Local businesses that reduce carbon emissions and make money

Global warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions is a global threat. One of the world’s largest auditors, PwC, says the world must cut carbon emissions seven times faster than the current speed, limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

It is from this global need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that this expression began to be used “climate engineering”which refers to products and services that help reduce carbon dioxide emissionsor propose different types of solutions to the climate crisis.

Under an umbrella climate technology Various technologies for sustainable mobility, carbon capture and storage, and all types of solutions related to renewable energy, precision agriculture and even smart buildings are coming together.

In Argentina, there are various start-up proposals aimed at this sector. An example is that of Kigui. Operating in Argentina and Mexico, it is a platform that encourages consumers to buy products that are about to expire by returning part of the purchase or cashback (in Mexico, today their main center of operations, they offer to reimburse the consumer up to 60% of the price).

Mauricio Kemer, Diana de La Sancho, Frida Gamboa, Alvaro Parama and Maximiliano Dicranian.  Team KiguiMauricio Kemer, Diana de La Sancho, Frida Gamboa, Alvaro Parama and Maximiliano Dicranian. Team Kigui

“This reduces huge food waste in the supply chain, associated costs and carbon and methane emissions. Our approach is aimed at mitigating the impact of companies on the environment,” he said. Maurizio Kremeragricultural business administration specialist, CEO and co-founder of the initiative along with Maximilian Dikranyan.

Kigüi’s income comes from the cashback itself, a commission for saved products and a monthly fee for using the software as a service (SaaS).

With this model, Kemer explained, they achieved a turnover of 2023 in 2023. $120,000with 90% corresponds to the Mexico market. “We work with leading brands such as Bimbo, Danone and Ilolay and with supermarket chains such as ChangoMás,” said the entrepreneur.

Kigüi was founded in 2021 as part of the Masters in Business, which future partners studied at the IAE Business School at the Australian University in 2020. The following year, they launched the project as a venture that was intended from the outset to offer companies a reduction in what is called “inventory waste.”

The enterprise has already received an advance payment in the amount $600,00040% of which was directed to the development of artificial intelligence technology for image and data processing.

They are currently in a “seed round” to attract new investment with the intervention of the AWS Impact Accelerator, an accelerator for the start-up of Amazon Web Services, together with Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Cordova. This round aims to finance Kigui’s entry into the the US marketwhere a potential competitor announced an initial public offering (IPO) several months ago.

According to estimates presented by entrepreneurs, the global food waste market reaches 104 billion dollars, which includes only twenty leading multinational companies. “The reality is that it could be around 130,000 million. With what is thrown away in supermarkets, you can feed the entire population of a country like the USA for a year,” Kramer stressed.

Plastic and technology

circle is a technology platform based in Tucuman Santiago Casanova, Bautista Garzon and Francisco Palouwho started by creating a business for the distribution of cleaning products in return packagingwhile three were in their final year of Marketing, Administration and Industrial Engineering respectively.

During the pandemic, they formed the first stage of the business, which was the development of a reusable container, with integrated radio frequency technology for tracking. The partners, who started with four and now have three, were responsible for the development of the platform and software.

Bautista Garzon, Santiago Casanova and Francisco Palou of Circclo.Bautista Garzon, Santiago Casanova and Francisco Palou of Circclo.

“This initiative allowed us to test the client’s hypotheses value this type of consumption and that it is a viable business in terms of infrastructure,” Casanova says today. “Also, we were able to see first-hand how with technology we can scale the offering and convene a multidisciplinary team.”

Now they have released a new model reusable cups, also with built-in technology, which they called Coffee Club by Circclo. The matter which combines a reusable product with technology managed from a web platform, already implemented in one of the cafes of the University of Torquato di Tello, which avoids spending more than 3000 glasses per month.

“We offer a software-as-a-service with enough modularity to be applied to different industries: in addition to coffee, beverages in returnable formats or last-mile delivery, with reusable tableware. As a result, it allows organizations to reduce their environmental impact, increase sales, gain access to consumer data and reduce costs,” Casanova concluded.

