Australia’s Climate Tech Ecosystem Is Thriving: Meet The Accelerators of Change

June 16, 2023 Impact, Business

Words by Daniel Simons

With the window to secure a safe climate future closing, and trillions of dollars in search of solutions, Australia’s climate tech sector is exploding. Meet some of the top organisations that are nurturing our best talent, driving growth, and helping the impact ecosystem thrive.

When the latest IPCC Synthesis report was released in March 2023, the headlines read: ‘Scientists deliver final warning on the climate crisis,’ ‘A survival guide for humanity,’ ‘A stark warning and a path of hope.’

At COP26 the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, warned us that we were ‘on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.’

After the latest IPCC report was released, he assured us that we still have a hope of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, but if we want to secure a safe climate future, we’re going to need ‘everything everywhere all at once.’

These warnings are not new, but what is new is the sense of urgency, receptiveness, and engagement that is sweeping the world. Governments and corporations are announcing their net-zero pledges, consumers are demanding climate-conscious products and investors are shifting their attention to what has been described as ‘the biggest investment opportunity since dot.com.’

Our 'everything, everywhere all at once' is going to require radical transformations in almost all areas of culture, society and economy, but one of the biggest levers for change that we have at our disposal is innovation. With the window for meaningful action closing and trillions of dollars on the table, climate tech is finally getting its moment in the sun.

Climate tech is more than solar panels and windmills: there are thousands of ways to build the future. The burgeoning sector encompasses agtech, fintech, ocean tech, regenerative agriculture, robotics, energy efficiency and storage, drawdown technologies, and even circular fashion.

When it comes to startups, Australia is punching well above its weight. According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2022 report, we’ve overtaken China and are now ranked 8th in the world. The story is the same with impact startups and climate tech, our ecosystems are blooming.

With new organisations, pitch nights, festivals, events, coworking spaces, accelerators, incubators, and funding programs emerging at the speed of light, Australia’s climate tech ecosystem is poised for massive growth and global impact. The 2022 industry report from Climate Salad showed that the ANZ startup community included over 170 climate tech companies with a valuation of over $4 billion. They raised over $1.4 billion within the year and created over 4000 jobs.

Sites like Climate Salad, Holoniq and Global Climate Landscape give an inspiring overview of the breadth and scope of climate tech ecosystems, in Australia and globally, and show just how quickly the ‘solutions sector’ is evolving.

But these solutions don’t emerge in a vacuum. There’s usually a long journey from idea to impact. A great deal of the success of Australia’s climate tech community can be attributed to the organisations that inspire, nurture, support, and promote the changemakers of tomorrow.

Here’s a small but juicy slice of organisations that are driving Australia’s climate tech and innovation ecosystems:

EnergyLab

EnergyLab is Australia and New Zealand's largest climate tech startup accelerator and innovation network dedicated to reaching net zero emissions. With over 160 startup alumni supported through its programs, EnergyLab connects talented founders to the mentors, advisors, partners, peers and investors they need to succeed.

Running nationally, but housed in Melbourne and Sydney, EnergyLab offers three programs for climate tech founders: The Women in Climate and Energy Fellowship, the Climate Solutions Accelerator and the Energy Scaleup Program.

EnergyLab is aimed at founders who want to tackle climate change and are ready to scale rapidly. If you’re working on renewable energy, storage, sustainable transport, alternative protein, carbon sequestration or land management and you’re ready to take on the world, then you might be interested in one of their programs, their 300-plus global mentor network and their investment fund.

Some exciting startups to come out of EnergyLab’s recent programs include Bloom, the fintech app that lets ordinary Australians invest in climate solutions with as little as $100, Farmbot, the remote censoring software and monitoring solution, and Infravision, the aerial robotic and software company that uses drones to increase grid capacity and automate power line construction.

EnergyLab has also announced a partnership with Danny Kennedy and US-based New Energy Nexus, the world’s leading ecosystem of funds and accelerators supporting diverse clean energy entrepreneurs. As part of the collaboration they launched Supercharge Australia, a program aimed at catalysing battery innovation.

Climate-KIC

Climate-KIC Australia is on a mission to build and coordinate communities and collaborations that lead to climate action and systems change. They work across multiple levers of transformation including: technology, business models, markets, finance and investment, policy and regulation, knowledge and skills, and organisational culture.

Climate-KIC runs the Climate Launchpad, the largest green business ideas competition on the planet. Pre-Covid, they ran Climathon, the world’s largest climate action collective. Climathon included a year-round hackathon focused on supporting climate solutions and interventions.

