The Cleantech Group has unveiled its latest Cleantech 50 to Watch list, highlighting innovative companies tackling today’s most pressing environmental challenges.
This annual list is a great resource for discovering early-stage ventures with the potential to disrupt the market in the near future, and this year, Canadian companies feature prominently, with six making the cut.
Among the Canadian honorees are Ayrton Energy and Litus from Calgary, Nxlite and ThinkLabs AI from Toronto, TerraFixing from Ottawa, and Tersa Earth from Vancouver.
According to Anthony DeOrsey, Cleantech Group’s research manager, the selection process involves consulting with venture capitalists, corporate innovators, and startup insiders at incubators and accelerators. While Cleantech Group also produces The Global Cleantech 100 list for more established companies, the 50 to Watch focuses on highlighting the next wave of technology and offering insight into the latest trends in the cleantech space.
One of the key trends from the 2024 list is hydrogen innovation.
In the past, much of the focus has been on sourcing and producing hydrogen, but this year’s list spotlights ventures working on new ways to transport, store, and use it. This shift is a promising development for broader hydrogen adoption as a clean energy source.
A notable example in this field is Ayrton Energy, which has created a way to store hydrogen as a room-temperature liquid fuel, making it easier to transport and use.
The Calgary-based company recently raised $9.1 million in seed funding, and its CEO, Natasha Kostenuk, says the recognition from the Cleantech 50 to Watch list validates the team’s hard work. She believes it will help put Ayrton on the radar of more stakeholders in the sector.