Australian climate tech VC, Virescent Ventures, and the University of New South Wales have revealed the first cohort of five climate tech startups in their Climate 10x Accelerator, as well as $580,000 of total funding.
The Climate 10x Accelerator was established as part of the $280 million Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TraCE) collaboration between the Commonwealth Government, industry, UNSW and the University of Newcastle.
It supports early-stage climate tech startups whose innovations significantly impact emissions reductions or improve the resilience and adaptability of existing infrastructure, to allow for a faster transition to renewable energy:
1. SoNiA Green Tech has discovered a novel way to manufacture polymer-modified bitumen to significantly reduce energy usage and incorporate waste plastic
2. WorkbenchX links companies with manufacturing capability to those without, bringing down the cost of production for startups and manufacturers and enabling sovereign manufacturing.
3. DeCarice uses specialised hardware to decarbonise existing diesel engines to run on up to 90% hydrogen, enabling a 70%+ reduction in carbon dioxide output
4. Powour tracks, promotes, and incentivises active transportation activities, reducing environmental impact and improving public health
5. Green Dynamics uses AI to automate advanced materials research, speeding up research and production cycles
Blair Pritchard, Partner of Virescent Ventures, said: “Climate change is the challenge and opportunity of our generation. We need to find, fund and champion a diverse range of solutions to meet the scale and urgency of the problem. The transition to Net Zero emissions impacts every part of the economy. As a result, the investment opportunity is huge.”
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