2021 has seen the rise of many tech-oriented businesses with ambitious goals and solutions that can improve our future on the planet. In Southeast Europe, these early-stage startups have been encouraged and nurtured through accelerator programs and competitions. Based on their achievements in this past year, The Recursive listed some of the promising cleantech startups to watch for in 2022.
Which cleantech startups we will watch in 2022
2030 Builders
Founded: 2017
Based in: Copenhagen, Denmark, with Romanian founders
SDGs addressed: 11 – Sustainable cities and communities, 12 – Sustainable consumption and production
The solution: An educational digital platform that uses gamification to help companies and their employees understand their environmental footprints and take actions to address them. They are one of the startups in the MVP stage participating in the ClimAccelerator Black Sea for Romania and Bulgaria. The product is now evolving from small gamified experiences into a platform where employees can get incentives, start journaling their actions, and practice.
Coffe-eco
Founded: 2018
Based in: Patra, Greece
SDGs addressed: 12 – Responsible consumption and production
The solution: Upcycling coffee waste into high-quality raw materials for food and cosmetics products. At the beginning of the year, Coffe-eco won 1st place at EIT in the Jumpstarter Food category. They finalized the product in the last few months, after intense processes of testing and optimization, and are in the process of raising capital.
LAM’ON
Founded: 2017
Based in: Sofia, Bulgaria
SDGs addressed: 12 – Responsible consumption and production
The solution: Plastic-free, biodegradable, and compostable laminating film for print and publishing houses. They extended the product portfolio by launching PACK’ON, the packaging-focused brother of the laminating film, aimed at packaging companies and brands. After more than 3 years in R&D, the company is now moving into production with the support of The European Innovation Council Accelerator. Stay tuned for more news.
Micile Bucurii
Founded: 2020
Based in: Bucharest, Romania
SDGs addressed: 11 – Sustainable cities and communities, 12 – Sustainable consumption and production
The solution: A community-born platform that aims to educate and guide consumers and businesses on the transition to sustainability lifestyles and strategies. For companies, they are developing training materials and modules on topics related to sustainability. Micile Bucurii has recently participated at Commons Accel and Transformator, and has recently been selected to be part of the Startarium 4GOOD: Impact Accelerator.
Osnova
Founded: 2021
Based in: Sofia, Bulgaria
SDGs addressed: 12 – Responsible consumption and production, 13 – Climate action
The solution: The first science-based calculator for greenhouse gases in Bulgarian. The solution will enable companies to calculate Scopes 1 and 2 of GHG emissions by themselves for free and will connect them to specialists on Scope 3 emissions. The female-led team is one of the winners of the ClimAccelerator BlackSea in Bulgaria and Romania, where they received a pre-seed grant of €5K to validate their idea.
PolyMore
Founded: 2020
Based in: Timisoara, Romania
SDGs addressed: 11 – Sustainable cities and communities; 12 – Responsible consumption and production
The solution: Automatic detection of wrongly sorted waste through a UV camera and AI algorithm placed in waste collector cars to track and analyze content. The idea was developed during Innovation Labs 2020, while the founders were finishing their graduate degrees. Soon after they won the Future Makers final. More recently, they won the Social Impact Award 2021, including a €3K prize, to further develop the product.
R-CREATE
Founded: 2021
Based in: Bucharest, Romania
SDGs addressed: 12 – Responsible consumption and production
The solution: A B2B digital platform offering packaging-as-a-service to online stores, connecting e-commerce, couriers, and postal services in one platform. They launched an integrated solution for reusable packaging in the Romanian market with delivery company DPD. They were also in the final of the Post Innovation Platform (PIP) Startup Innovation Award 2021.
Recycllux
Founded: 2021
Based in: Brussels, Belgium, with Romanian founders
SDGs addressed: 6 – Clean water and sanitation, 9 – Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, 11 – Sustainable cities and communities, 12 – Sustainable consumption and production
The solution: Using Earth observation data and AI tools to identify marine plastics, and then developing a platform component that will bring together and incentivize waste management stakeholders to participate. Recycllux was recently awarded three prizes at Innovation Labs 2021, including Spinoff of the Year.
SatGeo
Founded: 2021
Based in: Sofia, Bulgaria
SDGs addressed: 6 – Clean water and sanitation, 9 – Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, 11 – Sustainable cities and communities
The solution: Technology based on satellite imagery that helps in the early detection and prevention of accidents on the water supply network. SatGeo won in the first joint Demo Day of Innovation Starter Accelerator and “Sofiyska Voda”, part of Veolia, receiving €25K to develop its solution.
Sofia2Go
Founded: 2016
Based in: Sofia, Bulgaria
SDGs addressed: 2 – Zero hunger, 11 – Sustainable cities and communities, 12 – Responsible consumption and production
The solution: A platform that aims to reduce food waste from HoReCa by offering restaurants, hotels, and cafes a marketplace where they can sell food that would otherwise go to waste. The project already has 7700 followers on Instagram, partners with 10 restaurants, and has saved 200 kg of food in the last three months. Sofia2Go was selected as one of the 30 semi-finalists of the European Social Innovation Competition out of 560 applications from 17 EU countries.
Toboro
Founded: 2021
Based in: Bucharest, Romania
SDGs addressed: 11 – Sustainable cities and communities, 12 – Responsible consumption and production
The solution: A mobile app that enables the easy rental and borrowing of products between peers. Toboro was recently awarded the grand prize of 10K euro at the 4th edition of the Future Makers incubator organized by Social Innovation Solutions in Romania. The team will be using these funds for the first stage of testing and for market validation.
