Unreasonable Impact UK & Europe 2022

UK and Europe 2022

Global unemployment is projected to stand at 207 million in 2022. This is 21 million more than in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic began, further disrupting economic activities around the world. Meanwhile, as the division of labour shifts from humans to machines, it’s estimated that 85 million jobs may be displaced by 2025. Something has to change.

Barclays and Unreasonable believe one way to help alleviate this massive challenge lies in supporting and scaling high-growth entrepreneurs as job creators in the green economy. Together they’ve created Unreasonable Impact – an innovative multi-year and multi-geographic partnership. Since 2016, Unreasonable Impact has delivered a series of programmes providing high growth, high impact entrepreneurs with resources, mentorship and global network of support needed to help them rapidly scale, create jobs and address key global issues.

Unreasonable and Barclays are proud to showcase the 13 entrepreneurs that have been identified as critical drivers of social and environmental change for the Unreasonable Impact UK and Europe 2022 programme. These innovators are spearheading solutions in the future of food, clean transportation, renewable energy, and more. Together, they’ve raised more than $350M in financing and operate in more than 35 countries. Over the next few months, Barclays will unlock opportunities at every level, mobilising its expertise and resources, helping these ventures connect to financing, at every stage of their journey from scale-up to IPO.

These talented entrepreneurs join the Unreasonable Impact global network of over 250 ventures across 180 countries. So far, Unreasonable Impact companies have positively impacted more than 300 million people, reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 80 million tonnes, and generated over 19,000 full time equivalent employees jobs around the world.

Unreasonable Impact is a partnership like no other. Championing talented CEOs to create the jobs of tomorrow, we are humbled to be part of their journey.

AirEx Technologies

Tens of millions of homes across Europe are naturally ventilated with air bricks. Traditional air bricks have uncontrolled airflow which allows houses to lose significant fabric heat loss. This air flow is essential in the home, but is responsible for a large proportion of a home’s heat loss, resulting in residents struggling with cold, uncomfortable draughts and high energy bills. AirEx provides extremely low-cost solutions for reducing fabric heat loss, improving thermal comfort and protecting residents’ health by passive airflow control. AirEx replaces traditional air bricks, which allow air to flow under suspended ground floors. AirEx’s Smart Ventilation Control measure the environmental conditions (such as temperature, humidity, air quality) and its cloud-based algorithms automatically regulate airflow, leading to 12-16% reduction in whole house heat loss, resulting in 2-3 years payback.

Agnes Czako is passionate about environmental sustainability. While at Sustainable Ventures, she spent the past 11 years delivering disruptive innovation projects aiming to mitigate fuel poverty, reduce carbon footprints, and create scalable business models. Her background is in lowenergy building design, and she qualified as a Passivhaus consultant, at the Darmstadt Prior to founding her business, Agnes was a lead assessor for an energy advisory organisation where she led the delivery of 30,000 fuel poverty assessments. During her time at Sustainable Ventures, Agnes led numerous low carbon innovation projects. Agnes holds a masters in Interdisciplinary Design for the Build Environment from the University of Cambridge and is winner of Women in Innovation Innovate UK award and the Royal Academy of Engineering SME Leaders 2020 award.

Agnes Czako Co-Founder & CEO

ALGAMA

Imagining the next generation of delicious, sustainable, everyday foods made from micro-algae

REGION US, France

In 2050, there will be more than 9 billion people on Earth. Not only will this mean an increased demand for food, but the world will face the major challenges of diminishing resources and environmental degradation. ALGAMA is committed to harnessing the unique potential of microalgae to make food that is both sustainable and nutritious. The company conducts research into basic micro-algae strains, identifies molecules of interest from the strains, and produces tasty foods from these molecules that are then marketed and distributed. ALGAMA’s food products combine innovation and pleasure to meet the need for alternative food and create a future where micro-algae is a unique and sustainable superfood. The company launched its first product – four flavors of vegan mayo with 50 percent less fat – and is in 150 New York stores and another 300 stores worldwide. With investment from Horizon Ventures, ALGAMA is scaling internationally and producing new products concurrently, with over 100 products in various stages of prototyping and production.

