Technological innovation is a key tool for facing the challenges that humanity faces at a social, business and industrial level. One of the most pressing currently is the fight against climate change, which has put on the table a series of measures that call on society, the business fabric and industry to be more sustainable and efficient. Spain, as reflected The Green Future Index 2022is ranked 13th as one of the most sustainable countries globally and 16th in terms of sustainable innovation, and at this point startups play an essential role.
The latest programs launched by Google for Startups were born with the aim of helping startups in the sectors that have needed it most in recent years to develop and grow. And that has also been the objective in the latest and most recent startup support program created by the company: the program Growth Academy: Sustainability. With this new edition, Google for Startups has focused on supporting those startups that, based on innovation, want to promote and facilitate that necessary change to be more sustainable.
Growth Academy: Sustainability has consisted of a two-month program in which the 11 selected startups, chosen based on criteria of diversity, innovation and scalability potential, they have had the opportunity to work with Google mentors and ecosystem experts. These, through their experience, knowledge and specific action plans They have guided the founders of these companies in their growth strategies, customer acquisition and support for the internationalization of their companies.
These are the 11 startups, from Spain and Portugal, that have gone through the program Growth Academy: Sustainability:
- APlanet (Spain): APlanet helps organizations create an ESG impact (Environmental, Social and Governance) positive and minimizes risks and negative impacts, both externally (planet, society, value chain) and internally (sustainability ROI): with technology, to have a complete, reliable and actionable ESG dataset in an agile way.
- B Eat (Spain): Founded in 2019, BCome is a pioneer in the application of smart methodologies for the management of global sustainability in the fashion industry. The platform allows to track, define and determine all the steps of the value chain, from the extraction of the raw material to the point of sale. Product traceability will allow you to take control and build a resilient supply chain by knowing where to focus your efforts, all thanks to data and technology.
- Clevergy (Spain): Clevergy is an innovative application that allows its users to understand and control their energy consumption through technology that allows control of consumption, saving energy and contributing to a more sustainable world. Clevergy’s software provides alternatives to reduce consumption and is integrated into the retailer’s computer system without the need to install any hardware.
- Emendu (Spain): Emendu helps SMEs by providing them with technological devices such as computers or mobile phones in a flexible subscription-based model (flexible rental) avoiding hardware obsolescence and promoting the circular economy.
- Equal Food (Portugal): Equal food’s mission is to restore what they call “a broken food system”. The way they do it is by delivering imperfect and surplus produce directly from our farmers to customers’ doorsteps.
- greemko (Spain): GreeMko facilitates its clients the path towards sustainability and carbon neutrality. This startup makes software available to companies to control their environmental management. A solution that will allow active management to be carried out as well as the establishment of continuous improvement objectives to reduce costs and calculate their associated environmental impact.
- HUMARA (Spain): Humara’s mission is to digitize the recycling and waste treatment industry through software. Its product, FastPlant, optimizes the design and operation of this type of plant, allowing significant savings in time and resources. Humana’s founders have more than 30 years of experience designing, building and operating some of the largest plants in Europe.
- Kleta Mobility (Spain): Kleta is a monthly bicycle subscription service. Founded in 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it already has 1,500 registered users. They have mechanical or electric bicycles available to the user and the price of the service is by subscription and includes maintenance assistance, anti-theft guarantee and repair service.
- recirculate (Spain): This startup implements circular strategies in companies to give a second life to their industrial resources (waste, by-products, surplus production, material in stock, industrial equipment). In this way, they help reduce costs and generate easily measurable environmental and social benefits with their own Impact Measurement Methodology.
- solum (Spain): Solum is a smart provider of green energy for micromobility fleets. Thanks to its in-house developed technology, a solar pavement, Solum can install an autonomous charging station anywhere without disturbing the urban environment.
- Timers (Spain): Timpers is a company dedicated to the sale of shoes in which 100% of the workforce has some type of disability. In addition, they manufacture their product entirely in the province of Alicante, using sustainable materials from the shoes to the packaging.
These are 11 startups committed to the values of diversity, inclusion and sustainability that they also promote from the company. In fact, 5 of the 11 companies have at least one female co-founder on their teams. “It is up to all of us to do our bit to move towards a more sustainable, more inclusive, more diverse society. At Google for Startups we are convinced that every step, no matter how small, counts and with programs like this Growth Academy: Sustainability we want to contribute all the capacity we have at Google for Startups to, together with the entrepreneurial ecosystem, advance in one of the challenges most challenging we have today”ensures Sofía Benjumea, Director of Google for Startups for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Growth Academy: Sustainability It is the fifth edition of the Growth Academy programs that were born in the middle of the pandemic. The first edition, launched in October 2020, and dedicated to startups in the tourism sector, Growth Academy: TravelTech, sought to support the travel industry, which was experiencing its worst moments in years. After, Growth Academy: Ecommerce, focused on promoting startups dedicated to electronic commerce, a business that was reaching maximum levels also due to the restrictions due to the covid-19 crisis. Growth Academy: Health & Wellbeing, launched in April 2021, focused its efforts on helping entrepreneurs in the health sector. the fourth edition, Growth Academy: Digital Transformationwas intended to support emerging companies that in turn were helping small and medium-sized Spanish companies to digitize.