10 visionary sustainable startups from the Netherlands driving the innovation for a greener planet in 2019

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The challenge of global warming which is posing an serious threat to the environment has made a number of investors and companies realise the value of sustainable businesses. At present, a lot of millennials are inclined towards zero waste, minimalism and other initiatives. On the other hand, entrepreneurs are trying out sustainable options for our daily usage.

Indeed, it is very encouraging to see these ambitious game-changers setting foot in the startup industry, trying to make a difference. Numerous startups across the globe are focusing on fighting various issues like plastic pollution, Air pollution, sea pollution, and much more.

In this context, we have jotted down 10 amazing sustainable startups in the Netherlands with a vision of changing the world for good.

Fairphone

Founders: Bas van Abel, Miguel Ballester

Funding: € 18.1M

Based out of Amsterdam, Fairphone makes the world’s first fairly designed and produced smartphone. Founded in 2010, the company makes sure that the raw materials in the smartphone should not come from conflict areas. Since the phone is assembled in China, the company also ensures that the workers receive fair wages too. Moreover, the company relies on the long shelf life of the phone to reduce the wastage of resources. On top of that, for each and every phone sold, three euros directly goes to the service organization that involves the recycling of electronic waste in developing countries.

Land Life Company

Founders: Eduard Zanen, Jurriaan Ruys

Funding: €5.9M

Land Life is on a mission to reforest the world’s 2 billion hectares of degraded land. Their Cocoon planting technology is a low-cost, sustainable and scalable solution for large scale ecosystem restoration, dry agriculture, agroforestry and horticulture.

GreenHome

Founder: Paul Geurts van Kessel

Funding: € 600K

GreenHome is working with homeowners on a sustainable future by giving them independent information and advice. And this is done through the online HuisScan.Further, the company’s long-term objective is to provide all homes with sustainable energy and to get them free from fossil fuels. GreenHome works together with more than 300 partners.

Voltogo

Founders: Job Veltman, Folkert Roscam Abbing

To make boating in Amsterdam more sustainable,  Job Veltman and Folkert Roscam Abbing founded a battery startup called Voltogo. They officially launched Voltogo AppBaterry which is basically a portable battery charger to pump up your electric boats.

The USP of this electric battery is that its removable and can be charged at any water cafe near you, just in case, your e-boat goes out of battery in the middle of the waters. The startup offers a ready-to-use charging system with efficient 48V motors.

EcoChain Technologies

Founder: Boudewijn Mos

Funding: €2M

Ecochain provides insights into the efficiency of energy and resource flows on company, process, product and material level. This provides our customers with valuable knowledge about sustainability performances on all levels of the company. The company creates sustainability insights from data already available in relevant production processes and environments. The system takes data from all relevant ERP systems. All energy and material flow from the production site, to process, to products and materials are calculated, analyzed and visualized.

Plastic Whale

Founder: Marius Smit

In an effort to help solve the current plastic problem, Plastic Whale and Vepa launched Plastic Whale Circular Furniture. The debut collection consists of a boardroom table, a chair, lamps and acoustic wall panels. Part of the proceeds will be invested in local initiatives across the world that tackle the plastic soup problem.

The company is on the mission to make the world’s waters plastic-free and create value from plastic waste. It started in 2011 with a single challenge to build a boat made of plastic waste. Today, the company have a fleet of eleven boats made from Amsterdam Canal Plastic. Plastic Whale wants to tackle this problem by showing people that plastic is not waste, but valuable raw material.

Quicargo

Founders: Avishai Trabelsi, Roni Liberman

Funding:  €4.4M

Quicargo aims to tackle inefficiency in the road freight industry by connecting trucks with spare capacity to any business that needs transportation. The startup is now fully operational in the Benelux and Ruhr Area. The startup currently connects almost 2,000 businesses to roughly 6,000 trucks from 270 carriers. Up until now, Quicargo has saved up to 215,000 km of empty truck space on the road and thereby reduced CO2 emission with 3% inside their network.

Flo-Bro

Founders: Radek Oborný and Robin Rijnbeek

Flo-Bro designed Flo-Bro One, a portable filter that will help travellers save money on bottled water and prevent plastic (bottle) pollution over the world. This means that water can be filtered from any freshwater source: a sketchy tap, shower hose, river, lake, or stream. The core benefit of Flo-Bro One is membrane testing & flushing technology.

PeelPioneers

Founder: Sytze van Stempvoort

PeelPioneers is the “sustainable peeler of the 21st century”. The company has a circular solution for a citrus peel that remains after making fresh juice. PeelPioneers removes the ingredients present from the peels so that they can then be used as raw materials for making new products. The company wants to be the processor of citrus peels in North West Europe.

Bin2Barrel

Founders: Floris Geeris and Paul Harkema

Bin 2 Barrel is a project in which non-recyclable plastics will be processed into diesel. This leads to the reduction of waste and uses plastic that would otherwise end up in a landfill or be incinerated. Furthermore, it reduces dependency on fossil fuels and saves 2 to 3 KG of Co2 emissions per litre of diesel produced. It’s worth mentioning that, Bin2Barrel will continue as ‘IGE Solutions Amsterdam BV’ after being purchased by the Australian publicly listed company Integrated Green Energy Solutions Ltd (‘IGES’) which is traded on the Australian Stock Exchange.

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