TELUS Pollinator Fund invests in three new clean tech startups

Climate Robotics, erthos and Plentify - Seite 2

"Biochar production is one of the most promising soil carbon storage technologies. However, collecting and transporting biomass from farms to processing facilities and end clients is very expensive and inefficient,” said Jason Aramburu, CEO of Climate Robotics. "Climate Robotics has quickly evolved, validated its on-farm technology and is continuously improving efficiency, economics and revenue-generation potential. With the support of the TELUS Pollinator Fund, we will be able to scale our sales and engineering capacity to accelerate the deployment of our technology and drive both commercial growth and research and development (R&D)."

erthos: Tackling the plastic pollution challenge

The TELUS Pollinator Fund’s financial participation in erthos’ oversubscribed Series A funding round of $6.5 million – increasing the startups’ total financing to $11.2 million – will enable the women-led company to continue designing next-gen solutions and further collaborating with leading brands across North America and Asia by supplying natural resins. The world produces 300 million tons of plastic waste annually and 50 percent of this waste comes from single use items. Additionally, more than 90 percent of single use plastics aren't properly recycled, ending up in landfills and leaking into the environment including oceans. To tackle this challenge, erthos offers plant powered alternatives with materials that are compatible with existing plastic manufacturing systems, sustainably made and compostable at their end of life. The startup is working to rapidly grow its biomaterials platform by expanding its bio-based ingredient database and integrating AI-powered tools to swiftly design sustainable resins for products like packaging, personal care containers and tableware.

“This investment from the TELUS Pollinator Fund is more than just financial support; it's a validation of our efforts to create plant-powered alternatives to plastic,” said Nuha Siddiqui, CEO and co-founder of erthos. “We're excited to continue growing our bio-based ingredient database and collaborating with major brands to replace single-use plastics with compostable solutions.”

Plentify: Turning home appliances into intelligent assets that enable clean energy

Rapid urbanization and climate change put immense pressure on electricity grids around the globe with electric water heaters devouring around half of a household's energy. The TELUS Pollinator Fund’s investment into Plentify will enable the startup to tackle the pressing energy challenges by empowering home appliances to fight blackouts and support the transition to renewable energy. Plentify’s flagship product, HotBot, connects to any electric water heater and trains it to use up to 30 per cent less energy. It forms a virtual power plant with other HotBots to shift energy away from dirty, expensive peak times and towards times when excess renewable energy is available. At its core, the technology addresses the mismatch between electricity supply and demand, whether to reduce 20 hours per month of blackouts in South Africa or enable solar plants twice as large in California.