5 Nordic Sustainable Tech startups to watch out for
The Nordic countries have adopted a vision to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. Bolstered by the ambitious climate goals set by the region’s governments, startups have been tackling all manner of the green transition from smart farming to recycling, and are now leaders in sustainable technologies. At Oslo Innovation Week’s Climate Demo Day at Mesh, several sustainable tech startups showcased their solutions for a greener future.
Spowdi is a Swedish company that aims to help farmers grow food with less water and zero emissions. They achieve this using a solar powered water distribution system, which irrigates crops and fills water reservoirs. The distribution system is intended for small-scale farming and is a cheaper and more sustainable solution than the traditional diesel powered pumps that are commonly used for irrigation. The company is already active in Sweden, Taiwan, India, and Spain.
Nanom is an Icelandic company that creates nanoparticles for batteries that are uniquely suited to high surface area applications. By applying nanotechnology to battery electrodes, Nanom can increase the size and surface area of the battery to make them more efficient at storing energy. Nanom allows manufacturer to change the structure of materials, creating new possibilities for energy storage. This can be applied to many sectors that use batteries, including fuel cells for electric cars, composites, and filtration. Nanom is also unique in that it integrates into existing manufacturing flows and allows manufacturing processes to be retrofitted to be more sustainable without drastically changing the manufacturing process.
Totalctrl is a food waste solution based in Oslo that builds digital products for restaurants, hotels, municipalities, and households to help them streamline their food inventory management and accounting processes, thereby reducing food waste. The company aims to tackle food waste through the entire value chain of the food industry, from farms to consumers. The founders were inspired to create the product after working in grocery stores and seeing the amount of food waste generated that they realized could be solved by better transparency in the food inventory management process. Recently, Totalctrl partnered with Atea to begin tracing the food value chain using blockchain technology.
Agreena is a Danish sustainable farming startup that has developed an online marketplace for farmers to mint, verify, and sell carbon credits they have generated by engaging in regenerative farming. Regenerative farming refers to practices that boost wildlife stores and reduce CO2 emissions by, for example, restoring peatlands or boosting wildlife. By making regenerative farming an attractive business case for farmers and a way to generate income, Agreena hopes to enable a switch from arable farming to regenerative agriculture. The company currently serves farmers in 7 different countries.
Material Mapper is a Norwegian startup tackling the repurposing of building materials. 40% of all waste globally comes from construction, but when it comes to recycling in the construction field, one of the most difficult parts of the process is for building owners to understand which parts of their buildings can be reused if the building is demolished. Oftentimes, building materials are not recycled because it is too difficult to track and inventory them. Material Mapper seeks to solve this by creating re-use reports for buildings. The reports map the materials available, their qualities, and when and where they will be available for reuse, to enable better enable recycling and repurposing of building materials.
