In our third Trend Tour of the year, we heard from three start-ups on their circular solutions for fashion & textiles. From sustainable fabric dyeing to digital textile sorting and repurposing of textile waste, check out the full recap here
Leonhard brings in more than 13 years of sustainable entrepreneurship, social innovation and social business work experience in more than 20 countries from Brazil to New Zealand. He’s incubated, grown, advised and consulted start-ups and established organizations around the globe working in various fields, including plastic waste, circular economy, fair fashion, sustainable mobility and many more.
At Studio Nima, with his team, he is implementing and promoting social innovations with a range of players from the private, the philanthropic, the academic and the public sector. He also serves as the Educational Advisor to the Yunus Sports Hub and as a Venture Building Advisor to the Yunus Environment Hub, two organizations founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus and regularly act as an expert and mentor in various incubation and acceleration programs.
An experienced moderator at international conferences, such as the Global Social Business Summit, the rad°hub, the Social Innovation Summit and many more, he has been on stage with and interviewed Heads of States, UN leadership, leading business executives, philosophers, artists, and other exceptional personalities.
With 15 years of experience advising companies around the world on adoption of emerging technologies, Maria has been most recently combining her passion for both AI and sustainability, in particular circular economy. She holds degrees in Business Economics, Informatics, and Sustainability, is a guest researcher at the University of Münster, and has also lectured on digital business models. She is a host of the “Apropos… Nachhaltigkeit” podcast where sustainability topics are discussed. Moreover, Maria engages in mentoring and volunteering work. She has worked and lived in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, and Russia.
Christian is an experienced scientist, consultant, entrepreneur, and business developer in both the chemicals and biotech industries. Christian holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an MBA from the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. At Planet A he focuses on the areas of food tech, agtech, manufacturing, and construction.
Larissa Skarke is Principal at World Fund, a leading pan-European climate tech Venture Capital fund supporting deep-tech and tech-enabled companies from early to growth stages.
Prior to joining World Fund, Ms.Skarke worked as an Investment Professional for KKR, where she was a founding member of the Global Impact Fund investing in impact driven buyout and late stage growth companies.
She began her career as a Management Consultant for McKinsey & Company serving Private Equity and Financial Institution clients. Ms.Skarke holds a Masters in Finance degree from London Business School and a J.D. from Bucerius Law School.
With 15 years’ experience in digital business models on corporate as well as the start-up side, Matthias Schulz entered the world of materials and industrial supply chains in 2018. He is currently driving Corporate Strategy, Corporate Venturing and Corporate Innovation for the family-owned Otto Krahn Group in Hamburg – a group of companies globally active in distribution, compounding and recycling of thermoplastics, specialty-chemicals and technical ceramics.
“In today’s uncertain and complex economy, the Circular Economy is the answer to the questions of stability, cost reduction, innovation capability, and resource security.”
Janine Thies, Co-Founder and Coach at pureEdge and Circularity Manager at BMW Group, is a visionary and enabler in the transition to a Circular Economy for one of the world’s largest automotive companies. For her, the path towards a conscious economy and system change is a question of inner capacities. She provides leadership for breakthrough ideas that come from people’s personal answers to the questions: Who am I and thus what is my best contribution to this world?
Janine’s vision is to help build an economy that is regenerative to nature and preserves the beautiful biodiversity of this planet.
Patrick builds bridges between technology, sustainability, and leadership. With an academic background in economics and philosophy of science, he founded a B2B start-up and is responsible for the BlueMovement rental model at BSH Hausgeräte. With the podcast Circularity.fm, he shares his experiences on building circular business models. Patrick has lived in London, Bangkok, Brussels, and Germany.
Natascha Zeljko, Co-Founder and Executive Partner at CURAZE, has 20 years of experience in journalism (Condé Nast, Funke Mediengruppe) before starting her own platform Fe:maleOneZero in 2018. In 2021, together with Claus Schuster, she started CURAZE and co-initiated CIRCULAZE.
“In building a longlist of start-ups, I have already seen how the Circular Economy is becoming increasingly relevant – it’s not as niche as one might think.”
Claus Schuster is Co-Founder and Executive Partner of CURAZE. In addition, Claus is the owner of DEFACTO, one of the leading solution providers for customer centricity and an established family entrepreneur. In 2021, the CRM specialist and digitalization enthusiast founded CURAZE with the goal of connecting all players from the innovation ecosystem through various online and offline formats: start- and scale-ups, corporates, enablers, and investors. With CIRCULAZE he aims to provide the Circular Economy more visibility and to give corporates more transparency about relevant start-ups in order to connect them in a curated way, to foster collaboration, and to initiate more Circular Economy projects.
Lena Thiede is co-founder and partner at Planet A, a venture capital fund investing in European greentech start-ups. She is responsible for scientific impact evaluation at Planet A. Lena Thiede is a political scientist and was government director at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ). She led German development cooperation in Tanzania/East Africa and has also worked in environmental research and policy advice for the OECD, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Ecologic Institute, and the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). She is a member of the EXIST Advisory Board of the German Federal Government.
Prof. Dr. Martin R. Stuchtey is founder of the „The Landbanking Group“ – a company that aspires to shift landuse patterns globally and regenerate nature. Martin is also founder of SYSTEMIQ Ltd., a system change company created to drive the attainment of the Paris climate agreement. He is member of many boards, incl. the Alfred-Herrhausen Society, Senckenberg and Forum Alpbach. He spent 20 years with McKinsey & Co., finally as Director of the Centre for Business & Environment and managing partner Munich. Before he was exploration geologist in Africa and officer in the German Alpine military forces. He holds a chair for Circular Economy industrial systems at the University of Innsbruck. He is author of many papers, reports, newspaper and television contributions and the book „A Good Disruption – Redefining Growth in the Twenty-first Century”. He holds degrees from the Rhodes University, the WHU Coblence, Lancaster, Dresden and Innsbruck University. He is married to book author and entrepreneur Dr. Sonja Stuchtey (with whom he co-leads The Landbanking Group), father of six, organic farmer in the Austrian Alps and an avid Alpinist.
