80 UK Climate Tech Startups To Know

We’ve previously mapped Switzerland and France’s Climate Tech startups and up next we jump across the Channel and into the UK.

Despite being a (relatively) tiny island, the UK is making major strides in climate tech, doubling its investment year-on-year to nearly $8 billion in 2022.

We took to LinkedIn again to track down the British climate tech founders you really need to know.

If there’s someone you think we’ve missed, please add them to the list here.

Before jumping in… if you’re interested in UK’s Climate Tech scene, you’ll want to join us at this years HackSummit on May 11th and 12th.

With attendance from some of the top Climate founders and VC’s including Lowercarbon Capital, Planet A Ventures, Ecovative, Zero Carbon Capital, and many more.

300+ Climate startups are expected to be in the room - will you be there?

Agtech

• David Farquhar of Intelligent Growth Solutions - Delivering vertical farming solutions that enable businesses to grow tasty, nutritious, additive-free produce using economically viable and environmentally sustainable methods.

• Shireen Davies of SOLASTA Bio - Developing peptide-based bioinsecticide solutions for the global agricultural market.

• Remi Gratacap of Aquanzo - Producing marine ingredients for the aquaculture industry on land to avoid harming our oceans.

• Rosaria Campilongo of PfBIO - Providing precision biocontrol solutions to protect crops from major agricultural diseases.

• Sarah Power of Agreed Earth - Building the data hub of regenerative agriculture to help farmers profit, naturally, by making their operations more resilient and productive through regenerative practices.

Biotechnology

• Christopher Reynolds of Eden Bio - Using machine learning to improve protein yield, saving companies time and money, and helping them get their proteins to market faster.

• Mohammad Khalil El Hajj, PhD of Bright Biotech - Creating high quality & affordable recombinant proteins for the life sciences and food sectors.

• Jack Reid of Unicorn Biotechnologies - Developing a next-generation biomanufacturing platform to power the cell-based manufacturing revolution.

• Farrah Barber of Primordial Biotechnology - Leveraging machine learning and the fusion of mathematics, engineering, plant science, and design, to confront the world's most challenging climatic problems.

Carbon Capture

• Erik Millar of Heimdal - Building machines that use renewable energy to extract the acidic parts of seawater, allowing more CO2 to be removed from the atmosphere and restoring stability to the world’s oceans.

• David S. K. of CyanoCapture - Working to provide affordable carbon capture on an industrial scale by harnessing genetically modified cyanobacteria.

• Alisha Fredriksson of Seabound - Developing patent-pending carbon capture equipment for large cargo ships.

Carbon Credits

• Tim de Rosen of ClimaFi - Creator of the first trusted and scientifically accurate standard for the untapped peatland restoration market, including a UK carbon credit trading exchange.

• Claire Pluard of Carbon Yield - Helping farmers access new revenue streams through carbon markets.

Climate Finance

• Stephen Fern of Ark2030 - Innovative programs designed to fund restoration of the 500 million hectares of ecosystems that have been destroyed by mankind since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

• Marta Krupinska of CUR8 - A venture capital firm that works with leading scientists and innovators to scale up the carbon removals industry.

• Krishna Srinivasan of Farms.io - A climate tech ecosystem that connects everyone from farmers to financiers with easy-to-use digital tools and flexible, climate smart solutions

Climate Education

• Richard Ng of greenworkx - A climate EdTech startup that is tackling the green skills emergency and building the net-zero workforce.

• Chloe Sweden of Lowr - The world's first engagement platform that informs, inspires and incentivises employees to lower their environmental impact.

Climate Tracking / Mitigation

• Lukky of Climate X - Unlocking the power of climate risk data with global coverage and granular analytics to build a better future for our planet.

• Alexander L. of Connect Earth - Using carbon tracking API technology to support financial institutions in offering their customers transparent insight into the climate impact of their daily spending.

• Kat Bruce & Katie Critchlow of NatureMetrics - The world’s first nature performance monitoring subscription service, powered by eDNA technology.

• Franceso Pomponi of Preoptima - The world's first AI platform for real-time carbon planning for buildings and cities.

• Sherif Elsayed-Ali of Carbon Re - Building the world's most advanced AI-powered platform to enable cement and steel decarbonisation.

