Philadelphia Greentech Company Wins $20K, Advances to Global Competition

A local green technology company will represent Philadelphia at the global championship this fall.

Center City-based Carbon Reform won the Philadelphia Startup World Cup Pitch Competition on Wednesday, taking home a $20,000 check and a spot in the Startup World Cup. The greentech company will pitch to investors in San Francisco in October, competing against startups from around the world for a chance to win a $1 million investment.

Co-founder and COO Nick Martin said the company appreciates the resources of the Philadelphia startup ecosystem that have helped it grow.

“Philadelphia is often described as a gritty city,” Martin told Technical.ly. “(The founders) embody that gritty city, and I’m excited to showcase what that means in a startup on the global stage.”

Carbon Reform, founded in 2020, has developed a modular carbon capture device that removes stored carbon from the air. The former Technical.ly prize winner raised $3 million in a seed round in 2022.

Eight other companies pitched Wednesday at Temple University’s historic Mitten Hall. The city’s Commerce Department released pitches earlier this summer and selected 10 startups from 41 applicants. Only nine finalists pitched.

Two runners-up also won cash prizes, although they will not compete in the global event. Ideate, a platform that uses AI to automate operational tasks for designers, won $5,000 for second place. Third place went to QuneUp, a software company that uses QR codes to track information on manufacturing equipment, taking home $2,000.

Other companies that took part included:

• Agora World, a platform offering no-code design tools to transform data into 3D visualizations.
• Liiv, a property management software company that automates tasks for housing management companies.
• Neftwerk, an open source tool for selling and buying art.
• Upright VR: Develops VR rehabilitation tests and exercises that help people regain balance and prevent falls.
• FSH Tech, open source software tailored to the needs of municipalities.
• PamPam, an AI-powered tool for creating personalized maps.

Carbon Reform plans to continue to grow here among the talent pool, investors and other startups, Martin said. The regional pitch competition is an example of the local resources founders can tap into to grow their company.

“I’m always promoting the construction business here in Philadelphia,” Martin said. “Especially in the climate equipment and technology industry, I love to say you don’t have to go to New York, Boston or (San Francisco) to build something.”

Philadelphia is going to win, but will settle for more revenue

This year, Philadelphia was the first to participate in the Startup World Cup, a global conference for founders, investors and technology leaders hosted by investment firm Pegasus Tech Ventures.

But Philadelphia regularly hosts events where business support organizations present their ideas, such as the Enterprise Center, which last fall organized its first competition for minority-owned tech founders.

Helena Jaramillo, co-founder of PamPam, said there’s a community around pitch competitions in the Philadelphia startup ecosystem. She often sees the same companies at different events, and it’s cool to see their pitches and ideas evolve and improve.

However, joining the global competition increases the city’s recognition as a place conducive to the development of startups.

Competing with other cities across the country, such as New York, but also around the world, such as Hong Kong, shows investors that Philadelphia has the talent and ideas to become a strong tech hub, Tempest Carter, director of strategic technology initiatives at the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, told Technical.ly.

“We wanted people who were dealing with serious issues, people who were showing the natural diversity of Philadelphia,” Carter said.

That’s why the department specifically selected companies that would be globally competitive and have a realistic chance of reaching the final round. It also considered diversity in terms of age, gender, race and product offering, she said.

Both the Department of Commerce and Pegasus Tech Ventures are interested in hosting the competition again next year, Carter said. In the future, she would like to see more hardware and robotics companies participate, she said.

“I want to attract as much money to Philadelphia as possible,” Carter said. “We’re willing to invest in the game if it means we can attract more dollars to the city for businesses that are growing here to grow and thrive and hire.”

Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 Corps Fellow for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that connects young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.