Climate Startups funded by Y Combinator (YC) 2026

OctaPulse uses AI vision to automate hatchery QA for fish farms, starting with broodstock phenotyping and juvenile deformity inspection. We cut inspection time from about 5 minutes to under 30 seconds per fish, with more than 90 percent accuracy, so farms advance only high quality fish and waste less feed and labor. Our goal is to bring automation across the entire fish production lifecycle for the $300B aquaculture industry. Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector, and has already surpassed commercial fishing for production of seafood. Yet two of the most critical QA and QC steps in fish production are still done by hand: phenotyping and deformity inspection. These processes are slow, error prone, and despised by technicians but vital for the success of the farm, so much so that farms spend >$200K a year on trained technicians and geneticists to operate. We’ve built an AI vision platform for vertically integrated finfish farms that drops into existing workflows starting in the hatchery, uses off the shelf cameras, standardizes these QA steps, and creates a proprietary multi species dataset that becomes the brain for future autonomous aquafarms. Phenotyping is the start, but the platform is designed to be a drop in solution that can easily expand into feeding, health monitoring, and processing so we can solve production problems across the lifecycle. We signed a 6-figure paid pilot with the largest trout producer in the United States, are deploying into 2 more farms early 2026, and trained models above 90 percent accuracy while cutting inspection time from 5 minutes to under 30 seconds. Each deployment adds labeled images to our dataset and improves cross species generalization.

Rimba integrates fragmented data — PDFs, Excel files, time-series, IoT sensors, equipment telemetry, and system performance data — to complete a workflow, such as populating a database, running analytics, and creating a report. Our software streamlines the entire journey from data capture to report creation for the physical world, starting with heavy industries such as renewables, oil & gas, supply chain, and chemicals. Legacy systems don't communicate, and critical operational data remains siloed. Rimba bridges that gap by connecting data from fragmented systems and structures — ERPs, SCADA, SharePoint, email, and more — to automate workflows, classify inputs, transform data, and improve data monitoring.

Plume is an AI-powered geospatial platform for site selection in energy infrastructure projects. Selecting the right sites requires analysis of +50 geospatial, grid, and regulatory constraints across fragmented data sources. Plume changes the process by enabling users to interact with geospatial data using natural language.

Silurian is building foundation models for simulating Earth, starting with weather. From assessing the risk of wildfires to predicting the energy grid load, we provide an infrastructure layer for our planet. Our frontier models push the boundaries of what can be simulated on Earth and improve decision making across vital sectors including energy, insurance, agriculture, and logistics.

We build underwater data centers to cut power usage by up to 30%, operating GPUs cheaper and more sustainably. Our 1 MW capsule is being tested underwater in the SF Bay

Sorcerer is deploying a global network of persistent airborne sensors to fuel advanced weather forecasting. Our high-altitude balloons collect 1000x more data than existing systems and are already used daily by meteorologists to track extreme weather across the US and Central America.

HyLight builds and operates autonomous airships for long range monitoring. We focus on detecting methane leaks on pipelines and defects on power lines. Our innovation, the HyLighter, is a crossover between drone and airship technology. Like a drone, it is easily controllable and transportable. And, like an airship, it is extremely energy-efficient, enabling it to fly for up to 10 hours at slow speed (22mph) for optimal data collection which represents a range of 220miles. Today, energy infrastructure operators struggle with conducting inspections that are simultaneously: massive and precise. HyLight offers a solution to precisely detect issues on the infrastructure at an industrial scale, and all of this without emitting GHGs. We are 3 co-founders experienced in hardware and energy companies with Masters in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Business from the best Engineering and Business School in France. We have developed 5 different flying aircrafts and signed 5 pilots programs with major energy infrastructure operators. We also have LOIs worth over $3.5M.

Nira is a map tool, built for renewable energy developers, that shows available capacity at every interconnection point on the electrical grid. Customers like AES and Cypress Creek use Nira to find the most profitable points on the grid to site new projects.

Voltic is launching US-built cargo ships that are 4x more profitable than diesel vessels. We have $100M+ in sales to companies including the largest US shipping company and the largest global shipper by volume. We are on pace for our first commercial deployment in early 2026. The team previously started two shipping lines and has decades of experience in maritime innovation. Our patented battery & solar tech stack was spun out of MIT’s Ocean Engineering department. We are backed by top investors like the largest maritime VC in the world.

ALT TEX is a Toronto-based biomaterials startup that has developed the world’s first biodegradable and carbon neutral fabric, engineered from the world’s largest landfill contributor - food waste. Polyester alone makes up 60% of the $2.5 trillion fashion industry and is the biggest blocker preventing brands from meeting sustainability mandates. The patent-pending ALT TEX fermentation technology creates a polyester alternative that works with the existing infrastructure to supply a sustainable, high performance and cost competitive polyester replacement to fashion brands, at scale. The product solves key problems for fashion brands, consumers, and the environment: (1) Fashion brands: ALT TEX sells fabric to fashion brands, allowing them to differentiate via sustainable options (sustainable fashion growing 11% CAGR) and hit sustainability targets, without sacrificing performance or changing their current supply chain. (2) Consumer: The ALT TEX fabric is projected to be half the price vs. other specialized sustainable alternatives (due to low-cost input and scalability), meaning greater accessibility. (3) Environment: A single shirt produced with ALT TEX fabric can divert 1 kg of food waste from landfills, 9 kg of carbon emissions from the air, and 4 g of micro-plastics from our waterways. Co-founders Myra and Avneet have worked together managing teams and projects for six years, with backgrounds in serial entrepreneurship, corporate sales at Fortune 500 companies, textile manufacturing and biochemistry. To date, ALT TEX has created their first fabric prototype that’s 70% stronger than cotton, secured $1M in LOIs and raised $2.3M.