• Anand Verma of Expect™ - Developer of UNA™, a Climate Action Platform with an AI-first approach, that helps organisations to diagnose, understand, navigate and accelerate the reduction in carbon emissions, profitably.

• John Ridd of Greenpixie - Building software to measure and reduce the emissions of companies' cloud operations.

• Samuel Wright & Mike Milner of Carbonside - Creators of a sustainable emissions management platform for businesses of all sizes.

• Victoria Hatch of MyCarbon - A platform for individuals and businesses to calculate their carbon footprint and learn about their own impact on the environment.

• Quentin ‘Q’ Draper-Scrimshire of Modo Energy - Transforming the energy industry through transparency of data.

• Sarah Montgomery of Infyos - Helping to solve the problem of transparency for electric vehicle battery supply chains, using blockchain technology and IoT.

Construction

• Dr. Ehab Sayed of Biohm - Biomanufacturing research and development to revolutionise construction and create a healthier, more sustainable, built-environment.

• Liv Andersson of BioZeroc - Creating carbon-negative construction materials that enable everyday infrastructure to be built sustainably.

Energy Optimisation

• Nick Pledge of EcoSync - Creator of a multi-award winning Smart Temperature Control System that helps businesses reduce their heating-related carbon emissions and energy bills by up to 50%.

• Gavin White of About:Energy - Using its software platform, “The Voltt”, to supply organisations with high-quality battery data and models to “supercharge” their in-house battery development.

• Tom Heenan of Gaussion - Making batteries charge significantly faster through magneto-electrochemistry.

• Penelope Jones of Byterat - Creator of a no-code solution for battery performance forecasting and optimisation.

• Dan Williams of measurable.energy - Developer of technology that automatically identifies and eliminates wasted energy in buildings, reducing CO2 emissions and electricity bills.

• Karl Farrow of CeraPhi Energy - A leading project development company delivering global geothermal energy solutions at scale.

• Greg Jackson of Octopus Energy - Building a truly sustainable energy system globally.

Energy Production

• Nick Van Dijk of Oort Energy - A hydrogen electrolyser manufacturer with disruptive technology to dramatically lower the cost of green hydrogen.

• Carlton Cummins of Aceleron - Designing and building sustainable, smarter and safer lithium batteries for optimal performance.

• Louise Parlons Bentata of Bluemethane - Capturing methane from water to create a new source of bio-power.

• John C. Waite of Phycobloom - Developing an algae oil that is cheap enough to replace fossil fuels.

• Dr. Thomas Fudge of WASE LIMITED - Working with manufacturers to turn their unavoidable waste into bioenergy, water for reuse and agricultural inputs.

• David Ortega of Phase Biolabs - Making carbon neutral chemicals and electro-fuels from carbon dioxide using fermentation.

Fashion

• Josephine Philips of SOJO - Providing fashion businesses with the solutions to offer alterations and repairs to customers at scale — increasing garment lifespans and reducing waste and inventory losses.

Food - Cellular Agriculture

• Will Milligan of Extracellular - Using scale up experience and deep insights into cellular behaviour to produce biomass for cultivated meat companies more efficiently.

• Clarisse B. of Animal Alternative Technologies - Engineering a scalable, end-to-end ecosystem for cultured meat production.

• Martina Miotto of CellRev - Revolutionising cell cultivation with a scalable, industry-first continuous bioprocessing technology.

• Che Connon of 3D Bio-Tissues - Developing scaffold-free, 100% cultivated meat with its unique technology.

• Richard Dillon of Ivy Farm Technologies - Operating an 18,000 square foot cultivated meat production facility, which it claims is the largest of its kind in Europe.

• Max Jamilly of Hoxton Farms - Cultivating animal fat for the alternative protein industry.

• Owen Ensor of Good Dog Food - Replacing the 20% of meat and fish globally used for pet food with cultivated meat.

• Cai Linton of Multus - Engineering a new growth medium for the cellular agriculture industry that is both inexpensive and animal-free.

• Benjamina Bollag of Higher Steaks - Using state-of-the-art cell culture techniques to produce meat of the highest quality.

• Illtud Llyr Dunsford of Cellular Agriculture Ltd - The first UK startup in the cell-based space, delivering scaled technology for multi species cell-based meat technology.

