Global ClimaTech Run 2023 Finalists To Participate In COP28

Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation has announced the three finalists selected from the Global ClimaTech Run 2023, which will participate at COP28 in the UAE at the end of November. The finalists include FreshSource from Egypt, which develops supply chain solutions for agricultural products, and Tunisia’s Kumulus, which uses solar energy to provide clean drinking water, and Powerstove from Nigeria, which develops IoT-enabled renewable energy solutions.

The competition, which launched ahead of COP27 in Egypt last year, invites climatetech startups from around the world to pitch ideas that address climate change-related challenges. The competition is jointly organized by Egypt’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the Ministry of Environment, UNDP, USAID, Microsoft, and the World Bank. This year’s competition included 405 startups from 44 countries.

Kumulus, which was founded in Tunisia in 2021, uses a solar-powered system to stir up air inside a machine called the Kumulus, which then extracts moisture from air and turns it into drinking water. Last year, it raised $969k pre-seed funding from Paris Techstars Accelerator, Flat6Labs, WILCO and Bpifrance. Egypt’s FreshSource, which was founded in 2018, is a B2B agritech startup that aims to reduce waste in the agricultural supply chain. Last year, it raised a seven-figure seed round led by Wamda and 4DX. Founded in 2018, Nigeria’s Powerstove Energy creates a smokeless, IoT-powered stove that generates electricity by converting non-recyclable paper, wood and agricultural by-products into biomass pellets. The pellets are used to power and IoT-enabled smokeless cookstoves that can produce 50 watts of continuous power.

Last week, COP28 presidency launched the Innovation for Climate Technology Alliance, which aims to strengthen climatetech innovation ecosystems globally in order to drive zero-carbon growth.