Prof. Michael Braungart is professor at the Leuphana University Lüneburg and founder of EPEA, Environmental Protection and Encouragement Agency in Hamburg (Germany), ‘The cradle of Cradle to Cradle’. He is also co-founder of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) in Charlottesville, Virginia and founder of the Hamburger Environmental Institute (HUI). For decades, Prof. Dr. Michael Braungart has pioneered the Cradle to Cradle design concept. He has worked with a number of organizations and companies across a range of industries, and has developed tools for designing eco-effective products, business systems and intelligent materials pooling. In 2019 Michael Braungart was awarded the Goldene Blume von Rheydt (Golden Flower of Rheydt), the oldest environmental protection award in Germany, for his work.
Tina Dreimann is a driven impact investor and founded the angel club better ventures. She won over 60 successful entrepreneurs as strong partners and continues to scale her value-driven investment approach.Together they invest in ambitious impact teams like everdrop, OCELL or Liefergrün. She builds on over 15 years of experience in venture building, startups, scaleups and consulting, among others at kartenmacherei, FriendScout24 and Bain. In 2022, she was among the three finalists “female investors of the year” by the German Startup Award and appointed as member of the German advisory board for the “Young Digital Economy”.
Marianne Kuhlmann, Co-Founder and Lead at Circularity, is a management and sustainability professional, entrepreneur, and PhD researcher (ETH Zürich) with a passion for the circular economy and net zero. She has broad experience from working with companies, start-ups, public, and social sector organizations.
Nicola Tagliafierro, Head of Global Sustainability/Circular Economy Manager Enel X, has 20+ years of experience in multinationals’ top organizations and launched a digital platform on sustainable gamification mechanisms. Most recently, he published “The Circular Economy Manager” (currently in Italian).
Matthias Ballweg is co-founder of CIRCULAR REPUBLIC and an expert in the circular economy. Previously, Matthias was co-responsible for the global Circular Economy Platform at Systemiq for several years. He built coalitions such as the Circular Cars Initiative and co-authored influential studies on the implementation of a European Green Deal. He was Vice President Strategy at MAN Truck & Bus for several years. With a PhD in behavioral psychology, he is a start-up founder, father of 4 children, and board member of the Oberland section of the German Alpine Club – the second largest sports club in Germany. With CIRCULAR REPUBLIC, he has published a circular economy start-up map with over 400 circular economy start-ups and develops circular economy projects in collaboration from start-ups and large companies.
“Purpose and profit are correlating results of sustainable, impactful investment,” is Xavier Sarras’s core belief and one of the reasons that led him to join the initiative. He is dedicating the larger part of his professional life to maximizing positive social and environmental impact by backing highly scalable, purposeful start-ups.
Being on the mission to increase the quality of experiences in life, he has grown to become an Experience Economy Expert. Entrepreneurially trained by founding companies since the age of 17, he has a background of close to 30 years in scaling and exiting digitally driven marketing agencies and 10 years of angel investing. He has helped to shape the experiences of global brands as well as disruptive tech start-ups across a multitude of industries.
For him, purpose and profit go hand-in-hand, and Xavier believes the decade of purpose has just begun.
Dr Gordana Kierans – author and TEDx Speaker – has over 20 years of business experience at the interface between leading Business Schools and companies. During her career, she has worked with entrepreneurs, SMEs, multinationals, governments and NGOs, in Germany and world-wide. She has also worked with top academics in the area of the circular economy which motivated her to create a practical hands-on Udemy programme with focus on entrepreneurship that has inspired over 6,000 participants worldwide. Dr Kierans was born and raised in Croatia, but she has been working and living abroad for 27 years in Italy, Germany, Belgium and, currently, in China. She completed all her studies in Germany, including her Doctorate. In addition, Dr Kierans is also an Alumna of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education. Today, she is a Partner at MGT OPEN, Grounded Press and a Professor at Shenzhen Technology University (SZTU). She is also the co-founder of EntrepreneurCircle.World, an upcoming membership platform for circular entrepreneurs and investors.
Sabine Rau-Oberhuber is one of the early pioneers of the circular economy. In 2010 she co-founded Turntoo, one of the first companies worldwide focusing on achieving a circular economy. She developed some of the first business models and circularity strategies and contributed to shaping the thinking around the circular economy transition. She is one of the initiators of Madaster, the cadaster for materials which provides material passports for the built environment. In 2016 she co-authored the best-seller Material Matters, which presents a coherent view on the transition to the circular economy.
Clothilde is a Ventures Associate as part of Plug and Play’s Sustainability team based in Paris, France. At Plug and Play, Clothilde works both on the investment side, investing in early-stage pre-seed and seed-stage European climate tech and sustainability startups, and on the corporate side, helping large corporations accelerate their sustainability innovation efforts. Clothilde has a background in renewable energy engineering with Master’s degrees from Stanford University and Imperial College London.”
AlgiKnit ́s yarn is made of Kelp – one of the fastest growing, most rapidly replenishing organisms on earth. It is grown in the ocean, so it doesn’t rely on harmful fertilizers and pesticides and does not use arable land nor fresh water for drinking or irrigation. The process efficiently sequesters CO2 while filtering surrounding water.
Founder/s: Tessa Callaghan, Aaron Nesser, Aleks Gosiewski
Based In: New York, USA
Website: www.keellabs.com
Algramo offers affordable quantities of everyday products without single-use packaging. Targeting economies where recycling infrastructure is limited and packaging items often end up in the environment, Algramo introduces a reusable packaging system involving smart technology, dispensers, and affordable containers.
