14 innovative climate startups embark on Undaunted’s Greenhouse accelerator

Cohort 8

Undaunted welcomes 14 cutting-edge innovators onto its 12-month climate accelerator to get investor-ready and boost their commercial success.

The Greenhouse provides early-stage DeepTech, FinTech, CleanTech startups with a unique 12-month programme of accelerator support, including up to £20,000 equity-free grant funding, access to Imperial College London’s world-class facilities, expertise and networks, and expert coaching, industry mentorship and workshops. Undaunted’s flagship activity, the programme is based at Scale Space within London’s White City Innovation District. 

The 14 diverse and talented startups selected for Cohort 8 came through a tough application process… a strong pipeline of innovations across carbon capture, alternative materials, biotech, climate finance, and beyond. Maiko Schaffrath Head of The Greenhouse, Undaunted

“The 14 diverse and talented startups selected for Cohort 8 came through a tough application process – it’s fantastic to welcome them into the Undaunted community,” says Maiko Schaffrath, Head of The Greenhouse. “It’s really encouraging to see applications for this programme increase with each Cohort – up 80% compared to our last call. This highlights a strong pipeline of innovations across carbon capture, alternative materials, biotech, climate finance, and beyond. With input from both technical and commercial experts, our rigorous selection process resulted in an acceptance rate of under 10%.” 

“The programme wouldn’t be possible without our funders,” Maiko continues. “Their support is vital in enabling us to nurture the most exciting climate innovators of tomorrow, whose tech has the potential to scale, gain significant investment and, most importantly, have a real impact on adapting to, and mitigating the effects of, climate change,” he continued. 

The Greenhouse is supported by HSBC UK and the Inflexion Foundation. It is working in partnership with the Mayor of London.

“It’s exciting to see motivated, passionate and talented early-stage startups using their skills to support the transition to net-zero and enable a greener future – and how valuable a programme like The Greenhouse is in their journey,” says Natalie Gregoire-Skeete, Head of Social Purpose and Head of Sustainability at HSBC UK. “Developing a startup and scaling a product is incredibly challenging, and we can see the value that Undaunted’s community provides in supporting founders to grow, innovate and create the businesses and jobs of the future mitigate the effects of climate change. We look forward to seeing Cohort 8 thrive.”

A thriving network of support 

The Greenhouse journey leads up to Demo Day, when the founders pour the expertise and skills they've honed into impressive pitches to investors at The Royal Institution, with the aim of raising minimum £100k investment – enough to secure them for a further 12 months. Once graduated from the programme, they join a thriving community of Undaunted alumni and benefit from continued networking and support as they continue to grow.  

Alumni include Notpla, winners of a 2022 £1m Earthshot Prize, who recently announced a £20m funding round to bring its seaweed-based packaging to the US market; Breathe Battery Technologies, who just landed $21m Series B to predict battery performance; Carbon Cell, who have raised £1.2m to scale its low carbon foam material; Puraffinity who secured £17m investment to scale up water treatment technology; Origen who secured $13m to deploy limestone-based direct air capture technology and Multus Biotech who, in 2023, raised £7.9m to support R&D on growth media for cultivated meat and the transition to manufacturing its first commercial products. 

Meet Cohort 8 

AcouBatt  

AcouBatt listen to batteries to optimise formation protocol and quality control. 

Bio Construction Materials 

Bio-cm transforms agricultural by-products into insulation boards for building systems. Follow Bio-cm on LinkedIn. 

BladeBUG 

BladeBUG is making wind energy safer and more efficient using its robotic platform for remote, automated wind turbine blade inspection and repair. Follow BladeBUG on LinkedIn. 

Brilliant Dyes 

Brilliant Dyes is developing sustainable and continuous extraction of natural RGB dyes from algae for high-end textiles, cosmetics and organic food industries. Follow Brilliant Dyes on LinkedIn. 

Change Bio 

Change Bio is solving the recombinant protein manufacturing problem, getting innovative proteins to market faster. Follow Change Bio on LinkedIn. 

Emissiv 

Emissiv is pioneering transparent radiative cooling coatings for energy-free cooling across industries. Follow Emissiv on LinkedIn. 

Forge Minerals 

Forge turns carbon dioxide into high value, carbon negative minerals. Follow Forge on LinkedIn. 

Openstead 

Openstead is translating underused urban space into assets of climate resilience. Follow Openstead on LinkedIn. 

Pyri 

Pyri is developing scalable and accessible early wildfire detection. Follow Pyri on LinkedIn. 

Remedium Energy 

Remedium Energy is making carbon capture commercially viable. Follow Remedium Energy on LinkedIn. 

Rezylix 

Rezylix engineers autonomous systems that monitor, protect, and regenerate controlled agricultural environments — empowering growers to build more resilient, adaptive, and productive operations. Follow Rezylix on LinkedIn. 

Sea2Carbon 

Sea2Carbon transforms invasive seaweed into climate-positive bio-stimulants for agriculture, biocoke for the steel industry, and clean water for communities through its modular reactor system – empowering low-income coastal regions, including Small Island Developing States. Follow Sea2Carbon on LinkedIn. 

UpGreen 

UpGreen makes retrofitting easy, cost-effective, and stress-free for property owners, tenants, and installers via its AI-enabled platform. Follow UpGreen on LinkedIn. 

Vox Aeris 

Vox Aeris builds advanced air technologies that make clean air more energy-efficient and accessible in buildings and transport systems. Follow Vox Aeris on LinkedIn. 

Could you be part of the next Greenhouse cohort?

Applications for The Greenhouse Cohort 9 are set to open in September 2025: sign up to the Undaunted newsletter to stay in-the-loop on this opportunity, and also the imminent official launch of EarthScale, a new £5m collaboration to scale UK climate startups.

Find your place in our innovation community 

Undaunted is a hub for the UK’s climate innovation community, creating new routes into green entrepreneurship and supporting the acceleration of startups and SMEs tackling the effects of climate change. It is a partnership between the The Royal Institution and the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London.  

Our funders 

The Greenhouse programme is supported by HSBC UK and the Inflexion Foundation. It is working in partnership with the Mayor of London.

Openstead is sponsored on The Greenhouse by the UK Centre for Greening and Finance and Investment (CGFI): a national centre established to accelerate the adoption and use of climate and environmental data and analytics by financial institutions internationally.

Forge, Remedium Energy and Sea2Carbon are sponsored on The Greenhouse by CO₂RE, the UK’s national research hub on Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) that conducts research on GGR, co-ordinates demonstration projects around the UK, connects to other national and international programmes and commissions grants through a flexible fund.