Unveiling the UK’s 24 leading climate tech companies joining Tech Nation’s Climate Cohort 2024

Tech Nation, the UK’s leading network for ambitious tech founders, has just announced the 24 game-changing climate tech companies joining its Climate Programme for 2024.

Now entering its fourth year, the programme is designed to support the UK’s most promising climate tech companies with a curriculum tailored to tackling critical growth challenges and providing direct support on fundraising, acquiring multinational customers, and advocating on climate policy.

Backed by Tech Nation’s Founding Partner, HSBC Innovation Banking, this year it’s focused on critical solutions across food, biodiversity and nature, material innovation, packaging, the built environment, energy and mobility.

Key Themes for Climate 2024 Include:

Decarbonizing Housing

Multiple participants, including Carno, Spruce, and Furbnow, are focused on installing domestic heat pumps to achieve net-zero emissions in at least 80% of homes by 2050, as recommended by the Climate Change Committee.

Material Innovation

PACT, ARDA, and Really Clever are set to disrupt the leather industry by introducing affordable, quality plant-based leathers, aiming to eliminate 77-99% of the carbon and water associated with traditional animal leather production.

Reusable Packaging Revolution

In response to a recent law banning single-use plastics, companies like Dizzie, Bower Collective, and Again are leading a reusable packaging revolution in the UK and Europe, entering mainstream retailers and contributing to the reduction of plastic waste.

Agritech, Aquatech, and Food Systems Focus

Addressing underserved areas in oceans, soil, and rice production, companies such as Straw Innovations are eliminating rice-related greenhouse gas emissions by converting them into biomass and carbon-negative fertiliser. Other companies include soil health monitoring (PES), seaweed utilisation for carbon removal (Seafields), next-generation vertical farming (Future Greens), and innovative plant-based meat products (Adamo Foods).

The six-month programme is developed by a group of seasoned entrepreneurs, climate specialists, and thought leaders. The programme’s steering committee includes leading names who have transitioned their focus to solving climate change, including Dhiraj Mukherjee, Co-Founder of Shazam; Marta Krupinska, fintech entrepreneur turned climate tech founder; Roee Goldberg, Co-Founder of OpenWeb; and Lubomila Jordanova, CEO of Plan A.

Reflecting Tech Nation’s commitment to supporting under-represented groups, 40% of startups in this year’s cohort are female-founded or co-founded, and more than half are based outside London.

Announcing the programme cohort, Tech Nation’s CEO Carolyn Dawson said: “Over 45% of the emission reductions needed to reach net zero by 2050 will come from the adoption of climate technologies that are still under development. Helping these amazing startups grow will deliver innovations with a dramatic impact on generations to come.

“Whether it’s creating a new world of mushroom tech or developing new tools to help businesses plan and install renewable energy infrastructure, Tech Nation helps these businesses to grow and deepen the UK’s reputation as the home for incredible new climate development.”

HSBC Innovation Banking CEO Erin Platts said: “HSBC Innovation Banking is committed to supporting all aspects of climate tech, from early-stage through to late stage. Tech Nation is playing a pivotal role in fostering the most innovative companies across the sector, and we’re excited to empower this promising cohort of scaleups at the forefront of climate tech.”

Tech Nation’s, Head of Climate, Sammy Fry said: “This is the year of climate tech adoption. We are experiencing an inflection point, where solutions are slowly approaching cost parity across multiple sectors and environmental regulations are being enacted.  Through the Climate Programme, we want to ensure we support this group of climate startups to reach scale and ensure their solutions are being adopted by the masses.”

To date, the Tech Nation Climate Programme has supported more than 100 climate tech startups including Olio, a local sharing app that last year prevented more than 60m food portions going to waste, Satellite Vu, the first company to measure the thermal footprint of the world in real-time, and Earthshot Prize Finalist ENSO.

Established in 2020 as part of the UK Government’s net-zero strategy, it has built a far-reaching network of alumni companies. Companies who have been part of the programme have scaled 3 times as fast as the industry average. Five of the startups who have completed the Tech Nation Climate programme have since been acquired, mainly by multinationals, and its alumni have raised well over £500 million since graduating.

Meet the Climate Cohort 2024:

Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing:

Arda Biomaterials: Transforming waste into a leather alternative, saving 77-99% of the carbon associated with animal leather.

Bioataraxis: Green solution for the chemical industry, using waste biomass for carbon-neutral surfactant production.

Really Clever: Developing fully biodegradable vegan leather made from mushrooms and algae.

Ottan Studio: Focused on upcycling green wastes and performing zero-waste production for revolutionary building materials.

Pact: Offers collagen-derived biomaterials for designers with unparalleled flexibility, minimising environmental footprint.

Clean Energy, Efficiency, and Mobility:

Glowb: Installs solar energy systems, generating clean, fossil-free energy into households.

Kleandrive: Repowers existing diesel buses to electric drivetrains, reducing their entire lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.

Zedify: Remodels deliveries from vans to electric cargo bikes, aiming for a 96% reduction in carbon emissions over the full life cycle.

Metris Energy: Turning sunlight into revenue.

Circular Economy and Packaging:

Again: Powers the future of packaging with physical supply chain infrastructure solutions, enabling a circular economy.

Bower Collective: Transforms consumer interactions with products for zero plastic waste and carbon reduction.

Dizzie: Focuses on reusable packaging and has processed over 2 million units, reducing sales over 6 times in the last 2 quarters.

Agriculture, Aquaculture and Food Innovation:

Adamo Foods: Provides delicious, healthy, and sustainable alternatives to meat whole cuts with 93% lower GHG emissions than beef.

Future Greens Farms: Specializes in carbon-negative urban farming, with produce having a significantly longer shelf life.

Straw Innovations: Transforms rice straw into long-lasting biochar soil amendments and fertilizers for sustainable agriculture.

Sustained: Focuses on the global reduction of the environmental impact of food production across major pathways.

Seafields: Focuses on urgent action for climate change by developing innovative Sargassum aquafarms for carbon removal.

PES Technologies: Provides soil health measurement for assessing the microbial biodiversity in soil.

Climate Finance and Intelligence:

Natcap: Enables companies to measure, act, and report on nature for the first time, promoting transparency and accountability.

Provenance: Drives sustainability and cultural change by validating and amplifying claims and certifications related to environmental and social impact.

Built Environment:

Spruce: Addresses carbon emissions by replacing fossil fuel heating systems with heat pumps for sustainable heating.

Carno: A proptech company with a mission to reduce household and energy sector emissions through renewable energy solutions.

Furnbow: Supports customers in improving building fabric, installing low-carbon generation, and transitioning to electric.

PreOptima: Optimizing designs to avoid embodied carbon emissions in construction.