Founder/s: José Manuel Moller
Based In: Santiago, Chile
Website: www.algramo.com
Insects first scuttled across the Earth 480 million years ago – that’s more than 477 million years before the earliest humans and long before the emergence of one of the 21st century’s greatest environmental challenges: The broken food chain. Globally, over a third of all food produced is wasted each year. This food waste accounts for 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, as waste breaks down and releases harmful methane into the atmosphere. In Cambridge, England, start-up Better Origin is harnessing the power of insects to fix this massive problem by going back to nature, where nothing is wasted and is instead eaten by insects. Better Origin’s automated insect mini-farms unite black soldier flies and AI to not only safely dispose of food waste, but in turn, to transform the larvae inside into high-quality animal feed, reducing the need for soy production and preventing deforestation. What’s more, is the entire local food chain can take place inside a mini-farm the size of a shipping container! The start-up is already well on the way to bringing their circular animal feed solutions to the masses, and, in 2021, signed a deal with British supermarket giant Morrisons to feed chickens on their egg farms.
What They Say: “Better Origin wants to fix the broken food chain with the help of nature’s best up cyclers – insects. Through partnerships with farms and food companies, we are converting food waste into insect feed.”
Founder/s: Fotis Fotiadis & Miha Pipan
Based In: Cambridge, England
Website: www.betterorigin.co.uk
Almost every city on this planet is dominated by one material: concrete. This ubiquitous building material is chosen for being strong, durable, temperature and water-resistant, and easy to mould. However, the popularity means that the production of concrete is also responsible for 8% of total global CO2 emissions – that’s more than any other country besides the U.S. and China! In fact, scientists say that sand and gravel are being extracted faster than they can be replaced, making a new concrete alternative desperately needed to close the concrete loop. Enter C2CA Technology, the Dutch start-up on a mission to upcycle end-of-life concrete into new building materials, therefore reducing emissions, preventing rubble from going to the landfill and preserving scarce natural resources. Their journey began in 2016 when Delft University of Technology and private company GBN joined forces as a spin-off from a European research project. This year they hit a huge milestone as their demo line became fully operational, processing 1,000 tons of waste concrete. So the next time you’re passing a building site in the city, those brand new walls might just be made from an old demolished one.
What They Say: “We aim to mitigate the 8% of global CO2 emissions coming from cement production, by upcycling waste concrete into drop-in substitutes to aggregate, sand, and cement. The vision is to produce circular concrete without primary raw materials.”
Founder/s: Thomas Petithuguenin
Based In: Utrecht, The Netherlands
Website: www.c2ca.tech
Circular IQ offers a digital platform to measure, improve, and report on circular performance through smart data-gathering and analysis. The software combines and simplifies the data to complete the picture of your business’ circular performance.
Founder/s: Roy Verkoelen & Niels van der Linden
Based In: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Website: www.circular-iq.com
Fashion isn’t just about clothing; it’s about identity, confidence, and the way we interact with the world. However, this very dynamism has a hidden cost – a big environmental impact that we can no longer ignore. Born from a resolute mission to reduce fashion’s carbon footprint, circular.fashion introduces a digital platform that redesigns the very essence of clothing. They’ve put sustainability at the heart of the fashion industry, offering a comprehensive set of tools and solutions. Their circular design software empowers design and product teams to integrate circular practices from the outset, ensuring that every garment is created with the end in mind. Their sleek traceability solution bridges the gap between material suppliers, brands, customers, and recyclers. It paves the way for transparent, collaborative efforts that aim to make a circular fashion economy a reality. Furthermore, their “circularity.ID” acts as a digital information carrier, sharing the unique story of a product an its material data, becoming a catalyst for innovative circular business models like resale, rental, and recycling. With notable collaborations with major German fashion brands like OTTO, Zalando, and Marc O’Polo, circular.fashion is more than just a start-up; it’s a force reshaping the future of fashion.
What They Say: “circular.fashion provides the missing know-how, data flows, and interconnection to power circular systems for textiles.”
Founder/s: Ina Budde & Mario Osterwalder
Based In: Berlin, Germany
Website: www.circular.fashion
Circulor enables businesses from material intensive industries to fully analyze, track, and manage their supply chains to ensure responsible sourcing and improve sustainability. Circulor does this by providing an enterprise software platform, which creates a reliable chain of custody of materials and attaches GHG emissions and other ESG data directly to the flow of materials.
Founder/s: Douglas Johnson-Poensgen
Based In: London, United Kingdom
Website: www.circulor.com/
Circunomics provides digital twin technology and analytics software that monitor and predict battery condition. An artificial intelligence solution enables smart databased decision-making, including all relevant data points of each battery as well as the market situation. Based on this, Circunomics offers the first open marketplace for second life and recycling on scale.
Founder/s: Felix Wagner & Jan Born
Based In: Mainz, Germany
Website: www.circunomics.com/
Plastic, a material celebrated for its versatility, has inadvertently become a grave environmental challenge, with over 460 million tons produced annually and a quarter of it polluting our oceans and infiltrating our food chain as microplastics. For this reason, Hamburg based start-up Cirplus has embarked on a mission: to bridge the gap between buyers and sellers of plastic waste feedstock and recyclates, enhancing supply chain stability and promoting cost savings. Their innovative platform transforms the conventional; digitizing complex secondary material markets and offering a diverse array of plastic materials, from PET to HDPE and many more. What sets Cirplus apart is their commitment to sustainability and compliance. With imminent EU regulations mandating post-consumer recyclates quotas for plastic packaging, Cirplus is at the forefront, ensuring standardized data and traceability. Cirplus is transforming how we perceive and manage plastic waste in a world where digital innovation meets green transformation.
