That is why the Danish Industry Foundation, DTU Science Park and the consultancy company The Footprint Firm have established the GreenUp accelerator, the most ambitious accelerator for climate tech startups. This accelerator program is specifically targeted for startups working to reduce CO2 emissions.
If you apply before February 1, 2021, you and your company will get additional benefits such as individual feedback and pitch training, thus increasing the chances of being selected.
The Footprint Firm is a Danish investment and consultancy that focuses on sustainable companies, especially those that have the potential to do something about the climate-damaging CO2 emissions. The Footprint Firm combines its business lines and tries to generate a financial and climatic return.
Jakob Wichmann tells DI Business that the challenges of starting a business are well known. Business model, team, finance, etc. They are very much in need of help as an entrepreneur. But when it comes to sustainability, there’s an extra layer on top.
Jakob Wichmann further explains that to be able to quantify your company’s positive contribution to the world, and you need to be able to make it part of your business model. A company must be able to calculate its carbon footprint as well as report on it and other sustainability parameters. At the same time, a company must master communicating it. And that can get complicated.
Packaging out of seaweed can replace plastic
One of the entrepreneurial companies that have the ambition to become part of the GreenUp Accelerator is Coastgrass I/S. The company is an example of how innovation, entrepreneurship and climate awareness can merge into a higher entity.
The company was established around a year ago by two engineers Kristoffer Kilias Møller Jakobsen and Malthe Timmermann Larsen, who formally have the roles of CEO and CTO respectively. They produce packaging out of seaweed. The packaging is an alternative to the plastic packaging within the cosmetics industry.
Kristoffer Kilias Møller Jakobsen tells DI Business that they are developing a compostable packaging. It is made from a plant-based binder and the kind of seaweed that everyone probably knows from the beach when bathing in the summer. The seaweed is being removed in many places. Coastgrass sees a value in using it as a resource – and they aim to have the product ready by the summer.
Valuable sparring with like-minded companies
However, the two partners at Coastgrass face the same barriers as any other entrepreneur does. Therefore, they cheered when they received the message that the GreenUp Accelerator was being established. They are determined to apply for it.
Kristoffer Kilias Møller Jakobsen tells DI Business that it is the first time he has seen an accelerator that focuses not only on sustainability but also on CO2 reduction. It is exactly the same thing that he and his partner have as a focus area. He finds it fantastic that there is a program that has the same mission as he and his company.
Kristoffer Kilias Møller Jakobsen further adds that It will be very valuable for them to become part of the GreenUp Accelerator. He explains that when several companies that have focus in the same areas, it can create opportunities for good sparring and collaboration. Especially for engineers like himself and his partner, who may not always be thinking commercially, it adds extra value to Coastgrass.
GreenUp Accelerator was unveiled in November 2020. Applicants are already able to sign up for this new program, which is set to begin in the spring. The course lasts 20 months and the companies move together in the entrepreneurial environment Futurebox in Lyngby.
Source: DI Business
