Sustainable Startups

In my last article we’ve learned the basics about sustainability and I explained what corporate social responsibility (CSR) means. Today, we will have a look at something crucial for startups: Crowdfunding. And of course, we will learn about sustainable crowdfunding and we’ll also have a look on some sustainable startups.

Green Rocket

This is the first crowdfunding platform in Austria, which specializes in sustainable businesses in the areas of energy, environment, mobility and health. Everyone has the opportunity to invest online in selected companies (equity-based crowdfunding or “Crowd Investing”) and to benefit from their growth. The variety of investment opportunities are from startups and first-stage companies and ends in project financing of established companies. The micro-investors are venture capitalists (Venture Capital Investor) and managing their own portfolio of quasi attractive, future-oriented projects. Green Rocket provides an internet platform (www.greenrocket.at) on which anyone can invest with small amounts in sustainable business ideas. Green Rocket made it their mission to discover the best companies in terms of sustainability.

Examples of sustainable startups that are funded by Green Rocket:

Greenetica

Greenetica developed an internationally patented hybrid solar photovoltaic concentrator, which combines two technologies in the best way possible. So solar power can produce heat as well as cold does. The heart of the system is a linear receiver to concentrate on the specific parabolic solar radiation. This receiver converts more than 75% of solar radiation into immediately useful energy, of which approximately 1/3 results in electric and 2/3 in thermal energy. This type of combined heat and power generation is so efficient that grid parity in Europe could already be achieved. The first copies were made in a semi-industrial embodiment in cooperation with renowned international research centers.

Tyroler Glückpilze (so called lucky mushrooms)

The Mushroom Production Center produced since 2012 under the brand Tyroler Glückspilze ® high-quality organic mushroom products. So far, 95% of Mushrooms consumed in Austria were imported from abroad, mostly from conventional agriculture. However, consumers are increasingly demanding local produce from Austria. Tyroler Glückspilze is the only provider with such a wide range. Mushrooms have incredible potential. The aim is to explore their uses for food, medicine, Mykorestauration, Mykopestizide and industrial use (cosmetology) and so to develop and commercialize more innovative products. The business model of Tyroler Glückspilze ® includes at the start of the distribution of fungal substrates for the cultivation of organic mushrooms, food supplements from organic vital fungi and some more products.

SunnyBAG

SunnyBAG is a young, innovative company from Graz (Styria), which develops fashionable shoulder bags, backpacks, cases and business bags made out of leather. The special feature of these products is that on the outside of the bag a flexible, water-resistant, scratch-and impact-resistant solar system is integrated, which converts sunlight into electrical energy and this energy provides the user to charge USB-chargeable enabled devices. Due to the particularly advanced and efficient technology of the solar system light is converted into electricity even at a very low intensity.

Conclusion

As you can see, sustainability is not just a PR stunt. If you analyze the social and ecological problems of this world and are looking for suitable solutions to solve them, sustainability is a great business model for the future. However, a company is only sustainable if not only the products but also the entire business is geared for it. Questions about human resources, fleet, use of paper, energy and other raw materials, anti-corruption, treatment and compensation (selection) of suppliers and manufacturers, logistics, communication with local residents are part of the deal. If all that was not taken into account, despite an eco-product anything but sustainability and the business will not work in the long run.