What They Say: “Imagine a world where plastic waste is transformed into valuable resources, where transparency and standardization revolutionize the market, and where businesses embrace sustainability without sacrificing profitability. This is our vision at Cirplus – leading the way to digitization and
standardization for the plastic recycling industry. The idea for Cirplus was born when our founder found himself entangled in a carpet of ocean plastics while sailing off the coast of Colombia. This eye-opening experience sparked a mission to tackle the global waste crisis and create a sustainable future.”
Founder/s: Christian Schiller
Based In: Hamburg, Germany
Website: www.cirplus.com/de
Concular is a platform digitizing buildings and materials enabling construction professionals to reuse as many materials and products as possible instead of choosing new materials. Materials in existing buildings are digitized by means of material passports and made available when deconstructed. Concular matches the recovered materials with needs in new projects and deals with the logistics.
Founder/s: Julius Schäufel, Marc Haines & Dominik Campanella
Based In: Stuttgart, Germany
Website: www.concular.de
Want to make money and be sustainable at the same time? Prague based start-up Cyrkl is making this possible with their Circular Waste Scan, which helps companies identify and optimize waste management costs, and their innovative EU marketplace for buying and selling industrial waste, by-products, secondary raw materials, or used materials. They are turning waste into resources – and profit! But the best part? They have made their marketplace free and accessible to all and without posting limits. From cardboard and steel scrap to LDPE and PP film, companies can make a profit off of everyday materials that would normally end up in the trash or recycling bin. They are taking “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” to a whole other level. It’s a win-win for everyone, especially Mother Earth!
What They Say: “Cyrkl is an international technology and consulting company specializing in circular waste management. Thanks to advanced technological solutions, Cyrkl helps companies turn waste into resources and thus into revenue with Europe’s largest digital marketplace for waste and residuals.”
Founder/s: Cyril Klepek
Based In: Prague, Czech Republic
Website: www.cyrkl.com/en
Did you know that e-waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream? All of these valuable metals inside of our old phones, computers, and other electronics are currently being squandered. In the words of Optimus Prime, “We can’t stand by and watch the destruction of this beautiful planet.” Present day transformers at start-up Descycle are aiming to change the metals industry using Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) in order to avoid this huge loss of resources. The Descycle process has been developed as a disruptive and clean alternative to current high-impact and capital intensive recycling methods. They are saying goodbye to high-energy pollutive smelters, toxic chemicals, and strong acids and hello to low-energy operations and low-carbon, low-impact metals. With an upcoming Series A in the first quarter of 2024, more great transformations are on the horizon for Descycle. Autobots, transform and roll out!
What They Say: “The world is reliant on clean-tech innovations to tackle climate change; solving the big problems such as the production of clean energy and the electrification of the economy. There has been little innovation in how the materials that underpin these technologies is produced and recycled; Descycle is here to change that.”
Founder/s: Dr. Leo Howden, Dr. Rob Harris, & Fred White
Based In: London, England
Website: www.descycle.com
With a growing focus on sustainability and reducing CO2 emissions, the demand for high-power lithium batteries is at an all time high. However, valued at $70 billion, lithium faces major scaling limitations due to its cost. Lead-acid batteries, on the other hand, cannot handle the power demand. This is where California based start-up Enzinc is turning up the energy game with their secret ingredient: Zinc. Their groundbreaking technology harnesses the potential of zinc to revolutionize batteries, making them safer, longer-lasting, and more sustainable to deliver 3x the energy and 3x the cycle life. Not just in it for fame and fortune, they are on a mission to eliminate the limitations of traditional energy storage solutions, and have a team of dedicated experts driving the charge towards a greener, more efficient world. They’re rewriting the future of energy storage one cell at a time.
What They Say: “Enzinc is building a circular economy with its powerful rechargeable and fully-recyclable zinc batteries for mobility and stationary use. Better still, existing lead-acid battery factories can be upcycled to build batteries with Enzinc inside, tripling their output, making a premium product and revitalizing an otherwise threatened industry.”
Founder/s: Michael Burz & Deborah Knuckey
Based In: Richmond, California, USA
Website: www.enzinc.com
Introducing Ever Dye – the start-up that’s not just coloring fabrics; they’re painting a brighter, cleaner, and more sustainable future for the fashion industry! They’ve cracked the code on two major issues in the dyeing world: synthesizing dyes and attaching them like a pro. Their team has developed not one, but two chemical solutions: a negatively charged pretreatment that sticks to fibers and a positively charged pigment made from vegetal waste and minerals that attaches to the pretreatment. It’s like magic for fabrics! But that’s not all – the magic formula is crafted from organic and inorganic elements, ditching the toxic petroleum-based dyes and going all-natural. Ever Dye takes the most cutting-edge scientific knowledge to create colors that play nice with our environment. But changing the fashion game requires a team effort. That’s why they’re partnering up with industry leaders to assess their product’s performance and drive sustainable fashion design, production, and lifecycle. Together, they’re painting a masterpiece that’s not just colorful but eco-friendly, too.
What They Say: “We’re on a mission to develop a clean and cheap textile dyeing process that will reduce the impact of colors, allowing us to contribute to a sustainable future for the fashion industry.”
Founder/s: Ilan Palacci & Amira Erokh
Based In: Paris, France
Website:www.everdye.fr/ www.everdye.fr
Each second 9,023 smartphones are tossed in the trash, and, of the 100 billion tonnes of clothing manufactured each year, 92 million end up in landfills. The harsh reality is that many of these items are in perfect working condition and someone else would happily use them. Most people are aware that buying second-hand over new is far better for not only the environment, but also their pockets. In fact, when surveyed, nearly three fourths of millennials and Gen Z, said they would snap up these wallet and planet-friendly options if it was easier than trawling multiple platforms and inputting countless different combinations of keywords and filters. Enter Faircado’s browser extension, which does all this legwork for you. The AI-powered extension scours a database of more than 10 million products from 70 different trustworthy partners to deliver accurate alternatives to that new item users are searching for. And the best thing? It can be up to 90% cheaper! Founded just two years ago, the Berlin-based start-up has already made a name for itself in the circular economy industry after onboarding e-commerce giants eBay, Back Market, and Vestiaire Collective. And they’re not resting easy yet! Next in their sights is launching an app to make second-hand shopping even easier.
