People who take on enormous aspirations like reversing climate change and reducing carbon footprint deserve recognition. These leaders caught our eye and we hope their vision inspires you enough to support them or even join them! Click on the 🎉 icon for companies who are currently building their team.

Enjoy this compilation of the most impressive "Superhero" startups from our newsletter history!

Superheros by Industry

• 🛠 Construction
• ⚡️ Energy
• 🧶 Fashion
• 🥖 Food
• 📱 Software
• 🚚 Transportation

---~~ Let's dive in! ~~---

Construction

Plantd Materials

Superpower: Grass | Enemy: Climate Change

Plantd Materials aims to solve climate change by cultivating the fastest growing plants on this planet (grasses) to produce building materials that are better in every way. They claim that their grass plantations produce as much material as do timber lands but with superior quality, faster results, and 9x less land usage. Their production factory is also low cost and 100% electric.
Join Team Plantd Materials 🎉

Partanna Global

Superpower: Carbon Capture | Enemy: Carbon Emissions

Partanna is a building material made out of saltwater brine that actually captures carbon. Cement is responsible for ~8% of the CO₂ emmissions each year. Partanna is a revolutionary solution that replaces cemet and breathes in CO₂. It is truly circular, locally sourced, and cost-effective. The founders, inspired and motivated by their own personal natural disaster experiences, believe to be pioneering in what they call a "Gray Carbon Era" (carbon absorbed by building materials). They recently raised over $9 million and are currently building the first carbon negative housing community in the Bahamas. Not only will the housing be strong enough to handle hurricanes, its design is also aesthetically pleasing.

Energy

Advano 🔋

Superpower: Silicon | Enemy: Graphite

Advano has figured out how to replace graphite in batteries with the very abundant material, Silicon - a notoriously challenging problem, but if achieved greatly reduces manufacturing costs and increases performance. Their technology that makes this possible is heavily patented. As a bonus, their website is very simple and impressively effective in communicating their existence.
Join Team Advano 🎉

Ascent Solar Technologies 🛰

Superpower: Solar | Enemy: Carbon Emissions

Over time, most things trend towards becoming lighter and more versatile. Ascent Solar Technologies has created flexible thin-film solar solutions to combat carbon emissions through manufacturing and shipping. Its design revolutionizes the applications of solar power (e.g., high altitude flight and outerspace satellites), replacing the outdated, energy-inferior alternatives.

Captura 🌊

Superpower: Carbon Capture | Enemy: Climate Change

Captura captures CO₂ with their unique gigaton-scalable Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) technology from the ocean, our world's largest natural CO₂ absorber. Captura was founded in 2021 right out of Caltech's laboratories. Their first pilot system can be found off the coast of Newport Beach, California. Once captured, the CO₂ can be used to make low-carbon products. In Spring 2022, Captura was proudly 1 of 15 teams to be awarded $1M as a milestone winner in the XPRISE Carbon Removal competition funded by the famous Elon Musk Foundation.
Join Team Captura 🎉

Dandelion Energy 🏠

Superpower: Geothermal Energy | Enemies: Oil & Gases

Dandelion Energy empowers homeowners by offering them geothermal systems as a more sustainable and earth-friendly alternative to heating and cooling homes. Dandelion systems aim to replace fuel oils, air source heat pumps, natural gas, and propane. Installing one can decrease your home's carbon emission by up to 75% (equivalent to removing 39 cars from the road each year)! The benefits don't stop there! Their systems last longer (20-25 years), is safer with no flames or fumes, improves indoor air quality, and eliminates carbon monoxide risk. They're literally saving lives! Right now, they are focused on installations in parts of CT, MA, NY, NJ, and VT. If you live in these areas, see if your home qualifies.
Join Team Dandelion Energy 🎉

Kore Infrastructure 🔥

Superpower: Fire | Enemy: Massive Waste

Kore turns waste into energy using a zero-waste pyrolysis system. The system is closed loop meaning the waste it burns is used to power itself! Learn more on their Process Page. We're not experts in thermal conversion tech, but Kore claims to be very different from their peers.