Alvyn is a food lover and passionate entrepreneur who founded ALGAMA with two childhood friends. After a few years of experience in consulting and finance, he decided to launch a company aiming revolutionise the food industry. ALGAMA develops tasty, sustainable and healthy products bringing microalgae to their full potential. Since its inception, ALGAMA has received multiple international awards for its products, and is now running operations in France and in the US. Alvyn is also VP of the French Organisation of Microalgae, and ambassador of the French Foodtech for the Ministry of Finances. By speaking at major food events (Seeds & Chips, SIAL, Summer Fancy Food Show, etc.) or at global conferences (Algae Biomass Summit, Climate Change Conference, World Economic forum, World Expo Milano, etc.) in the past few years, Alvyn has been able to convey ALGAMA’s vision of tomorrow’s food across the world. His enthusiasm for microalgae potential and the pioneering work of the team continue to fascinate the food community.

All Street SEVVA

Automating ESG and sustainability scores for over 70,000 companies around the world

REGION UK

The global ESG software market is growing fast, driven by increased regulations that mandate both individual corporations and financial institutions to measure and report sustainability metrics. All Street SEVVA is an AI/ ML-powered engine that automatically calculates ESG and sustainability ratings based on the UN SDGs for all 70,000 publicly listed companies. Their cognitive AI robots, developed over the past four years in partnership with the University of Cambridge, can instantly read millions of ESG data points from the vast data lake of sustainability sources. They assess over 500 cognitive data points for each company, analyze both the SDG and GRI levels, and provide relative sustainability rankings based on the company’s market cap size and industry. This enables benchmarking capabilities for both individual companies and financial institutions. Additionally, the platform is built for dynamic, real-time analytics and constantly updates its sustainability rankings when new data sources are released.

Emanuela combines a powerful mix of entrepreneurial, investment and corporate banking experience, and is recognised as a leading independent thinker on the future of financial services. She was first to map the new financial system and coin the term ‘alternative finance’. She is also a Finance Innovation Lab fellow, and a qualified executive business coach. In addition, she is a member of the cohort of young Romanian leaders who actively contributed to the development of the new society after the revolution.

Emanuela holds an MBA from the University of Oxford, and is an avid reader of science and historical fiction.

REGION UK

Electric Aviation Group

Electric Aviation Group (EAG)’s mission is to be the market leader in developing sustainable technologies for the transportation industry. The team is hyper focused on hydrogen-powered aviation and being at the forefront of the aviation industry’s drive to a greener future. The aviation industry is currently responsible for 2.4% of global carbon emissions. EAG’s broad expertise enables them to assimilate and integrate technical innovations from a wide range of sectors into operational aircraft concepts recognizing the demands of certification and operability. By focusing on the key technical and integration challenges facing a larger aircraft, and working with industry partners, EAG aims to develop the world’s first 90-seater hydrogen hybrid electric regional aircraft. However, EAG’s immediate focus is on developing Liquid Hydrogen Storage and Distribution Systems, Megawatt scale Fuel Cell systems and Megawatt Scale Electric Propulsion systems for mass air transportation market in a synergistic manner to enable hydrogen powered aviation to become a reality. EAG is well-positioned to enable the next paradigm shift in aviation towards hydrogen-electric flight that will be essential if the environmental targets are to be met.

Founder & CEO

Laying the foundation for the next paradigm shift in the aviation sector

Kamran Iqbal is the founder and CEO of Electric Aviation Group, which was formed in 2017. He is also co-founder and CEO of Smart Megawatt Stack Fuel Cell Systems Ltd, Hydrogen Hybrid Electric Propulsion Systems Ltd, and Hydrogen Storage Systems Ltd. He completed his undergraduate/postgraduate degrees in Aeronautical engineering with distinctions from the UK’s Warwick Business School’s executive MBA programme. He has more than 18 years experience in the aerospace industry through his multiple appointments in Airbus Industry, Bombardier Transportation, and EAG. Kamran’s career in R&D has earned him more than 25 patents. He also received multiple industrial awards and recognitions working for Airbus. He received a Local Airbus Recognition Award in 2009 for solving a Major In-Service Problem on Airbus A380 Aircraft. He is a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society and he also received a centennial scholarship award from the Royal Aeronautical Society.