What They Say: “There is no sustainability without circularity. Faircado’s mission is to turn e-commerce into re-commerce for good by making second-hand everyone’s first choice.”
Founder/s: Evolena de Wilde d’Estmael & Ali Nezamolmaleki
Based In: Berlin, Germany
Website: www.faircado.de
While the majority of us are trying to reduce our food waste at home in our kitchens by meal-planning or finding creative ways to use vegetables near the expiry date, Europe’s biggest grocery stores are also working on reducing their food waste – just on a much larger scale. Shockingly, grocery retailers typically throw away 15% of their fresh produce. In 2021, two Berlin-based AI researchers founded Freshflow: software powered by novel artificial intelligence helping retailers maintain a just-in-time supply chain for fresh food. It tells retailers how much of each type of produce they need to ensure that as little as possible is wasted. The algorithm takes into account a huge range of factors such as weather, holidays, seasonality, and shelf-life, making predictions far more accurate than any human could give. And just as it saves us money to make stock out of our veggie peelings, it saves food businesses money too – albeit on a slightly different scale. Food waste costs the industry an enormous $1.2 trillion a year in losses, but when using Freshflow, some retailers have seen a reduction of food waste by 25% while increasing their revenue. And, for the customers these savings mean more fresh food, often at lower prices. It’s a win-win-win situation for food retailers, customers, and the planet.
What They Say: “Freshflow’s mission is to assist food retailers in reducing shrinkage and improving their margins through AI-powered automated ordering. However, our vision extends beyond that. Freshflow aims to significantly reduce food waste by building an intelligent food supply chain.”
Founder/s: Carime Paolino & Avik Mukhija
Based In: Berlin, Germany
Website: www.freshflow.ai
hey circle has developed reusable packaging for shipping parcels. They are targeting online e-commerce, which is a growing area and produces a large amount of CO2-Emissions. Their solution is innovative in minimizing paper waste.
Founder/s: Doris Diebold
Based In: Munich, Germany
Website: www.heycircle.de
Introducing INERATEC, the start-up reshaping our energy landscape with innovative solutions. In a world where fossil fuels continue to dominate, INERATEC is working towards a future where energy systems are freed from their carbon chains. Their approach is ingenious: decoupling the mobility and chemistry sector from fossil fuels through alternative fuels. Picture this: sustainable aviation fuels for airplanes, synthetic fuels for trucks, and e-fuels propelling ships across oceans and rivers. How do they achieve this? By harnessing the power of renewable energy and recycled CO2, INERATEC crafts the fuels of the future. Their cutting-edge Power to X plants are converting renewable electricity into versatile energy forms. These technologies are vital, especially for the aviation and maritime sectors where e-fuels offer the only viable path to greenhouse gas neutrality. Join them on their journey toward a world where mobility isn’t just efficient, but also eco-friendly. The future of energy is here, and it’s decidedly green.
What They Say: “We recycle CO2 and use green hydrogen to produce climate-neutral e-fuels and chemicals for transportation and the chemical industry.”
Founder/s: Philipp Engelkamp, Dr. Tim Böltken, Dr. Paolo Piermartini, & Prof. Dr. Peter Pfeifer
Based In: Karlsruhe, Germany
Website: www.ineratec.de/en
Did you know that according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year gets wasted? Infinite Roots, a pioneering biotech company, is on a mission to change these numbers and revolutionize the food industry by crafting tastier, healthier, and planet-friendly foods. Drawing inspiration from nature’s efficiency, Infinite Roots utilizes fungi’s mycelia to up-cycle waste from agro- and food industries into nutritious biomass. Their process involves cultivating Infinite Roots mycelia, feeding them with industry side streams, for example by-products from partners like German beer manufacturer Bitburger, to harvest delicious, sustainable ingredients poised to replace traditional meat. With a commitment to delivering umami-rich, nutritious fare appealing to both meat-eaters and vegetarians, Infinite Roots is paving the way for a more sustainable future, conserving space, reducing water usage, and minimizing transportation in the process. Join them in creating a world where every bite makes a positive impact.
What They Say: “Our vision is to build a new equitable and sustainable food system that is able to feed our expanding population.”
Founder/s: Dr. Mazen Rizk, Dr. Thibault Godard, & Anne-Cathrine Hutz
Based In: Hamburg, Germany
Website: www.infiniteroots.com
KITRO has created an AI powered solution to measure, monitor, and prevent food waste. The clever technology helps kitchens reduce up to 60% of their edible food waste.
Founder/s: Naomi MacKenzie & Anastasia Hofman
Based In: Zürich, Switzerland
Website: www.kitro.ch
koorvi allows brands to set up individual and automized product take back processes in an easy way. They offer a holistic service: taking care of customer communication, shipping label generation, product presorting, item tracking, customer compensation, and circularity reporting.
Founder/s: Andrea Schneller & Mario Schneller
Based In: Munich, Germany
Website: www.koorvi.com
Loopcycle has developed an interesting B2B digital platform for commercial equipment circularity. They help commercial equipment manufacturers and operators trace, manage, and recover physical assets throughout their lifecycle.
