Green Manganese, CURA, and CarbonRun are among the newcomers to the 2026 Foresight 50, adding national investment recognition to three ventures named among CleanEnergy.ca’s 10 Canadian Clean Energy Startups to Watch in 2026.
The annual program spotlights Canada’s most investible cleantech ventures, connecting companies developing climate solutions with investors and industry partners. This year’s final cohort includes 49 companies following one venture’s withdrawal. Of those companies, 32 are first-time honourees, representing nearly two-thirds of the list.
Several have spent the past year advancing technologies that connect emissions reduction with industrial priorities: recovering valuable metals, producing cleaner cement, protecting electricity infrastructure, and removing carbon.
Vancouver’s Green Manganese is developing a water-based process to recover manganese and other critical minerals from low-grade ores, tailings, and industrial waste.
Its inclusion follows a year of commercial and technical milestones including a letter of intent with Scandinavian Steel covering potential supply of up to 50,000 tonnes annually of metallized manganese pellets and reports of initial test results showing more than 90% recovery of manganese, nickel, cobalt, and copper from polymetallic nodules through a single integrated process.
Calgary’s CURA is pursuing a similar industrial opportunity in cement.
CURA’s approach aims to replace the carbon‑intensive limestone‑decomposition part of cement production with a proprietary electrified process that uses renewable power instead of high‑temperature combustion. CURA’s technology produces cement with up to 85% less CO2 emissions.
CURA recently raised $14M to support the buildout of a 100-tonnes-per-year pilot plant in Alberta alongside strategic partner Grand Forks Concrete.
CarbonRun brings a different approach to the newcomer group. The Dartmouth, Nova Scotia company is developing river alkalinity enhancement to remove carbon dioxide while helping restore acidified waterways. Its process increases alkalinity so rivers can transport captured carbon to the ocean for long-term storage.
Its appearance alongside CURA and Green Manganese highlights the range of technologies advancing through Canada’s cleantech sector—from changes to industrial chemistry to approaches that work with natural systems.
Other first-time honourees have also been featured in CleanEnergy.ca’s coverage over the past year.
Kelowna’s CRWN.ai is developing technology to detect electrical faults on power lines before they ignite wildfires. In April, NorthX announced funding to support deployment of up to 500 monitoring devices across British Columbia transmission corridors, helping move its technology toward larger-scale field operations.
Carbonyx was among five university spinouts receiving $100,000 each from NorthX last November, while Kitchener’s H2nanO was recognized as a finalist in Wheaton Precious Metals’ Future of Mining Challenge, which focused on sustainable water management.
The newcomers join returning honourees including Arca, Ayrton Energy, Dispersa, Mangrove Lithium, and Maia Farms.
Together, the cohort reflects a cleantech investment opportunity extending well beyond renewable power generation. For this year’s new entrants, the next test is translating recognition into the financing, customer relationships, and deployments needed to bring their technologies to scale.