ENERGYNEST

Maximising the value of energy by time-shifting high grade heat

SECTOR Energy Technology

REGION Belgium, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, UAE, UK, US

ENERGYNEST offers a flexible and cost-effective thermal energy storage (TES) system for customers in power generation, energy-intensive manufacturing and renewables industries. The thermal battery solutions decarbonize energy supply by electrifying industrial heat, and by recovering and repurposing waste heat into energy on demand. ENERGYNEST also provides large-scale energy storage to solar thermal- and other zero emission power plants. Founded in 2011, the company is headquartered in Billingstadt with offices in Hamburg and Seville and is ranked #3 in Global TOP100 Carbon Reducing Innovations by Mission Innovation. We enable the rapid decarbonization of industry for a net-zero world.

ENTREPRENEUR

Christian Thiel TITLE CEO

Christian Thiel started at BMW, later becoming a McKinsey consultant and investment banker. Christian’s impulse to get professionally involved with the energy transition came with Germany’s phase-out of nuclear power. He holds over 20 years’ experience in product development and executing market entries in the international tech sector in Europe, US, Japan, China, India and UAE. Christian has dedicated much of his career to decarbonisation, and has gained experience in this field in the mobility and renewable energy sector before now, focusing on industrial energy storage solutions that benefit both businesses and the environment.

Christian holds a PhD in Marketing and an MBA. Prior to university, he completed his military service and participated in NATO’s peace-keeping mission in former Yugoslavia. Outside of work, his interests include electric vehicle mobility, nature preservation, advanced technology, motorcycles, and he is a keen sportsman.

Kelp Blue

Harvesting andprocessing kelpcanopyfor sustainableagrifoods, fertiliser, pharmaceuticals, and textiles

REGION Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Namibia, Netherlands, Spain, UK

Kelp is especially effective at not only absorbing atmospheric CO2 but also in sequestering it. It’s a powerhouse for the climate, sending carbon to the seafloor and deacidifying oceans. Kelp Blue operates across the full value chain of kelp planting and harvesting with the goals of boosting the health of oceans, locking away CO2 indefinitely, and supporting the development of sustainable end-products with the harvested kelp. Headquartered in Amsterdam, Kelp Blue currently has kelp forests in Namibia, where the company grows, harvests, and processes the kelp into pulp or syrup that then can be used by customers for a range of end products. Kelp Blue’s offshore kelp farms will eventually be able to offset 0.2-0.5 gigatons of CO2 by 2050, while also increasing the biodiversity and ecosystem resilience in oceans. With a four-acre test plot set up off the shores of Namibia, the company plans to scale by adding 10 acres of forests each month.

Caroline co-founded Kelp Blue in 2020 with Daniel Hooft, just before all global travel came to a pandemic halt. Before being 100% dedicated to Kelp Blue, Caroline was an international startup and change management leader and has previously held various roles at WPP & Unilever in digital and quantitative marketing. She also mentored more than 20 startup teams at Bayer in agricultural technology. Her Dutch-American background, her experience working on different continents and in multi-cultural environments helped hone her team building skills, ability to work with speed, precision & clarity, and she navigates different cultures with ease. Outside of the office, Caroline sailed half-way around the world in the Clipper Race and she’s a keen forager and cook. She’s also Board Chair of the Kelp Forest Foundation, a non-for-profit focused on advancing the knowledge and research of all things related to kelp ecosystems.

Unlocking value by tracing, managing, and recovering physical assets throughout their lifecycle in B2B supply chains

Loopcycle

SECTOR Manufacturing and Supply Chain

REGION UK

ENTREPRENEUR

Loopcycle connects an ecosystem of manufacturers and operators of commercial equipment, unlocking value by tracing, managing, and recovering physical assets throughout their lifecycle, tackling the commercial food services sector first. Their platform facilitates visibility and direct interactions between manufacturers and operators of commercial appliances, saving them time and money as well as increasing sustainability. When products are sold through a distribution network, manufacturers do not know who or where their products are sold. As a result, they cannot maximize lifetime customer value or recover obsolete appliances to remanufacture and recycle. Moreover, due to ineffective inventory management, commercial operators of these appliances often lose track of what they have. This results in operational downtime through poor maintenance, costing time and money, and increased asset disposal which has a negative environmental impact. Loopcycle’s digital platform solves this by building a data relationship between all actors in the supply chain, unlocking product visibility and enabling direct interactions between manufacturers and operators of commercial appliances. The company’s goal is to trace one million products by 2025.

