Top Climatetech Startups in 2024

Climatetech startups are among today’s most promising new companies and will be critical to combatting climate change and protecting the environment. Such startups offer often unique solutions to problems like reducing carbon emissions and waste, plastic pollution, and how to power our society of the future.

This year, as Relocalize celebrates receiving the “Top Transportation Startup” award from the VERGE 2024 California climatetech conference, we look more closely at the potential top climatetech startups, including Relocalize, as they provide for tomorrow’s greener planet.

VERGE 24, by Trellis (previously GreenBiz), is a three-day climatetech conference that brings together new companies and professionals catalyzing change. Its startups and speakers innovate towards net zero in areas such as land use, energy, transport, buildings, and industry. For-profit climatetech startups have a critical role in mitigating climate change's effects and compliment the efforts of global governments, where climate change initiative funding can be insufficient.

VERGE24 Startup to Watch Finalists and Judges: (left to right) Alex Blum from Applied Bioplastic, Wayne McIntyre from Relocalize, Kate Murphy from Aquarry, Jake Mitchell from Trellis, Sam Ringwaldt from Conry Tech, and Rajan Kumar from Ateios Systems.

Aquarry

Deep tech climate startup Aquarry took 1st place overall at the VERGE 24 event. Its pit lake alkalinity enhancement innovation converts post-mining pit lakes into carbon sinks for safe, measurable, and durable carbon removals. There are tens of thousands of these lakes around the globe, and they rarely have a beneficial use after they are created as water fills unused open-pit mines.

Aquarry applies ocean carbon removal techniques to post-mining pit lakes, improving the water quality and turning them into permanent carbon sinks. For mining companies, these lakes transform from a potential liability into an asset. Aquarry is led by PhD engineer Kate Murphy and co-founder and PhD hydrogeologist Spencer Whitman. Murphy delivered a groundbreaking pitch on the VERGE 24 keynote stage, wowing the crown and walking away with the 1st place recognition fo the pitch competition.

Conry Tech

A developer of more sustainable heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC). Conry Tech is reinventing air conditioning to decarbonize and improve customer comfort. The company is a green building innovator founded by industry experts hoping to drive a clean energy transition while cutting energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Air conditioning is a major global contributor to carbon emissions, accounting for around 7% of global electricity usage and 3% of carbon emissions. These figures don’t account for the climate impact of the refrigerants used in AC units or global emissions from heating. What’s more, the demand for electricity for air-conditioning units has more than doubled in 22 years as the planet gets warmer and more systems are installed and utilized. Conry Tech’s systems are designed to harness clean energy, provide grid demand response capabilities, give flexibility for property tenants and owners that limit waste, and improve indoor air quality.

Ateios Systems

Battery manufacturer Ateios Systems is “building better batteries for a better world”, innovating faster, affordable electrode production for any application. This startup has a novel battery curing process designed to increase battery manufacturing speed and reduce processing costs. Ateios is focused on reducing the carbon footprint associated with battery manufacturing and offers turnkey services for advanced battery development and electrode manufacturing. Ateios Systems raised $1.25 million in seed funding in 2020, led by Good Growth Capital, which recognized the market potential of streamlining battery manufacturing rather than creating new battery chemistry and the need for battery advances in energy, medicine, transportation, and computing.

Applied Bioplastics

Sustainable plastic alternatives startup Applied Bioplastics supplies affordable and environmentally friendlier thermoplastics made from plant fibers and standard, recycled, or biobased polymers. This plastic alternative can be injection molded or extruded into items for the household automotive, appliance, electronics, and outdoor equipment industries. Applied Bioplastics customers are able to reduce their carbon footprint and dependence on newly produced plastic polymers without needing to change existing manufacturing equipment. Applied Bioplastics also has a flagship product, “jutin,” a plant-based alternative to the traditional polyester resin used in construction, automotive, and aerospace. The product is reinforced with fiber from a jute crop native to Bangladesh. This replaces up to 50% of the petroleum products in the composite, lowering the volume of plastic and it’s related impacts.

Relocalize

Relocalize is thrilled to be among this VERGE 24 top five climatetech startups as a further transformative force, this time developing hyperlocal food systems. A Relocalize hyperlocal food system uses AI, robotics, and IoT to streamline production processes locally and on-site with food retailers and distributors within an autonomous contained micro-factory.

Relocalize creates microfactories that are cost-effective and scalable, cuts out extended supply chains, creates food system efficiencies, and minimizes waste and the carbon footprint of food storage, processing, and distribution. Hyper-localizing production for food products or packaging ice can make a significant impact when, for example, products made from water that travel over 1,000 miles produce 95% more carbon emissions.

World's first autonomous micro-factory for food by Relocalize

This startup has launched with a focus on products made of water because of their weight and hence cost and carbon footprint. The Relocalize team is currently developing microfactories for the packaged ice and beverage industries. In May, Relocalize secured $5.8 million in seed funding to continue the development of its tiny production units, which will decentralize food production, eliminate middle-mile transportation, and de-risk supply chains. Relocalize was also awarded Food Solutions Company of the Year in the SupplyTech Breakthrough Awards.

Contact Relocalize today to learn more.

Top Climatetech Startups in 2024 - VERGE Highlights

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