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Earth Day x Startups

This Earth Day our Intelligence Unit analysts have dived into how startups are tackling climate-related challenges across food, fintech, health and more (subscribe to our specialist theme newsletters for more every week). Here's a run down.

Carbon removal - if the world stopped emitting Greenhouse Gasses (GHG) tomorrow, we would still need to remove millions of tons of CO2e from the atmosphere. Carbon capture and storage funding is at an all-time annual high in 2022, and a consortium led by Stripe recently announced an advance market commitment of $925M to advance carbon removal tech. Read more on carbon capture in this week's Impact newsletter.

Alternative seafood - plant-based or lab-grown substitutes to fish could offset carbon emissions and restore aquatic ecosystems affected by commercial fishing. 2022 funding has surpassed full year 2021 levels, and is up 3x on 2020. While Europe is home to the most alt-seafood startups (43%), Asia is a key market - by 2050 it will account for two thirds of world consumption. More in the Foodtech newsletter.

Sustainable banking - no sector is untouched by the climate crisis, and sustainability is rising up the agenda within banking and financial services. From carbon measurement and offsetting, to ESG reporting and data providers, startups are springing up to help financial corporates hold themselves to account.

ClimateTech marketplaces - now worth a combined $61B, climate tech marketplaces are up 12.6x in value since 2016. Diverse climate tech marketplaces include those covering agritech supply, (Pinduoduo), solar installation finance (GoodLeap), product refurbishment (Back Market), and cargo shipping (Convoy). We've mapped 720+ climate tech marketplaces. More here.

Single-use plastic in healthcare - cheap and hygienic, single-use plastic is an attractive option in healthcare. But hospitals how account for 4.4% of all greenhouse gas emissions and over 5M tonnes of waste. But new innovations like medical-grade bioplastics are aiming to turn the tide. More in this week's Health newsletter.

MENA's fastest-growing startup sector

The MENA healthtech ecosystem has grown 22x in the last five years. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are among the most popular global destinations for medical tourism. And UAE, Oman and Turkey are in the top 20 world economies for healthcare spend efficiency. 

The region's fastest growing startup segment is developing an impressive track record with healthcare investment, with digital care and AI-supported clinical decision making among the most funded segments.

In partnership with EMERGE GHI, our latest report provides an overview of the investment landscape of the healthcare industry in the MENA region.

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