Planet Positive Lab Demo Day

This event marked the end of a 10-week accelerator programme hosted at Wadham for pioneering sustainable innovators. The startup founders developed their new climate tech ventures, navigated the challenges of starting and scaling a sustainable business, and benefited from expert-led workshops, specialised mentorship, a tailored curriculum and much more. The programme was supported by by the University of Oxford, Wadham College, Founders Factory, and Planet Fund.

The Demo Day began with a welcome keynote address by Professor Cameron Hepburn. Planet Positive Lab highlighted their commitment to and support for climate tech initiatives and thanked everyone who had made the programme possible. This was followed by startup pitches from the founders and graduates of the first Planet Positive Lab programme to an audience of green-tech investors.

Phillippe Jutras introduced his startup, Aberland. While wheat feeds the world, its production is not sustainable. Aberland aims to save farmland with cell-grown wheat that does not compromise flavour.

Co-founders of Agrilink, Colin Kinghorn and Iakov Brilliant, are using intelligent predictable data to finance farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and create transformative change. Iakov found the advice from experts at Planet Positive Lab on narrative building particularly helpful. It's not just about technology, it's about convincing others about the benefits of the technology. Colin and Iakov will take what they have learned to the next stage of building Agrilink.

Micromelt co-founders Shirley Di Young and Xiangyu Jie aim to solve the problem of recycling plastics with breakthrough green microwave technology. We waste huge amounts of plastic each year; there is potential to unlock greater economic benefits by using this groundbreaking technology for recycling.

Segura co-founders, José Castro and Merel Laauwen , gave a pitch that explained their aim to improve the world's water quality through easy, accurate take-anywhere testing. They also spoke of the excellent support they had from mentors at Planet Positive Lab to develop their plans and build up a network of valuable contacts. The cohort also learned from each other and benefitted greatly from peer support.

Bruno Steinkraus introduced Soilytix, which he co-founded with Isabella Staudinger. The partners are working to pioneer advanced user-friendly analytics for improving global soil health and diversity. Change is needed in agricultural practice and land management and testing of the biology of soil would help to inform evaluation of regenerative practices.

Shruti Jain presented her plans to produce carbon credits with farmers to create a more sustainable agricultural supply chain in India through her startup, Chipko. Over half the country's population works in agriculture, so this could have huge economic impact. Shruti spoke warmly of the mentoring she received at Planet Positive Lab. In a whirlwind year in which she completed her MBA, her mentors believed in her as a person as well as in her startup. This commitment sets the Planet Positive Lab accelerator programme apart from other such programmes for Shruti. As she says, the mentors really 'have your back'.

Thomas Monahan explained how his startup, Tidal Prophet, aims to use AI-powered physics to fight climate change through improved global tidal forecasting. The maritime industry needs to de-carbonise urgently, and more accurate mapping could improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions greatly.

Emeke Nwangele spoke about revolutionising clean energy access in Africa by bringing smart-grid technology to under-served communities through his startup, Ubunte. He hopes this will contribute to a move from top-down to bottom-up development, empowering communities to build what they want for themselves. Emeke described how his experience with the Planet Positive Lab accelerator programme helped to give him the energy to move Ubunte from an idea, which began with his MSc studies, to a registered company.

Planet Positive Lab brings together the best in the academic and venturing communities to build a better planet. We have been delighted to work with our partners and with the cohort over the summer and to hear their inspiring pitches at the end of the programme. We look forward to keeping in touch with the founders and to watching how their enterprises progress and contribute to a more sustainable future.