13 Top Sustainable Startups to Watch in 2024

Every year, new startups pull to the forefront of their industry through exciting innovation, tech, and industry-disrupting business models. We’ve rounded up the best sustainable startups of 2024 that startup-lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow.

Disclaimer: With so many sustainable startups launching and growing worldwide, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the startups that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.

• Location: San Bruno, California
• Founders: Matthew Rogers
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Venture, $100 Million
• Investors Include: Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Google Ventures

Mill is a garbage bin built to fight food waste. The innovative trash can is created to dry, shrink, and deodorize food waste, shrinking it by 80%. While the Mill bin alone reduces garbage bag use, taking weeks to fill one, the startup also offers services to pick up and recycle food waste to create food for chickens.

• Location: Oakland, California
• Founders: Alexey Dubov, Dmitry Starodubtsev, Sam Ruben, Vyacheslav Solonitsyn
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Series B, $153.8 Million
• Investors Include: Khosla Ventures, Bold Capital Partners, Wa'ed Ventures

Mighty Buildings uses 3D printing, material science, and robotics to build sustainable communities. The company manufactures pre-built, 3D-printed custom panels that can be assembled on-site to reduce construction time.

• Location: New York, New York
• Founders: Rebeca Minguela
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Venture, $80 Million
• Investors Include: SoftBank Vision Fund, BlackRock, Alma Mundi Ventures

Clarity AI is a sustainability software powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data that provides insights on 30,000 companies and over 135,000 investors to utilize for corporate research, investor research, and reporting requirements.

• Location: Oakland, California
• Founders: Adam Maxwell
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Venture, $63.8 Million
• Investors Include: Social Impact Capital, Horizons Ventures, Level One Fund

Voyage is a food technology company offering a sustainable alternative to nut spreads like peanut butter. On a mission to combat the negative impacts of climate change and supply chain, Voyage's products are created using a combination of science and technology to replicate the flavors and textures of foods that traditionally include common allergens.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Founders: Chris Clark, Jordan Savage, Stuart Landesberg
• Founded In: 2012
• Funding: Post-IPO Debt, $606.5 Million
• Investors Include: General Atlantic, NextView Ventures, Kapital Partners

Grove Collaborative is an increasingly popular home and personal care product brand that creates hardworking, environmentally-friendly products. Their product line ranges from laundry and home to pet and beauty products with an ambitious goal of being 100% plastic-free by 2025.

• Location: New South Wales, Australia
• Founders: Frank Oly, Guy Hudson, Guy Webb, Mick Wettenhall, Tegan Nock
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Series B, A$155 Million
• Investors Include: Lowercarbon Capital, Horizons Ventures, Clean Energy Finance Corporation

Loam Bio, previously known as Soil Carbon Co., develops technology that allows crops to be inoculated with symbiotic microorganisms to create healthier, better soil by capturing carbon in the air and reintroducing it back into the soil. Plus, farmers will be able to trade carbon offsets to ensure they are financially supported and working toward a more sustainable future.

• Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Founders: Klaus B. Pedersen, Lucie Basch, Mette Lykke
• Founded In: 2015
• Funding: Venture, $45.7 Million
• Investors Include: Mike Lee, Jesper Lindhardt

Too Good To Go is an app that was created to tackle food waste. The app allows consumers to buy discounted food from cafes, restaurants, hotels, shops, and manufacturers that would otherwise be wasted.

• Location: Escondido, California
• Founders: Brent Grizzle
• Founded In: 2011
• Funding: Venture, $30 Million
• Investors Include: Undisclosed

Materra is an eco-friendly farming company that is innovating the building and maintenance of farmland to enhance both quality and sustainability. With their services, farmers are able to build a longer-term outlook for their business that is beneficial for them and the environment as well.

• Location: Richmond, Virginia
• Founders: Brian Powers, Charles Vincent, James McGoff
• Founded In: 2015
• Funding: Venture, $208.9 Million
• Investors Include: Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Greenhouse Capital Partners, Revolution Growth

TemperPack is creating sustainable packaging solutions for perishable food and life science industries. Their fully curbside recyclable insulated packaging is the first of its kind and offers both manufacturers and consumers an eco-friendly alternative to traditional packaging that still protects their products from damage.

• Location: Helsinki, Finland
• Founders: Christopher Carstens, Pia Henrietta Kekäläinen, Sam Van Wesenbeeck
• Founded In: 2016
• Funding: Series A, $27.5 Million
• Investors Include: True Ventures, Cherry Ventures, GenZero

Carbo Culture is a cleantech startup developing innovative solutions to capture carbon dioxide and reduce carbon footprint overall. Their patented Carbolysis™ reactors produce biochar to generate renewable energy for construction and agriculture companies and lock carbon away for a more sustainable future.

• Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Founders: Graham Rihn
• Founded In: 2014
• Funding: Series D, $174.1 Million
• Investors Include: Touchdown Ventures, Valo Ventures, Fifth Wall

Roadrunner Recycling is on a mission to reshape the world's recycling infrastructure and waste management. Their tech solution makes it easy to manage the recycling and waste processes to reduce inefficiencies and increase landfill diversion.

• Location: London, United Kingdom
• Founders: Gary Wu, James Dugan, Jamie Cox, Peter Francis
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Series A, $29.1 Million
• Investors Include: Seedcamp, Valar Ventures, World Fund

Treecard is a green finance company gamifying sustainability to incentivize consumers to live, buy, and invest more sustainably. Users earn points by making ethical purchases, plant trees by documenting steps taken in an effort to reduce use of fossil fuels, and earn eco-friendly rewards.

• Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Founders: Chris Tolles, Evan Arnold, Kevin Meissner
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Series A, $36 Million
• Investors Include: Pillar VC, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Put simply, Yard Stick helps farmers and agriculture businesses measure soil carbon accurately, but their products do more than cut measuring time. Through effective soil carbon measurements, farmers are better able to engage in climate-friendly agricultural practices and even initiate soil carbon removal at a higher rate.

Recommended: Check out our full list of the top startups to watch in 2024!

To build a more sustainable future, entrepreneurs are busy innovating alternatives to fossil fuels, developing solar energy solutions, cutting energy costs, and improving air quality. Each environmental startup is on a mission to disrupt legacy industries with sustainable solutions.

While these may be the sustainable startups to watch now, new and exciting startups are launching every day to make the world a little greener. Check back for regular updates to this list of environmental startups and their impact on fossil fuel energy dependence, climate change, and carbon emissions.