Climate tech investor Elemental Excelerator announced its 11th cohort of investments this week.
The 17 tech companies in the cohort focus on decarbonization, climate resilience, and redesigning built environments. The nonprofit investor will provide between $300,000 and $600,000 to the startups, bringing Elemental's portfolio to a total of 151 startups, with 26 having celebrated exits, meaning they went public or were acquired, according to Elemental Excelerator.
“Entering our second decade of climate investing, we are betting on entrepreneurs tackling major sources of emissions — like shipping, air conditioning, transportation and construction — and working with every company to deploy successfully in local communities," Elemental Excelerator Founder and CEO Dawn Lippert said in a statement released Wednesday announcing the new cohort.
Hawaii-based company Hohonu is part of the 11th cohort, and is focused on climate resilience, providing 24/7 water level monitoring for coastlines, rivers and streams. The company installs sensors and data monitoring systems to help communities recognize risks such as flooding and sea-level rise, according to Hohonu.
"Hohonu's mission is really to democratize access to ocean-observing technology, and with our first go-to-market, we are carving out a niche that is exclusively focused on water risk," Hohonu Founder Brian Glazer told Pacific Business News.
Glazer said the fundraising, networking and collaboration aspects of being part of the cohort will be valuable, adding that helping to solve problems impacting Hawaii "are important to us."
"We're super excited to be joining the Elemental crowd," Glazer said.
Other companies focused on climate resilience in the cohort include Future Acres, Mythos AI, Nitricity, and Transaera. Future Acres builds autonomous tools for farms, Mythos AI creates autonomous vessel technologies for ports, Nitricity distributes and electrifies the production of fertilizer to reduce emissions, and Transaera helps air conditioners use 50% less energy than conventional air conditioning, according to the release from Elemental Excelerator.
Companies focused on "zero carbon," or solutions to remove atmospheric carbon, include Creative Food Labs, Energy Dome, Forum Mobility, NUWIEL, Origen and Vesta. Creative Food Labs upcycles agriculture waste into new food ingredients through a fermentation process, Energy Dome enables long-duration energy storage with its CO2 battery, Forum Mobility provides zero-emission fleet services in the heavy-duty transportation market, NUWIEL makes electric trailers for bikes, Origen produces zero-carbon lime that can be used to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and Vesta protects coastlines and amplifies the ocean's ability to absorb CO2.
Companies focused on the built environment include Banyan Infrastructure, Community Energy Labs, DigitalPaani, Modulous, MOLG, and Oonee. Banyan Infrastructure's finance platform makes it easier to invest in climate solutions, Community Energy Labs builds energy management technology for community buildings, DigitalPaani focuses on treating and reusing wastewater, Modulous digitizes and reimagines construction logistics, MOLG focuses on reducing e-waste, and Oonee creates bike parking, charging and service stations, according to Elemental Excelerator.
As previously reported by PBN, Elemental Excelerator's most recent cohort consisted of 19 companies that each received $200,000 to $500,000 to scale their operations.
