Image credits: Roboat
Climate change is driving an innovation revolution in many sectors to reduce emissions and mitigate environmental impact. Globally, entrepreneurs are working towards achieving a better future by pioneering services, products, and other applications, based on sustainability.
Recently, several bigwigs in tech including Microsoft, Uber, Facebook, Google, and others, announced their plans to significantly cut down their carbon emissions as a part of the collective fight.
Recently, the winners of the 2021 Future Hamburg Award were announced.
The Netherlands is one of the few countries in Europe that has produced a significant chunk of Greentech startups. In fact, various incubators and accelerators like Climate-KIC, Rockstart, Dutch CleanTech Challenge, Yes!Delft incubator have supported entrepreneurs to test their ideas and raise capital. Even several startups are doing their best to meet their environmental obligations.
These Greentech companies from Amsterdam are helping make the world a greener and better place.
Bringly
HQ: Amsterdam
Founder/s: Anton Liulichev and Rajiv Laigsingh
Year: 2019
Bringly is a logtech company that provides a sustainable and Same-Day delivery service for omnichannel retailers and e-commerce. The company’s “Ship-from-Store” service allows the network of bicycle couriers and electric vehicles to deliver packages to consumers the same day and completely CO2-neutral from physical stores.
Recently, the company has opened its Same-Day shipping network to new customers. It’s worth mentioning that Bringly was already active in Belgium last year, but only for existing customers. Earlier this year, the company raised funding from Ponooc, an Amsterdam-based VC fund focused on sustainable energy or mobility-related enterprises.
Right now, Bringly is active in more than 40 cities in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Dexter Energy
HQ: Amsterdam
Founder/s: Luuk Veeken
Year: 2017
Dexter Energy helps energy companies in Europe to make their portfolio more sustainable and increase their profitability through AI-based forecasting and optimisations.
The company’s software platform predicts energy supplies and demands as well as market movements, so companies can optimise their renewable electricity production and consumption.
The Amsterdam company works with various energy firms,including Axpo, Greenchoice, NieuweStroom, and Pure Energie. In March, Dexter Energy raised €2M in a Series A funding round led by Newion.
OnePlanetCrowd
HQ: Amsterdam
Founder/s: Coenraad de Vries, Laura Rooseboom, and Maarten de Jong
Year: 2012
OnePlanetCrowd is the first sustainable crowdfunding platform in the Netherlands. The company is on a mission to solve challenges with entrepreneurs and the crowd. Notably, Oneplanetcrowd is B Corp certified.
The Dutch platform connects forward-thinking entrepreneurs to future-oriented investors together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable economy. Since its inception, the crowdfunding platform has raised over €70M in funding for more than 250 projects with a community of 30,000 investors. Some of the notable companies that raised fundings are Fairphone, VanMoof, Ampyx Power, and Saltrex.
A couple of months back, the Dutch crowdfunding platform secured funding from Unknown Group, a Dutch early-stage VC.
Adyen
HQ: Amsterdam
Founder/s: Pieter van der Does
Year: 2006
Adyen is one of the bigwigs in tech that’s looking to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, the company has launched Planet, the latest addition to the company’s Impact product suite.
According to the company, Planet allows Adyen’s merchants to offer their shoppers a chance to offset the carbon footprint of their purchases at the end of the checkout process. This is an optional feature for merchants and can be implemented at no extra cost. The optional offsetting option directly supports climate action projects (e.g. reforestation or renewable energy).
On top of that, the company partnered with the South Pole to build its greenhouse gas emissions calculator to keep a tab on data quality of emissions per purchase.
Fairphone
HQ: Amsterdam
Founder/s: Bas van Abel
Year: 2010
Fairphone is a social enterprise that set out to create the world’s fairest and most sustainable phone. Started as an awareness campaign about conflict minerals in 2010, the enterprise company turned into a phone company in 2013.
Fairphone has developed and refined the modular architecture to make the device more durable and more reliable. Also, it aims to source as many materials in both human and environmentally friendly ways.
The Dutch Weed
HQ: Amsterdam
Founder/s: Lisette Kreischer and Mark Kulsdom
Year: 2012
The Dutch Weed Burger is a plant-based food company that was started as a spin-off from their eponymous documentary, in which they search for the best recipes to bring seaweed to the mainstream public. The company uses seaweed that grows in the Dutch Eastern Scheldt and is picked by hand on the sustainable seaweed farm of the company Zeewaar .
Last month, LIVEKINDLY Collective, a New York-based plant-based company, acquired The Dutch Weed Burge to expand its plant-based portfolio with seaweed.
Additionally, this proposed acquisition will help the company scale internationally in the UK and Nordics, two key markets in Europe, and the US and Canadian markets, and eventually into Asia, claims the company.
Roboat
HQ: Amsterdam
Founder/s: NA
Year: 2012
Roboat is a 5-year research project and collaboration between the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The project is a new kind of on-demand infrastructure, where autonomous platforms will combine to form floating bridges and stages, collect waste, deliver goods, and transport people, all while collecting data about the city.
A couple of months back, Roboat started testing its new slewing crane at Marineterrein Amsterdam in the presence of Deputy Mayor Everhardt. Roboat units are autonomous, electric, and modular boats that can alleviate pressure from Amsterdam’s inner city in numerous ways.