Founder/s: Lugano Kapembwa, Chandan Rajah & Mark Chadwick
Based In: London, United Kingdom
Website: www.loopcycle.io
Madaster is the registry for materials and products used in the built environment. The online platform provides automated generation of building passports, including a financial valuation, CO2 footprint, and circularity score of the buildings. Madaster is a solution to facilitate reuse of construction material and eliminate waste in the most material intensive sector of the economy.
Founder/s: Pablo van den Bosch & Martijn Oostenrijk
Based In: Berlin, Germany / Zürich, Switzerland / Vienna, Austria / Laren, Netherlands
Website: www.madaster.com/
Ever wondered how to transform your products into eco-friendly marvels while keeping costs in check? Look no further than Makersite – the circular economy start-up that’s revolutionizing the game! Connect products with deep-tier supply chain data like never before. Makersite’s Product Lifecycle Intelligence software is your one-stop-shop for all things cost, environment, compliance, and risk-related and not to mention it’s up to 50 times faster than the old-school way. It’s like the ultimate supply chain detective, giving you the deepest insights to make wiser, greener decisions. Whether you’re into carbon, water, or other factors, Makersite supports your decision-making process with clear, actionable insights that consider various perspectives. Wave goodbye to your dependency on experts as Makersite simplifies the tangled web of cross-departmental data. In the end, you’ll gain a super-specific view into deep-tier supply chains, allowing you to make well-informed decisions and simulate product lifecycles with ease. Think of Makersite as your go-to guide for crafting greener, smarter, and faster supply chain strategies!
What They Say: “Creating new products is a slow and complex process. We put decades of experience into solving a problem that has eluded the manufacturing industry until now. In an increasingly complex environment, how do you make better greener products faster? One of the answers we found is to simplify and decentralize decision-making by providing accurate, instantaneous, and actionable multi-criteria data on sustainability, cost, and risk implications in the hands of product teams and decisions makers.”
Founder/s: Neil D’Souza
Based In: Stuttgart, Germany
Website: www.makersite.io
Matter’s mission is to improve the health of our world and its water by capturing microplastics and stopping this pollution from choking our planet and threatening our eco-system. Through brilliant design thinking, Matter’s mission is to stop this pollution at the source.
Founder/s: Adam Root
Based In: Bristol, United Kingdom
Website: www.matter.industries
Mimbly is a manufacturer of sustainable laundry systems intended to recycle water in a washing compound. The company’s Mimbox system is plugged into the washing machine through a water intake valve where it tracks, analyses, and purifies water during each cycle for its reuse.
Founder/s: Isabella Palmgren & Emil Vestman
Based In: Gothenburg, Sweden
Website: www.mimbly.se
Mr. Green Africa is a recycling company that sells pre-processed recycling materials with a traceable social and environmental impact. The company integrates informal waste collectors into the value chain by applying fair trade principles.
Founder/s: Keiran Smith & Karim Debabe
Based In: Nairobi, Kenya
Website: www.mrgreenafrica.com
mujō packaging material biodegrades straight after use, naturally and harmlessly. Products are made from the renewable resource kelp. It is a fast-growing alga which doesn’t need additional water, nor does it need agricultural land. Instead, it produces oxygen and purifies the ocean water.
Founder/s: Annekathrin Grüneberg & Juni Sun Neyenhuys
Based In: Berlin, Germany
Website: mujolab.com
One • fıve is on a mission to safeguard our planet through the development of innovative materials for clean and reusable packaging. Their unique and eco-friendly approach involves harnessing the remarkable power of algae. Their current product range includes recyclable and biodegradable paper overwrappers, packaging for various food products, and they’re continuously developing new materials to provide tailored solutions for individual sustainability goals, some of which include mono-material paper soy packs for non-food products, leakage-safe sachets for liquid food products, and mono-material paper pouches for liquid non-food products. They’re not just champions of eco-friendliness; they’re also pioneers in reducing the carbon footprint and plastic waste. With a dedication to tackling the challenges of cultivation and bioprocessing, they’re focused on ensuring that eco-friendly packaging materials are scalable and efficient. They understand that one solution doesn’t fit all, which is why they’ve developed an in-house algorithm that rapidly identifies the right technology. The result? Swift product development, crucial in the race against time.
What They Say: “Our mission is to protect our planet by developing materials for clean and closed material loops. We want to find our sustainable materials in every household, globally, by 2040.”
Founder/s: Martin Weber & Claire Gusko
Based In: Hamburg, Germany
Website: www.one-five.com
Water is the most precious resource for all life forms on the planet, but it is also a universal solvent, which means that other toxic substances are easily able to dissolve into it. Therefore, any chemicals that end up in the water result in polluted water, which is dangerous to the environment and humans. Oxyle is on a mission to stop water pollution at the source, and prevent toxic micropollutants from entering our bodies of water. To this effect, the Swiss start-up has crafted a novel wastewater treatment: a fully-automated nanocatalyst that destroys all micropollutants in real-time. Their sustainable technology can be tailored to the sector it is being used in, from PPCPs in pharmaceuticals to pesticides in food production, and more. Multi-targeted solutions like Oxyle’s are vital to the cleaning of our global waterways as removing all of the complex types of water pollutants in different ways is a tricky business. 2023 has been a remarkable year for the small team, and the ambitious water-cleaning superheroes are only just getting started. In October, they won the 2023 Public Value Award for Start-Ups and were named as a shining example of how innovation can advance our common good. That really says it all.
What They Say: “Oxyle’s technology will completely destroy organic micropollutants, once and for all.”