Lugano brings 15 years of experience in helping businesses to address the challenges of creating circular, resource efficient enterprises and unlock the value that this brings environmentally, socially and economically. Before starting Loopcycle in 2019, he worked in corporate sustainability roles within the airport management, media and publishing and property management sectors. When not working on his business, Lugano enjoys a range of sports (watching, these days!) including basketball and football, and is an avid supporter of Arsenal FC. He also enjoys movies, travelling and finds Lego curiously therapeutic.

Lugano Kapembwa

Digitalising the textile industry through an expert-assisted marketplace to seamlessly connects brands, supplies, and agencies

Material Exchange

Material Exchange seeks to be the number one provider for responsible sourcing of materials and components for the footwear and apparel industries. Material Exchange is building one integrated system for brands, suppliers, and agencies (the middlemen) to engage on. Recognising that an open marketplace is a flawed solution for this industry’s material sourcing problem, Material Exchange is in the process of transitioning its product from an open marketplace model to an expert-assisted process that allows the company to differentiate based on its extensive and trusted pre-existing network with the supplier ecosystem. Despite being in a transition period, Material Exchange is still currently working with some of the biggest fashion brands in the world, like Jack Jones, Selected Homme, Vero Moda and Ugg, and just closed a $25.3M Series A that will e xpedite their product development and allow them to expand their global presence.

Born in London, Darren is an experienced creative thinker who enjoys solving challenging problems. As a fashion industry expert, he has worked with the world’s largest brands in defining the transformation processes for digital product creation, sustainable sourcing, lifecycle management and supply chain. He has over 20 years of experience working alongside brands like Walmart, Nike, Adidas, Target, Bestseller Group, Levi’s and many others. Now focused on making fashion sourcing cleaner and more efficient, his aim is to leave Earth in a better condition than he found it in.

REGION

MicroHarvest

MicroHarvest is a biotech company developing alternative protein from bacteria. The company produces protein by leveraging nature’s most efficient bacteria to make better and healthier protein. One of the key advantages of using fast-growing bacteria is the speed of the process – it only takes a single day from the raw ingredients to the finished product, without compromising on protein and micronutrient content. In fact, the resulting protein is high in nutrients with a protein content of 60-70% (versus 2030% in plant-based proteins). Its proprietary technology has a systematic advantage in regards of scalability, capex utilisation and sustainability. The technology is ideal to address the needs of the B2B ingredients industry, and the company has closed an €8.5M Series A round to support the build of its pilot plant and enable market entry.

Katelijne is co-founder and CEO of MicroHarvest, in which she brings together her passion for fermentation, excitement for the future of the agri-food supply chain, and an intrinsic drive to change the world for the better. With a dual background in biotechnology and business development, she worked as fermentation scientist leading projects at food company Corbion, and worked on the scaling of biobased processes at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant. In addition, Katelijne worked at Ohly – one of the world’s leading suppliers of yeast extracts – where she developed her deep understanding of the B2B ingredients market. She has an MBA from Rotterdam School of Management. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new restaurants and bars, museums and taking time out in nature.

Katelijne Bekers

Scaling a lowenergy, heatfree technology for Direct Air Capture of CO2

Mission Zero Technologies

SECTOR Building and Construction Technology

REGION US, UK, Oman

Mission Zero Technologies is a developer of a direct air capture technology that aims to recover high-purity CO2 from the air while incurring only a fraction of the costs and energy it takes to do so today. The company uses a chemical process between CO2 and water – similar to that used in processing CO2 in our bloodstream and carbonated drinks low energy pathway for processing CO2. The company’s goal is to commoditise CO2 and to smoothen demand in downstream industries that sequester and utilise CO2, as well as to provide a cost-effective method for direct air capture. Mission Zero Technologies is building a pilot plant commissioned by the British government and is expected to be operational by Q2 2023.

Nick is the CEO and cofounder of Mission Zero Technologies, with 5 years of prior experience scaling and building earlystage materials technologies in renewables, semiconductors, sensors, and carbon capture. He has a PhD in Materials Science from University College London, and a Masters in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham. He is a proud dad, and in his spare time he is a rock climber and loves to travel, eat, and read.