Natel Energy 🐟

Superpower: Water | Enemies: Biodiversity Loss & Climate Change

Natel Energy has created a new kind of climate-resilient Hydropower that prioritizes biodiversity. They believe biodiversity loss is as important to stop as is climate change. So far, their powerful turbines are the most fish-safe. They also created HydroForecast, a software service that provides faster, more reliable forecasts to improve environmental decision making.
Join Team Natel Energy 🎉

Fashion

Circular Impact

Superpower: Recycling | Enemies: Carbon Emissions and Water Waste

Circular Impact is a materials company working on recycling old garments into a variety of new fabric products, as well as other recycling programs targeting inefficiencies in agriculture, fashion, and manufacturing. Circular has a variety of proprietary techniques and has already done hundreds of thousands of kilograms of business worldwide. Some of the brands they have partnered with already: Nike, Converse, Champion, H&M, and Madewell.

Hilos

Superpower: 3D Printing | Enemy: Massive Waste and Overproduction

Hilos leverages 3D printing to battle against overproduction and material waste within the footwear industry. According to their website, over 20% of shoes end up in the dump. They have built a process to alleviate that problem. Their shoes are made on-demand and designed for disassembly, meaning all the components can be repurposed for new products. Their process also reduces water pollution, saving 1900 gallons of water per pair.

Koio Collective

Superpower: Regenerative Agriculture | Enemy: Carbon Emissions

Grab your forever luxurious footwear from the Italian-based company, Koio. Koio believes that sustainability is NOT enough for our planet...we need to restore the planet with Regenerative Farming. Every shoe is hand-crafted by artisans in Italy with leather from regenerative farms in the Swiss Alps and locally-sourced recycled materials. As a consumer, one of the latest save-the-planet trends today is to invest in top quality wears. Buy less, less often = smaller carbon footprint. Koio goes beyond expectations, offering not only a pro-Earth solution, but also a stylish one. These sneakers and boots go with everything from a tuxedo to a pair of jeans.

Natural Fiber Welding

Superpower: Nature | Enemies: Plastic and Petroleum

NFW believes in working with Nature, not against it, when producing materials. So far, they have launched three patented technologies that are 100% bio-based: MIRUM®, CLARUS®, and PLIANT™. Whether or not you noticed, their products have been penetrating the fashion industry. For footwear, they currently collab with many brands like New Balance, Chaco, Nooch, allbirds, Unless, and Camper. For clothing and assessories, they've partnered with Ralph Lauren on polos, Pangaia on purses, and IWC Schaffhausen on watches, to name a few. Soon they will penetrate the automotive industry starting with BMW. Next time you're shopping, pay attention to the materials that makeup what you desire.
Join Team Natural Fiber Welding 🎉

Food

Upcycled Foods

Superpower: Upcycling | Enemy: Food Waste

Upcycled Foods has a patented technology that is scalable, energy-efficient, and powers the B2B upcycled food economy. What they do is take "waste" that one food business would consider "used-up" and upcycle it to create other foods. For example, when pulling cacao seeds from cacao fruit to make chocolate, the incrediable pulp, rich in theobromine, a powerful antioxidant and natural stimulant, goes to waste. Upcycled Foods uses the pulp to make cacao fruit syrup, which can be applied to many things like sour ales, sauces, marinades, etc. If you shop at Whole Foods, you might see some products labeled "Powered by ReGrained," an Upcycled Food brand. As a plus, these products typically contain healthier servings of good macros.

Software

Joro Tech

Superpower: Knowledge | Enemy: Climate Change

CEO and Founder Sanchali Pal believes we, the individuals, can solve climate change by being more aware and responsible of our carbon footprint. They developed an app that tracks the emissions of everything you buy and puts you on a journey to reduce it. The goal is to be net zero. Watch the Founder's video to learn more! Consider downloading it today to see how YOU affect our planet.
Join Team Joro 🎉

Transportation

H2 Clipper

Superpower: Hydrogen | Enemy: Carbon Emissions

H2 Clipper believes that Hydrogen is the solution to the current energy crisis. They wish to stop the world's dependency on fossil fuels, a relationship that's been going on for 150 years with destructive consequences to our environment. Green hydrogen is produced inexpensively in far off countries. So, this company aims to create the world's first point-to-point hydrogen delivery system, the H2 Clipper, to collect that hydrogen and deliver it anywhere in the world at very low cost, safely, and efficiently. This company has been around for over 10 years and has made great headway in their mission. Next year, they will start building the prototype.

ZeroAvia

Superpower: Hydrogen | Enemy: Carbon Emissions

Aviation is the #1 contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This California startup believes that "hydrogen-electric is the best option for long-term transition to clean aviation". Just two weeks ago their 19-seater commerical aircraft prototype took its first flight. They aim to offer it in 2025.