They also run Climate Action Labs, where they help individual organisations take climate action, and Climate Kickstarter, a commercialisation training program, delivered in collaboration with Australian Cooperative Research Centres.

Climate-KIC’s sister organisation, EIT Climate-KIC was founded in 2010 and is the largest climate innovation initiative in the European Union.

Greenhouse

Launching in Circular Quay, Sydney, in 2023 Greenhouse is poised to be an epicentre of Climate Tech and Australia’s largest climate action and innovation community. The ambitious project will take over 3 stories of the 56-story, 6-star Green Design, Salesforce Tower at 180 George Street.

The project is coming to life thanks to a $29 million dollar grant from the City of Sydney and 10 years of initial funding from the Investible Group. Greenhouse will offer 3,800sq metres of co-working space, programs, events, and a home for the climate-tech community.

Creel Price, the founder of Investible, will be the inaugural CEO of Greenhouse. Creel sold his company Blueprint Management Group for $109 million, and then went on to become a champion for global entrepreneurship, launching a Club Kidpreneur Foundation and the startup generator Investible. He also contributed to the curriculum at the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in South Africa. After closing two multimillion-dollar funds, Creel and Investible recently launched a $100 million dollar fund dedicated to early-stage Climate Tech.

Greenhouse aims to directly support more than 100 high-performing businesses to create more than 1,500 new jobs over 10 years. More than just a co-working space for tech startups, Greenhouse will connect the dots across the climate industry. It will bring together climate tech researchers, entrepreneurs, governments, corporates, not-for-profits, community organisations, and society, to connect, collaborate, and co-innovate for climate action.

Startmate

Startmate is on a mission to make Australia and New Zealand the best place in the world to build a startup. Since they were launched in 2011, Startmate has invested in over 170 startups that now have a combined valuation of over $2 billion.

Startmate runs a gigantic range of programs and fellowships, including: media fellowships, student fellowships, customer and product fellowships, launch clubs, and a first believers program. They even launched an athletes in startups fellowship.

They also run one of Australia’s most sought-after accelerators, which offers up to $120k of investments to participants - with funds coming directly from their mentor or alumni community.

In 2019, with the support of Mike Cannon-Brookes, Blackbird Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Canva and others, Startmate introduced a dedicated climate cohort into their Accelerator program to nurture startups focused on addressing the climate crisis.

Startmate also recently launched their first Climate Tech Fellowship, an 8 week program aimed at helping ambitious individuals find their place in the ANZ climate solutions ecosystem.

Some rockstars in the Startmate family include: Amber, the disruptive electricity retailer that accelerates the uptake of renewable energy by giving customers access to wholesale energy prices, Kapture, a company on a mission to decarbonise 38 million diesel generators worldwide, and Kelpy, a premium seaweed packaging company.

Sprout X

SproutX is one of Australia’s leading organisations specifically dedicated to building and supporting agricultural technology, or ‘Agtech.’

Sprout X runs a 10-week pre-accelerator program and a 6-month accelerator program. Over the years their programs have helped to create over 140 jobs and raised $15 million in venture capital.

Some of the most notable SproutX partners include: Little Green Panda, who creates 100% compostable straw made from wheat, sugarcane or bamboo, Agtuary, a platform that uses satellite and climate data to provide insights into agricultural production and Growave, a chemical-free weed management system that uses microwave technology to treat pesticide-resistant weeds.

Boomerang Labs

Founded by Piers Grove, who also founded EnergyLab, Boomerang Labs runs Australia’s first accelerator program dedicated to the circular economy.

Boomerang Labs is on a mission to accelerate the transition to a circular economy by finding and helping to grow ideas and solutions at scale. In addition to their scale-up accelerator, they also run 2-day boot camps and a ‘Basecamp’ program aimed at turning passionate individuals into circular economy entrepreneurs.

Some of the participants in their 2022 cohort include: Feedback Organic, a circular economy business based on urban farms, Generous and Grateful, a double-sided marketplace that connects excess essential bulky furniture and white goods with people in need, and Green Furniture Hub, an organisation that helps businesses redirect office furniture from landfill.

*Image provided by: Boomerang Labs (Piers Grove: Founder of Energy Lab and Boomerang Labs)*

Giant Leap

Giant Leap was Australia’s first 100% impact venture capital fund. As well as investing in a huge range of inspirational impact startups like Who Gives a Crap, YourGrocer, Sendle, Amber and Glam Corner, Giant Leap is also a thought leader in the climate tech and impact ecosystems globally.

Their Impact Calculator and Benchmark Reports are helping Australia, and the world, to build a more sustainable, equitable, and future-ready economy.