Manufacturing the next generation of biomaterials

Modern Synthesis

SECTOR Biotechnology

REGION UK

Modern Synthesis is a London-based biomaterial startup that crafts progressive biomaterials and tangible material solutions for the fashion industry. While increasingly natural and biobased alternatives to synthetic materials are becoming available, most alternatives either fail to meet the industry demand in aesthetics, performance, and cost or still rely on the use of harsh chemicals and synthetic binders. However, Modern Synthesis’ patent-pending “microbial weaving” process is poised to overcome these historical limitations. Their proprietary process employs bacteria to grow a strong, lightweight cellulose-based composite material that is naturally biodegradable and offers unique potential for aesthetic and performance customisations. The process requires a fraction of greenhouse gases, water, and land usage.

Co-Founder & CEO

Jennifer Keane is a designer, researcher and entrepreneur working at the intersection of design and science, technology and craft. Driven by aspirations of sustainability, and a fascination with new digital and biological tools, she is exploring how we could partner with biology to design a new generation of hybrid materials, and change our approach to making materials altogether. Jen worked previously for German sportswear brand adidas in materials design, development and innovation strategy. She is a graduate of the MA Material Futures programme at Central Saint Martins in London, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Fiber Science and Apparel Design from Cornell University in New York. Driven by a love of textiles, enthusiasm for circularity, and a deep appreciation for human creativity, she believes that a closer dialogue between science, design and industry is essential in bringing real change to our material value systems and means of production.

Carbon capture equipment for ships

Seabound

REGION UK

Seabound is a climate tech startup that builds carbon capture equipment for ships. New regulations from the International Maritime Organization require ships to slash CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, but emerging solutions for shipping such as alternative fuels and electrification are in its infancy. Shipbased carbon capture has the potential to rapidly decarbonise this hard-to-abate sector by adapting land-based technology for ship-based implementation and by retrofitting existing ships to reduce their emissions. Seabound’s equipment is installed adjacent to a ship’s funnel to trap up to 95% of the CO2 from its exhaust, using patent-pending technology. Once the ship is back in port, the captured CO2 is offloaded and post-processed before being sold for utilisation (e.g. for electro-fuel production) or for sequestration. To date, Seabound has built two working prototypes, secured six letters of intent from major shipowners, and raised $4.4M in seed funding from Lowercarbon Capital, Y Combinator, Soma Capital, and others.

ENTREPRENEUR

Alisha is on a mission to tackle the climate crisis by decarbonising shipping. Before Seabound, she launched a climate programme and built global partnerships at Generation, the world’s largest and fastest-growing youth employment organisation, which was founded by McKinsey. She also helped start Liquid Wind, a maritime electro-fuel scale-up based in Scandinavia. Previously, she worked at the Stanford d.School, Ashoka, Swedish Press, and Bridge International Academies. Alisha was one of 28 founding class students at Minerva University, where she helped build a new university from scratch while studying in a different country each semester. Prior to that, she studied at the Mahindra United World College of India, where she pioneered the UWC Project-Based Diploma and founded an artisan jewellery social enterprise called Seema.

STABL

Making battery storage systems more safe, more efficient, and more affordable.

REGION Austria, Germany, Switzerland

STABL Energy is an innovative energy storage company redesigning battery systems to be more efficient, dynamic and safe. Its energy system bypasses the need for a central inverter in the battery, which improves the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of the system and provides cost savings, and reliable performance. The battery storage system can be deployed in many use cases and has a long lifespan, aided by the algorithmic software layer embedded in the storage system. The company has raised $8.5M in funding (incl. nondilutive) and is looking to successfully deploy its number of pilot projects in Europe. Longer term, the company plans to transition from a hardware vendor to a leasing model, leasing customers its products for no Capex investment and operational risk and unlocking recurring revenue streams.

Co-Founder & CEO

Nam Truong is the co-founder and CEO of STABL Energy. He is responsible for developing the company and building partnerships with other businesses in the energy storage industry. Until the founding of STABL Energy in 2019, Nam successfully pursued his PhD on stationary battery storage at the Technical University of Munich. During this time as a scientist, he also managed a research project with three industrial partners and 13 institutes with funding of €28.8 million. Before that, he was involved in the Munichbased student consultancy Academy Consult alongside his studies, where he carried out a wide range of projects. In his spare time, Nam likes to go to Thai boxing practice. He once even won the sport’s German championship.

Truong

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