his reverse climate change platform that supports forestry projects. Elena Maksimovich, CEO and Founder of Weather Trade Net, presented her physical climate risk exposure programme which combines fintech and AI to bridge the gap between fast emerging climate policy, corporate finance, and data science to calculate asset valuation through climate risk metrics.
Hannah Scott, Network Manager of Oxfordshire Greentech, and Partner of Cleantech Venture Day, said the calibre of firms pitching was of an exceptional standard. “It’s great to see so many burgeoning climate tech clusters around the country developing innovative solutions that could have such a positive impact on the world.”
The third category of start-ups pitching covered the energy sector.
Louise Parlons Bentata, CEO of Bluemethane, explained how her technology removes methane from water and once treated, converts into a source of renewable energy. Alex Grassi, Commercial Director of Chimera Energy, disclosed how his company has developed a patented Multi-Chemistry Battery (MCB) solution. Dan Grech, Founder and CEO of Global OTEC, unveiled his floating platform technology which converts thermal energy from the ocean to generate power. Toby Gill, CEO of IPG, introduced his patented Flameless Combustion Generator technology which offers a route to scaling renewable fuels. Anna Thomlinson, COO of Open Hydro, detailed her platform to automate carbon emissions reporting from water. Thomas Fudge, CEO of WASE, spoke about his cleantech solution that turns waste into bioenergy ending environmental pollution caused by untreated water.
“Cleantech Venture Day is now in its sixteenth[AL1] year, during that time 250 companies have pitched and more than £600 million has been invested,” said Martin Garratt, CEO of Cambridge Cleantech.
“By creating an ecosystem that connects investment with innovation, we have been able to accelerate the development and early adoption of clean technology solutions for a smarter, more sustainable future.”
“On the back of this success, we will be hosting our first 2-day Cleantech Venture Summit later this year.”
According to figures released by Dealroom for the Digital Economy Council, part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the UK has more high-growth technology companies than its European peers, having created 144 unicorns and 237 futurecorns
For the innovators, change-makers and future pioneers, the cleantech scene is an attractive place to be and who knows where the next futurecorn will come from, perhaps one of our Cleantech Venture Days.
For details of the Cleantech Venture Summit on June 21-22, please click here.