Sustain 100: the European sustainability startups to watch in 2021

Plume Labs has developed a handheld, portable air pollution monitor called ‘Flow’ which measures harmful greenhouse gases and particulate matter.

It also forecasts air quality down to the street level — all of its monitors feed into a global, real-time map of pollution. In 2017, it launched an API for air pollution which relies on 12k environmental monitoring stations.

Previously it’s received funding and grants from the Open Data Incubator, Agoranov and the European Innovation Council — with a total of €5.5m.

Air pollution drops in European cities: how does your street look?

In 2010, Reforest’Action launched with a mission to preserve, restore and create forests in France. Now, it’s active in 25 countries and has funded the growth of over 10m trees in forests around the world.

The Paris-based startup has added its own twist to crowdfunding. Enter ‘crowdplanting’, where companies and individuals fund forestry projects through its online platform. Users pay €3 to buy and plant a tree in an area of their choice.

It’s one of the fastest growing B Corps in Europe as its team grew by 44% over the last year. Find the rest here.

Founded by recent graduate Josephine Phillips, the Sojo app connects its users with a local network of seamsters based on their postcode — supporting not only local business but the emerging movement in fashion to repair clothes and items for lifelong use, reducing waste.

Pieces are returned within five days.

Though the app is currently only available in Central London, Brighton and Bristol are next on the list in mid-April — once lockdown lifts.

Sojo have released no information on funding at present, but with only two staff members it’s barely started — and on our watchlist.

Solar Foods makes alternative protein out of, well, pretty much thin air. Solein is its secret ingredient, which is made by combining renewable electricity, air and water laced with bacteria.

Sifted spoke to the startup last year, and told us that solein is 100 times more climate-friendly than any animal or plant-based protein.

The Finnish startup bagged two funding rounds in 2020, a €15m Series A and €4.3m early VC round.

Today, data is defining the global economy.

Submer Technologies’ founders claim their tech reduces energy use by 50% and water use by 99%.

And according to Beatriz Gonzalez of Seaya Ventures, “energy consumption from data centres is becoming an exponential sustainability issue, and Submer directly addresses this problem, reducing capital expenses and operational expenses for datacentre operators at the same time.”

However, its last round was in July 2018 from Mundi Ventures, when it raised €3.9m in seed funding. Given the hype around data centre energy waste, we think it’s due for another soon.

It's also on our list of Spain's most undervalued startups.

Recommended to us by environmental-focused VC firm ETF Partners (not in its portfolio), Sust Global uses geospatial data to communicate potential climate risk to asset owners and investors.

It claims to be able to make such projections until 2100 in a range of areas: financial services, commodities, the public sector and across supply chains.

It’s based in both London and San Francisco.

Carbon offsets are getting a lot of flack — perhaps fairly in some cases. But Sylvera’s web application breaks down the initiatives, their solutions and real-time data on each. Think Which! for carbon offsets.

It’s particularly focused on nature-based solutions and land use, and is backed by Seedcamp and Speedinvest (amounts are currently undisclosed).

It’s also received support from the UK Research and Innovation council, the National Centre for Earth Observation and the University of Leicester.