Circclo closes its first investment round 250,000 dollars, in which investors such as Facunda Garretonfounder of InvertirOnline; Fernando López Iervasihead of Microsoft for Spanish-speaking South America; Ruben Altman, creator of RSK and the Antom Foundation, and Rufina Escasani, founder of NewBalance Energy.

According to Casanova, replacing single-use plastic with reusable is a type of business that currently has no roof.

“Today, 98% of packaging is single-use, but brands are already signing up to their global commitments for 2025 and 2030 to eliminate single-use plastic their value chains. At the same time, there are already rules that prohibit it, and that is what remains. Converting just 20% of single-use plastic production to a reuse model is a possibility at least 10 billion dollars, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation,” he said.

Biogas additives

The PwC report also highlights that there has been a significant expansion of global biogas electricity generation capacity over the past two decades, with more than 12,000 biodigesters operating in Europe alone.

A company based in Santa Fe, Chiamet, takes a leading place in the technology of this type of green energy production with development applications for biodigesters. The formulas, in the process of patenting, are aimed at improve the stability and biological efficiency of biogas plantsin order to obtain more energy and higher quality biofertilizer.

“The additives interfere with the microbiological community of the reactors, breaking down organic matter more quickly and efficiently. “This allows more waste to be processed without the risk of destabilizing the biology,” he said. Braulio Kretschmann, co-founder of the initiative. “In addition, our additives can be used in all plants, regardless of the waste or organic materials they process,” he added.

Hiamet appeared while Kreczmann and his partners Mathias Lilloya, Cristian Perez and Enzo Zamboni They developed dairy plants in the village Diagram, another technology firm. They used half of the $200,000 they raised in the seed round to advance the field of biogas additives through in-house research and development.

“The community of bacteria in these reactors is very diverse and complex. And if you work on the frontier of knowledge, there is little information. therefore there is no choice but to create it“, the entrepreneur added.

The market for Hiamet is biodigesters that need to produce energy efficiently, at low cost and consistently 365 days a year. “This includes plants that sell energy to the state through the RenovAR program, from which we have already captured 25% of the market,” said Kretschmann, who added that last year they started exporting to Brazil and billed for $200,000.

“The results of our technology are stunning. There are companies that have increased energy production by 80% because they were able to introduce more waste without the risk of braking. Customers in Brazil have even managed to generate three times more energy and reduce the final cost of disposing of waste that they previously could not fit into their reactors. Others managed to use fewer substrates,” the entrepreneur emphasized.

From consulting to SaaS

LEAF Sustainable Innovation was born as a consulting company created by environmental engineers Ignacio Baruta and Natalia Drault, which has almost twenty years of track record dedicated to supporting companies in their decarbonisation strategies. But it happened later climate technologyto offer firms of different sizes and activities an opportunity measure and manage your carbon footprint through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model billed through an annual subscription.

Diego Noriega, Natalia Drault, Ignacio Baruta and Julian Drault of LEAFDiego Noriega, Natalia Drault, Ignacio Baruta and Julian Drault of LEAF

“Instead of calculating the carbon footprint of what happened as if it were a photograph, I’m looking for a movie: to reduce the carbon footprint by setting goals, implementing actions and continuously monitoring to achieve the goals,” Baruta said.

With customers distributed art Argentina, Colombia and the United States, They closed last year with sales of 1$50,000. LEAF bases its business on its own operating profit, which in jargon is called bootstrap. However, this move from consulting firm to startup was made through the consulting firm’s association with SquadS Venturesinvestment fund created Diego Noriega (co-founder of Alamaula, which was sold to eBay, and former Newtopia VC) and Julian Draul (co-founder of emBlue).

“We offer a different model for creating startups, with a bootstrapping mentality and focused on creating long-term relationships with various ecosystem participants. We are not looking to create the next unicorn or follow the Silicon Valley model, but rather something adapted to the reality of Latin America. We focus our attention where it is needed: on clients,” Noriega stressed.

“In the case of LEAF, we organized talks at Carbon Forum events in Argentina, Mexico and Ecuador, as well as webinars where we were supported by chambers, embassies and NGOs working on climate change. “In this way, we are doubling LEAF’s revenue, moving the SaaS component from 10% to 46% and making it profitable,” he added.

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