Founder/s: Fajer Mushtaq & Silvan Staufert
Based In: Zurich, Switzerland
Website: www.oxyle.ch
QUANTRON, with their motto “Empower the Future,” embodies the core values of reliability, energy, and bravery. But they’re not just about words; they’re all about action! What makes QUANTRON stand out is their unique blend of e-mobility expertise in both electric and hydrogen powered fuel cells and over 140 years of commercial vehicle experience; Now in the fifth generation of the Haller family, they’ve been in the transportation game since the days of horse-drawn carriages. As a tech player, they are specialists in electrifying both new and used vehicles to give them a second and environmentally friendlier life with their Q-Retrofit concept. Back in 2011, founder Andreas Haller took a giant leap and sold their very first e-bus to the municipal utility of Osnabrück. And he didn’t stop there – in 2021, QUANTRON teamed up with IKEA Vienna to supply a fleet of 60 zero emission environmentally friendly electric and hydrogen powered trucks. Even more recently, they announced their collaboration with industry leaders PepsiCo and Red Sea Global, delivering the first 50 QUANTRON QARGO 4 EV light trucks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – the first electric vehicle to hit the roads of the country and a huge deal in the land of oil! The future holds even more great things in store. In 2024, QUANTRON is partnering up with ACE Championship, a recently launched all-electric racing series that is on a mission to promote young motorsport talents and champion green solutions. The QUANTRON QHM FCEV AERO zero-emission trucks will support in the effort to decarbonize motorsport by organizing ACE Championship’s logistics. This dedication to sustainability earned QUANTRON the prestigious European Transport Award for Sustainability in 2022. In a world where sustainable solutions are the need of the hour, the Haller family and their team are leading the charge. With QUANTRON, you’re not just getting from point A to B; you’re part of a movement towards a cleaner, hydrogen powered, and greener future.
What They Say: “We strive to change the way transportation is organized to date by placing an emphasis on moving to zero emissions. Our vision at QUANTRON is to revolutionize the transportation industry and challenge a century-old industry sector through the holistic use of clean technology, bundling it into a 360° as a Service Platform.”
Founder/s: Andreas Haller
Based In: Gersthofen, Germany
Website: www.quantron.net/en/
Across the world recycling rates are improving, but still only 9% of plastic waste is recycled each year. One of the biggest barriers recycling plants face is separating the huge variety of materials which end up in our trash. Recycleye’s AI-powered trash-sorting robots have Recycleye Vision, which is the London start-up’s flagship technology and functions exactly like a human eye to tell different products apart. In fact, the robots are more consistently accurate than humans, because they’re more reliable, more cost-effective, and can work 24/7. If human-like robot vision sounds like a very futuristic invention, then the future is now. With 21 robots already installed in sites across Europe, Recycleye is successfully reducing waste in the present. Earlier this year they were named as one of the “100 ways to fix the future” on Norrsken’s Impact 100. And let’s not forget that at the end of 2022, the start-up was recognized at the UK’s National Recycling Awards for Robotic Equipment Innovation. Quite an impressive resume! The ability to cheaply and easily sort waste using robots is transforming the recycling landscape, allowing materials that were previously thought unrecyclable to become part of the
circular economy. With Recycleye’s innovation that lacklustre 9% of plastic waste recycled per year is sure to increase.
What They Say: “Recycling starts with the sorting of materials. But if the cost of sorting those materials is higher than the value of the materials themselves, the economics don’t stack up. We believe that waste doesn’t exist, just materials in the wrong place, so by creating innovative sorting technology that lowers the costs of sorting waste, we’re making materials recovery more economic and a better deal for waste management companies and the planet.”
Founder/s: Victor Dewulf & Peter Hedley
Based In: London, United Kingdom
Website: www.recycleye.com
Refurbed’s story began with a problem: Founder Peter purchased an iPhone from a used goods website only for it to quickly break down with no warranty. Also bothering him was the growing issue of electronic waste. Electronic devices are not only harmful to the environment during production, emitting massive CO2 emissions and depleting precious resources, but also in their afterlives. Peter’s experience underscored the importance of sustainable alternatives and led to the founding of Refurbed, a platform for high-quality, renewed products with uniform quality, safety, and guarantees. Now a rapidly growing marketplace for renewed products in German-speaking countries, a remarkable vision is coming to life. At Refurbed, products are up to 40% cheaper and more sustainable than their brand-new counterparts, having undergone up to 40 meticulous refurbishing steps to look and function like new. Shoppers enjoy the triple advantage of sustainability (up to 70% less CO2 emissions), cost savings (up to 40% compared to new purchases), and a 30-day return policy, all while supporting tree-planting initiatives to further reduce the environmental impact. Shoppers choose Refurbed to save money, shop sustainably, and join the mission to make the world a greener place, one device at a time.
What They Say: “We offer a better alternative to new and used products and thereby contribute to a more sustainable world.”
Founder/s: Peter Windischhofer, Kilian Kaminski, & Jürgen Riedl
Based In: Vienna, Austria
Website: www.refurbed.de
Through targeted innovations in the way clothes are assembled, sorted, and disassembled, Resortec’s solutions empower brands to rise to today’s environmental challenges at the pace and scale Earth needs.
Founder/s: Cédric Vanhoeck & Vanessa Counaert
Based In: Brussels, Belgium
Website: www.resortecs.com
Introducing ROSI Solar, the French start-up leading the charge towards a greener energy future. As the European Union strives for a bold 45% renewable energy target by 2030, the production of solar panels is set to surge in the coming years. While this growth is promising, we must not turn a blind eye to its environmental repercussions. Take photovoltaic (PV) modules, for instance; they dutifully generate electricity from sunlight for 20-25 years, but what about the emissions and wasted material during the production of solar panels, and what becomes of them when they reach their lifespan’s end? This is where ROSI Solar steps in. Their pioneering technologies rejuvenate discarded materials, ensuring precise material separation without the need for harsh chemicals. This not only fosters eco-friendly recycling but also drives remarkable cost-efficiency. Their commitment to environmentally friendly, cost-effective recycling is setting the stage for a more sustainable tomorrow in a world where renewable energy is paramount. Au revoir waste!
