EIT Climate-KIC welcomes its 100th portfolio company
In the evolving landscape of climate innovation, new milestones move us one step closer towards a just, beautiful and climate-resilient future. We are proud to announce such a accomplishment for our climate entrepreneurship programmes: the signing of our 100th portfolio company!
Among this distinguished portfolio of ClimAccelerator alumni, Point2Hectare stands out as our 100th addition. Headquartered in Potsdam, Germany, Point2Hectare is gaining traction in the agri-tech space through their state-of-the-art biochar fertilisers. These products allow farmers and fertiliser manufacturers to minimise nitrogen losses and boost crop yields while contributing to carbon removal and healthy soil.
The EIT Climate-KIC portfolio boasts a wide range of climate ventures spanning 27 countries across Europe. A whopping 68 per cent of these companies hail from Central and Eastern Europe, affirming the region’s potential as a hub for impactful innovation.
Each of these ventures have completed a climate impact assessment that measure, monitor the forecast the emissions mitigation potential of their product or service. The results show that the portfolio is projected to avoid a total of18.7 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions over the next ten years. Additionally, the creation of these startups have spawned nearly 600 green jobs, highlighting the residual economic and social benefits of our entrepreneurship programmes like ClimAccelerator.
Another impressive statistic revolves around diversity, equity and inclusivity – core principles at EIT Climate-KIC. Of of 100 portfolio companies, 35 have at least one woman making up their founding team. While this surpasses the average of venture-backed companies in Europe (22%), we remain committed to achieving equal representation across our incubation and acceleration programmes in 2024.
Bound4Blue is an obvious standout success story. The Spanish developer of automated wind-assisted propulsion systems for maritime transport is lead by COO and CO-founder Cristina Aleixandri. Among many accolades, the start-up recently secured a €15.9M Series A funding round from the European Innovation Council and major corporate investors and VCs.
Similarly, RepAir from Tel-Aviv reached big milestones within a year of participating in our Carbon Removal ClimAccelerator. With its CO2 removal solution powered exclusively by renewable energy, the company has gone on to raise €10M in Series A funding.
Lithuania-based Boldr is making strides in empowering households to reduce energy consumption with their smart home devices. Having raised a €1 million seed round in Fall 2023, Boldr is positioned to continue enhancing its product offerings and expanding its reach internally.
Each of the 100 start-ups signed our Climate SAFE agreement, a convertible investment instrument developed by EIT Climate-KIC to take equity stakes to support Europe’s most exciting climate innovation start-ups. Through Climate SAFE, start-ups gain access to operational support, fundraising advice, potential follow-on investments, comprehensive impact assessments and validation reports, and access to our global community of investors.
By leveraging this diverse portfolio, we can amplify our impact locally, tailoring solutions to meet the unique climate challenges faced by cities, regions, industries and value chains. EIT Climate-KIC invites angel investors looking to invest in our impact-driven start-ups as well as institutional investors interested in large-scale value chain transformations. Learn more: https://www.climate-kic.org/get-involved/investment-opportunities/