The jury of the 4th edition of the Boost My Startup Challenge has crowned Neustark. Co-founded and co-directed by Valentin Gutknecht and Johannes Tiefenthaler, the Swiss climate tech captures and mineralizes biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2), storing it permanently in concrete and removing it from the atmosphere in addition to the usual recycling processes. “We are transforming the world's largest waste stream - demolition concrete - and other mineral waste into a carbon sink. Our solution is highly sustainable and high quality, and it's already having an impact: we've eliminated more than 1,500 tonnes of CO2 to date” says Lisa Braune, CDR manager at Neustark.
Earlier in June, the Swiss-based carbon dioxide removal systems provider raised $69 million in a funding round to support its rapid expansion in the carbon dioxide removal (CDR) market. Neustark has sold close to 120,000 tonnes of carbon removal to date, making it one of the fastest growing carbon removal companies in Europe, with customers including Microsoft, UBS and NextGen. All projects are certified to the Gold Standard to ensure credible third-party assessment and transparency of performance.
A high-level final
This year, five other start-ups had the opportunity to present their products to the UBS jury:
- Dyneo Technologies SA (Geneva) and its unique AI platform that’s speeding up the shift towards a net-zero energy sector in district heating and cooling.
- enshift AG (Zug) and their tool from planning to contract tendering to implementation for green energy transition and renewable energies
- irmos Technologies AG (Zurich) The award-winning ETH startup aims to maximize the safe operational life of existing buildings and bridges.
- Wegaw SA (Lausanne) and its geospatial and machine learning technologies to increase the value of renewable energies.
- SEPAR AG for its asset evaluation tool and intelligent solutions for reusing materials in the construction sector.
The jury for this latest edition of Boost My Startup was made up of Pierre Epars and Anne-Claire Pliska, respectively CEO and Director of Strategic Planning and Innovation at BG Consulting Engineers - a WSP company, Jan Lederhausen from the Growth Advisory unit at UBS, Eric Plan, Secretary General of Cleantech Alps, Marcel Egger, member of the Board of Directors of SICTIC, and Katka Letzig, CEO of Kickstart Innovation.
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From left to right on picture: Pierre Epars (BG Ingénieurs) Conseils Anna Haas (Neustark), Philippe Schlegel (UBS)