The Indian, woman-led startup Coco Custo is pioneering more sustainable cleaning solutions with its biodegradable laundry detergent and other eco-friendly cleaning powders. Formulated primarily from plant-based ingredients and minerals, including organic oils and coconut, Coco Custo’s products are non-toxic, hypoallergenic, and free from harmful chemicals.
Paper is a sustainable material by nature. However, many paper products need to be treated with additives such as wet strength agents or sizing agents to improve their properties for certain applications.
Porelio's FOMS adsorbents target PFAS, metals, and genotoxins, outperforming commercial solutions with unmatched selectivity, innovation, and sustainability.
Dutch start-up Mavisol has developed an innovative machine vision and AI solution designed specifically for plastic converters, with the aim of promoting environmental sustainability and improving material reuse efficiency.
The CHEManager Innovation Pitch is both a showcase and a competition for start-ups in the chemical industry. Each year, industry experts select a winning start-up from the finalists.
The CHEManager Innovation Pitch, the start-up promotion initiative of CHEManager and CHEManager International, has given more than 100 start-ups from over 15 countries the opportunity to present their innovative ideas, products and technologies to a broad target group since its launch in 2019.
Mexican start-up Polybion produces a cell-based leather alternative named Celium, a versatile material made out of bacteria-grown cellulose, that can be dyed and formed into different textures.
Gemma Biotherapeutics (GemmaBio), a new therapeutics company founded by gene therapy pioneer Jim Wilson, recently announced the completion of a $34 million seed funding round to accelerate its groundbreaking gene therapy initiatives.
Interview with Olli Kähkönen, Nordic Bioproducts Group
Interview with Franziska Walde and Lukas Fischer, Refinq
DNACotton is a female-led start-up from Türkiye that has developed a blockchain-based labeling and traceability system for textiles. The solution allows for reliable monitoring and analysis of materials, from fiber production to customer delivery.
The Discourse on Green Chemistry Interactive Pitch Competition, held on November 5, 2024, at Wiley's Berlin office as part of Berlin Science Week, showcased a range of innovative projects aimed at addressing critical environmental challenges.
The female-led Swedish start-up Renasens has developed a clean, waterless recycling technology that transforms textile waste into valuable new resources.
Ucaneo, a provider of innovative direct air capture (DAC) technologies for CO2 removal, has raised €6.75 million in seed funding including grants.
Egrobots, a start-up from Egypt, developed a solution for efficient farm monitoring and management using AI and robotics. Their innovation includes an autonomous robot, that roams around the farm, scanning the plants on a leaf-level with high resolution and an AI that analyses this data.
The 1st GPCA Startup Nexus will take place during the GPCA Forum, December 2-5, 2025 in Muscat, Oman.
Ar-ena is a female-led start-up from Jordan, that produces a new type of hydrogel-polymers that absorb air humidity and convert it into water.
The American start-up Zila Bioworks is transforming hard-tech manufacturing with drastically cleaner, greener chemistry, while supporting rural communities.
The Mexican start-up Neptunus Biotech extracts bioactive compounds from marine microalgae which are used as a bio-stimulant for crops. The assimilation of these molecules makes the plants more resistant to environmental stress.
Roquette, a French multinational supplier of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical excipients, announced an investment by its venture capital arm Roquette Ventures in Danish start-up Biograil.
Aralez Bio, a San Francisco-based start-up, has engineered a platform of enzymes that creates 100 times more compound diversity using processes that are also 50 times greener than conventional methods.
African start-up Ecorich Solutions uses an innovative technology called “the Wastebot decomposer machine” to convert organic waste into organic fertilizer. The process involves the breakdown of organic waste using soil based microbial enzymes under a temperature regulated mechanism.
The German start-up Bioweg found a way to replace petroleum-based chemicals with innovative bio-alternatives through fermentation and green chemistry. The processing of waste products results in bacterial cellulose, which serves as a substitute for synthetic polymers and thus has diverse potential applications.
The Kenyan start-up Molepse BioResources has developed two products, one for small-scale and one for large-scale grain farmers, to protect their harvest from weevil attacks.
The Heidelberg-based start-up Blue Activity replaces 100% of biocides in cooling water treatment with natural, functional microorganisms. The product change increases the efficiency of cooling tower performance and reduces water consumption and operating costs.
Manual experiment monitoring and data capture is still the status quo in most biotech and pharma labs, compromising efficiency and project timescales. But there is a better way.
The Spanish computational chemistry start-up Nextmol (Bytelab Solutions), a spin-off from the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that accelerates research and innovation in sustainable specialty chemicals through “in silico” experiments using molecular modeling and artificial intelligence (AI).
The Croatian start-up Makabi has created a 3-in-1 encapsulation technology for plant protection and nutrition and controlled release of bioactive components.
Bioeconomy startup Traceless Materials, which produces a natural biomaterial as an alternative to plastic, announces the completion of a €36.6 million funding round. The Series A financing round is led by UB Forest Industry Green Growth Fund.
Interview with Alban Chesneau and Nicolas Castet, Carbon Waters
Block Solutions is a Tampere, Finland-based company that has developed environmentally friendly block-modules made of recycled plastics or in combination with local excess raw materials.
Colombia-based company Cali Food Papers started with new product line named Ecopapel that offers biodegradable, compostable and recyclable paper- and cardboard-based packaging for food.