Food - Alt Protein

• Pierre Dupuis of Adamo Foods - Launching the world’s first sustainable, yet delicious steak, entirely made from fungi.

• Abi Aspen Glencross of FoodSquared - Developing realistic and healthy plant-based shellfish.

• Christopher Kong of Better Nature - Carbon-neutral, plastic-neutral, tempeh-based food products.

• Jevan Nagarajah of Better Dairy - Using precision fermentation to produce animal-free dairy.

Food - Sustainable Ingredients

• Marcela Flores of Tierra-Foods Ltd. - Developing nutritious, carbon-negative ingredients that help to regenerate soils, restore biodiversity and feed the world.

• Tom Simmons of The Supplant Company - Turning agricultural side-streams like corn cobs, oat hulls and wheat straw into sustainable replacements for environmentally-damaging ingredients.

• Ben Wilding of Sun Bear Bioworks - Using precision fermentation to make sustainable alternatives to staple ingredients, starting with palm oil.

• Peter Rowe of Deep Branch - Using clean and renewable carbon and energy to create ingredients for a more sustainable food system.

Food - Waste

• Emilie Vanpoperinghe of Oddbox - A subscription service for surplus or wonky fruit and veg that has been rescued from farmers.

• Michael Haskamp of Angry Monk - Rescuing fresh surplus and imperfect produce from producers and supplying it directly to consumers.

• Saasha Celestial-One of Olio - Connecting neighbours with each other and with local businesses so surplus food can be shared, not thrown away.

• David Whitewood of Upp™ - Harvesting nutritious, health-promoting proteins and ingredients from the 80% of broccoli that is grown to waste.

• Fotis Fotiadis of Better Origin - Offering modular insect farms that convert food waste into animal feed.

Materials

• Matt Millar of Really Clever - Using fungi to create everything from high-quality leather-like materials to clean fuels.

• Yudi D. of Hide Biotech - Developing disruptive sustainable biomaterials inspired by leather, that are cow-free, climate friendly, non-plastic, waste-derived, non-polluting, while being made of collagen.

• Brett Cotten of Arda Biomaterials - Transforming waste into smarter, circular biomaterials.

• Stefan Grossfurthner of PhycoWorks - Accelerating the transition to a sustainable bioeconomy by using AI and synthetic biology to optimise algae for industrial applications.

Packaging

• Carlo Fedeli of FlexSea - A sustainable-packaging company aiming to replace traditional petroleum plastic film with an innovative natural, biodegradable and edible material derived from seaweed.

• Insiya Jafferjee of Shellworks - Developing sustainable packaging, made from upcycled waste, that is a non-polluting fertiliser at its end of life.

• Sharon C. of Sourceful - Helping businesses design, produce and manage more sustainable packaging.

• Pierre-Yves Paslier of Notpla - Creator of a revolutionary packaging material made from seaweed and plants that biodegrades in weeks, naturally.

Recycling

• Jacob Nathan of Epoch Biodesign - Designing tuneable enzymes that can be programmed to transform plastic waste into different chemicals.

• Rishi Stocker of TrueCircle - Creator of AI technology that enables recycling facilities to operate more effectively, recover higher amounts of valuable material and sell more efficiently.

• Victor Dewulf of Recycleye - Bringing advanced machine learning, computer vision and robotics to the global waste management industry.

Transport

• Hamish G. of Lenz Labs - Deploying AI, IoT, and engineering solutions to give rail networks, which emit significantly less CO2 than roads, a truly predictive reliability, helping them compete with alternative transport modes.

• Tatseng Chiam of RideTandem - Turning local taxis, minibuses and coaches into smart, shared shuttles to create low-cost, sustainable ways to get people to employment and educational opportunities.

If you’re building or investing in Climate Tech, come join us and 800+ others this May 11-12th in Lausanne, Switzerland for a global gathering of climate tech investors and entrepreneurs.

You can reserve an Investor Pass or a Startup Booth today and use code UKTECH for a discount on your ticket.

Editorial by Arman, Curation by Nicola.

Disclaimer: The author and the authors company, HackCapital, may hold direct investment positions in some of the startups mentioned above.