The CATAL1.5°T Initiative celebrates its first Demo Day for the accelerator programme

The Demo Day of the CATAL1.5°T Initiative’s first accelerator programme for Latin America took place on September 19. The programme’s grand finale took place at the BioCali house, on the facilities of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Mexico City, Mexico. The event celebrated the culmination of 5 months of technical support, training, mentoring, and financing received by 10 start-ups from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Peru to enhance and accelerate their growth. Impressive: The 10 start-ups are projected to avoid more than 100 kilotons of CO2 equivalent in the next year alone.

During the Demo Day, the start-ups had the opportunity to present their businesses and climate tech solutions to private equity investment funds and prominent players from the regional Climate Tech entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The event was a milestone for the CATAL1.5°T Initiative and the Latin American accelerator programme. The Initiative is funded by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation for Development (BMZ, by its German acronym) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, in collaboration with the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and Climate KIC.

The cohort of ten start-ups experienced five months of technical support, intense hours of training and specialized mentoring prior to this grand finale. The start-ups also received a grant of 100,000 euros. It not only strengthened their business model, but also consolidated their climate potential and improved their environmental, social and governance strategy. Additionally, it incorporated diversity, inclusion, and gender measures.

And the potential of these Climate Tech ventures is promising: An independent evaluation showed that the 10 start-ups together can avoid more than 100 kilotons of CO2 equivalent in the next year alone, based on the CO2 mitigation potential and the internal sales projections of their products and services. This means that the products and services they are selling are much more climate-friendly than existing solutions in the market that the ventures are aiming to replace. One example: The start-up Rematech sells refurbished laptops, which have a much lower CO2-footprint compared to new laptops.

The Demo Day was hosted in GIZ's BioCali house in Mexico. It began with a panel of experts who shared their perspectives on the importance of climate innovation as a matter of crucial urgency to continue the fight against climate change.

The panel was attended by Dr. Nadia Vélez, Director of Bilateral Cooperation of the General Directorate of Project Operations in Mexico of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), Dr. Clarissa Heisig, Political Counselor of the German Embassy in Mexico, Mr. Ulrick Noel, Director of the Eugenio Garza Lagüera Institute of Entrepreneurship of the Monterrey Institute of Technology, and Ms. Gabriela Niño, Director of Sustainable Finance at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico. Mr. Felix Steinberg, Coordinator of the CATAL1.5°T Latin America Platform, was moderating the event on behalf of GIZ.   

Mr. Ulrick Noel highlighted the importance of having hope for climate enterprises in building a sustainable future for new generations, while Dr. Clarissa applauded initiatives like CATAL1.5°T to promote innovative ventures with high potential for transformation in the face of the effects of climate change. She also endorsed the German government’s commitment to cooperate in these areas.     

"It is important to find the commonalities that we have as countries in the search for climate solutions. With initiatives such as CATAL1.5°T, we realize that the challenges we face are very similar and that by cooperating we have greater potential to have a positive impact," said Dr. Nadia Vélez.   

Finally, Ms. Gabriela Niño from the Mexican Ministry of Finance indicated the relevance of having climate financing mechanisms that allow us to continue promoting climate innovation projects. As a collaborator of one of the Initiative’s funding partners, the Ministry coordinates the GCF's relationship in Mexico, as well as other climate finance mechanisms.    

At the end of the panel, Felix Steinberg thanked each of the institutions for their efforts to strengthen the climate tech entrepreneurship ecosystem and set the stage for the pitch sessions. The start-ups from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru presented their impactful solutions to an expert jury. The pitches were judged by Rogelio De Los Santos, Founding Manager at Dalus Capital, Ana Laura Fernández, Vice President of Investment at Fondo de Fondos, Ana Vanessa González, Director of Social Development at Fomento Social Citibanamex and Edgar Adrián Parra, Senior Investment Officer at IDB Lab.   

Among the start-ups that graduated from the programme were Biotermica Innovación, Cirkula, Ento Piruw, GALAXY PACK, microTERRA, Rematech, Satellites on Fire, Smart Internal Mobility, Sustainable Food Group, and Vexxel. Their solutions tackle climate challenges in the following sectors: access and power generation, low-emission transportation, buildings, cities, industries and appliances, forest and land use resources.   

These start-ups received valuable feedback on their climate tech solutions from the distinguished jury for their next rounds. The panel was excited to hear about the innovations and was impressed with the achievements so far. The observations of all the judges were positive towards the ventures, highlighting their creativity in incorporating climate impact, their business potential and the role of ESG criteria in the development of their venture in a single pitch. They also delivered some insights that will be useful when the companies seek a private capital injection and pitch their project.    

The Demo Day also represented a platform for dialogue between prominent actors in the climate entrepreneurship ecosystem. Venture capital, investment funds, accelerators, and cooperation agencies, among others, attended to join forces in the face of the challenges posed by climate change.   

The CATAL1.5°T Initiative will continue to promote joint efforts. More calls and activities are coming to boost the climate entrepreneurship ecosystem in Latin America.     

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