What They Say: “Waste is a misplaced resource, we render PV truly circular!”
Founder/s: Yun Luo, Guy Chichignoud, & Daniel Bajolet
Based In: Grenoble, France
Website: www.rosi-solar.com
RUBI LABORATORIES has developed an innovative enzymatic synthetic process to recycle waste emissions into cellulosic fabrics. Their approach of converting carbon emissions into cellulosic and not synthetic fibers is innovative and unique.
Founder/s: Leila Mashouf & Neeka Mashouf
Based In: San Francisco, USA
Website: www.rubi.earth
There aren’t many companies whose names perfectly sum up what they do, but Shit2Power is one of these few. They are transforming the wastewater that ends up at small sewage plants into a local energy source or hydrogen. Globally, only 20% of wastewater is treated and recirculated, but as our population grows and droughts worsen amid climate change, we need the other 80% to be part of this cycle. The primary reason for this is cost: treating wastewater typically costs a lot, as it is incredibly energy-demanding. However, Shit2Power has proven that it doesn’t have to be, because sewage contains more than three times the amount of energy needed to process it. Although sewage sludge is not a particularly beautiful energy source, the Berlin start-up knows it as a valuable resource in the water treatment cycle. Produced as a toxic byproduct in the treatment process, sewage sludge can be broken down and converted into an energy-rich synthesis gas. Currently, 9,000 German sewage treatment plants not only waste sewage sludge, but actually pay 500 million euros per year to dispose of it. And with it, they throw away 460,000 MWh of green energy that could be used elsewhere. Shit2Power’s container solution is a win-win-win product for wastewater; saving money, generating climate-neutral energy, and removing the harmful wastewater sludge. Who knew that sewage could have so much potential!
What They Say: “SHIT2POWER turns wastewater treatment plants into power plants. Like that we can create decentralized systems and keep fresh water in the cycle.”
Founder/s: Dr. Fabian Habicht & Nina Heine
Based In: Berlin, Germany
Website: www.shit2power.de/en/vision-2/
The Hurd Co’s cellulosic pulp is made from 100% agricultural waste materials and can be used as a plug-in to produce man-made cellulosic fibers in the textile industry (viscose/rayon, modal, or lyocell). Finding alternatives to virgin cellulosic pulp is a key challenge faced by the textile industry (virgin wood pulp production is associated with high environmental impact and deforestation).
Founder/s: Taylor Heisley-Cook, David Mun, Charles Cai & Michael Gurin
Based In: Los Angeles, USA
Website: www.thehurdco.com
The benefits of taking public transport over driving alone are no secret: carbon emissions are reduced by 45%, local air quality improves, unnecessary noise is cut, and traffic on the roads is greatly reduced. Unfortunately, there are many areas with impractical or non-existent transportation networks. In some cases, on-demand public transport works to plug these gaps and can be a lifeline to those who live there. But, even when such options exist, they rarely work efficiently. Enter, The Routing Company, whose founders have developed a suite of technology to help transportation providers run useful and cost-effective on-demand services. Founded in 2018, The Routing Company’s algorithms are based on five years of MIT research, and their core technology has been hailed by newsbrand CNN as “a striking example of the potential around ride sharing.” Solutions are tailored from a raft of innovative products in order to meet the requirements of any business which moves people around; be it paratransit or university. Yet, for the transport users, solutions are easy to use. The transatlantic start-up’s Ride Pingo app surfaces all available modes of transport in one app, making public transport the simplest yet. It has also already been put into use across the US and in Europe, improving public transport across the globe.
What They Say: “Co-founders Alex and Menno developed a passion for the engineering and mathematical challenge of dynamic on-demand public transportation. Once Alex and Menno realized what they had created, they decided to bring their solution to the world. They brought ridesharing experts and transit leaders on board to help take The Routing Company from an idea to a critical solution to tackle underutilization of shared transport and by doing so contribute to the goals of the circular economy.”
Founder/s: Alex Waller and Menno van der Zee
Based In: Massachusetts, USA & Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Website: www.theroutingcompany.com
As the world turns to renewable energy to revolutionize the energy sector, tozero stands at the forefront, recognizing that recycling is a keystone in the face of resource scarcity. In a future electrified by mobility solutions and home solar panels, the demand for batteries is soaring. Yet, as these batteries reach their end of life, the challenge arises: how to recycle them effectively? Lithium-ion batteries, approximately 90% recyclable, pose both an opportunity and a complexity. tozero embarks on a vital mission: to create a scalable lithium-ion battery recycling machine, ensuring the sustainable recovery of critical materials like lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite. Why is this mission critical? By 2030, the demand for lithium is set to quadruple, with over 250,000 tonnes annually of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries from electric cars in Europe alone. Join tozero on their journey as they endeavor to transform battery waste into a thing of the past, marking a significant step toward a circular economy in Europe.
What They Say: “Our purpose is to enable innovation without compromising on quality of life. With the vision to regenerate materials by truly bringing lithium-ion battery waste tozero.”
Founder/s: Sarah Fleischer & Dr. Ksenija Milicevic Neumann
Based In: Munich, Germany
Website: www.tozero.solutions
Traceless developed an innovative, patentpending technology to make use of natural biopolymers in agricultural industry residues. With their technology, they produce a novel generation of bio-circular and plastic-free materials.
Founder/s: Johanna Baare & Anne Lamp
Based In: Hamburg, Germany
Website: www.traceless.eu
Werewool is a biomaterials company that develops fibers with tailored aesthetic and performance properties. Inspired by nature, they design protein fibers at the DNA level to create sustainable textiles with inherent properties, creating low impact materials with a circular life cycle.
Founder/s: Theanne Schiros, Chui-Lian Lee, Valentina Gomez, Allie Obermeyer & Helen Lu
Based In: New York, USA
Website: www.werewool.bio
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