Wand Solar enables Solar Revenue for Income Properties owners. By empowering landlords to sell solar energy directly to tenants, we make it a no-brainer for landlords to adopt solar energy.

BuyPower is the modern bill payment platform for Africans. We make it easy for individuals to pay their energy bills, businesses to pay international vendors, and lenders to make smarter lending decisions using our proprietary Energy Data Service. Our mission is to simplify bill payment and empower African SMBs to prioritize their financial health.

Birch Biosciences engineers enzymes for plastic recycling using synthetic biology and machine learning. Our enzymes function as high performance “molecular scissors” that efficiently break down plastic polymers into chemical building blocks that can be used to manufacture high quality recycled plastic products. Today, plastic manufacturing is unsustainable and a major driver of climate change. Birch Biosciences is developing an economical end-to-end plastic recycling process that reduces carbon emissions by 70% and enables a circular plastic economy.

Energy demand is skyrocketing, and renewable energy is the most scalable path forward. But today’s development process can’t move fast enough to meet global goals. Paces exists to change that. We are building software and services to accelerate renewable energy deployment and lower costs - unlocking one of the greatest opportunities of our time: transforming how infrastructure gets built and ensuring it’s built with renewable energy. Paces automates early-stage due diligence and provides the expertise to accelerate late-stage diligence, fast-tracking projects from siting to construction-ready. Our platform supports renewable energy and data center developers, real estate firms, and more by streamlining siting, interconnection, and permitting. With Paces, teams can de-risk decisions, shorten timelines, and get more renewable energy projects built.

We are working on rapidly deployable energy storage and power generation solutions for C&I customers, especially in the AI data center space.

We are crushing roads in need of maintenance, reusing the old road materials, replacing heavy oil with carbon binding lignin. This is both a cheaper, more durable and net carbon negative method, removing ~1.5 tonnes CO2 from the atmosphere from every 100 feet of road. We offer Crushing As A Service (CRAAS) to public and private road owners and refurbishers, and are already gaining international traction. Using satellite imagery, we will monitor road status and potential, and will offer additional tech and bio enhancements to make all roads green and a solution to the climate crisis. We are building the road to a carbon negative future.

AirMyne is building machines to capture & remove carbon dioxide from ambient atmospheric air so it can be utilized or sequestered downstream. Our team is based in Berkeley, CA.

Alga Biosciences is a fast-moving startup focused on transforming the agricultural industry. Our mission is to make an immediate, dramatic impact on global methane emissions produced by enteric fermentation in partnership with the cattle industry. We believe in leveraging biology to tackle the world’s biggest problems.

Phase Biolabs makes carbon negative solvents and electro-fuels from carbon dioxide (CO2) using fermentation. You can read more about what we are building in our Hacker News article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30557288 Phase Biolabs is also supported by Bill Gate's Breakthrough Energy Foundation via their Innovator Fellowship program.

Seabound builds carbon capture equipment for ships. We're the only way for existing ships to reduce up to 95% of CO2 emissions and meet new global regulations.

Impossible mining is building underwater robotics vehicles which collect battery metals from the seabed without harming the environment. We have $500M+ in off-take LoI’s and have signed a partnership with a global offshore logistics company which holds a seabed mining exploration permit. We have also built the 1st PoC underwater robotic arm. Polymetallic nodules are rocks which are rich in critical battery metals. Specially nickel, cobalt, manganese and copper. These metals are the the most expensive part of EVs.

Ferveret develops liquid cooling solutions inspired by nuclear power plant cooling. We save data centers 96% in cooling costs, 68% on capital costs, and reduce their carbon footprint by 40% while increasing chip performance by 2X. Today, about 40% of the electricity used in these facilities is wasted on cooling. Our technology eliminates this wasted energy.

transforming degraded land into high quality environmental assets using end to end operational expertise and precision breeding.

Enerjazz is building a battery swapping network (like gasoline stations) for 2M+ commercial electric vehicles in India. We make batteries affordable for EV owners and enable them to earn 80% more.

The first apparel & footwear Carbon Management Platform.

Heimdal builds machines that permanently capture and store atmospheric CO2. We are building technology that profitably captures CO2 with this tax credit, right here in the United States. Our first deployment is Bantam, the largest DAC facility in the US with the lowest cost per ton anywhere in the world.

Abatable is a carbon offsetting procurement platform which connects companies with carbon project developers of high quality carbon offsets. Abatable facilitates procurement decisions by offering third party quality assessments of projects and by standardizing multi-year purchase agreements and an automated RFP platform. The team has extensive experience advising institutional investors on nature-based carbon removal and impact investment portfolios and is backed by leading investors like YCombinator, BlueBear Capital and Global Founders Capital.

We're building carbon capture for trains and trucks. We generate revenue for railroads and trucking companies by extracting, purifying, and selling CO2 from their exhaust. Our technology can capture up to 90% of the CO2 in the vehicle's exhaust while reducing soot, particulate matter, and NOx. We've partnered with Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, Ryder, and Werner, and raised $117 million from Lowercarbon Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Union Square Ventures, and Y Combinator.

Minimum lets you calculate, report on, and reduce the carbon emissions of your business, whether you're a corporate or an investment fund.

The mining industry drills narrow holes in the ground called drillholes to identify how much gold is in a ground at any spot. These holes are expensive so the industry uses statistical interpolation to predict what's in between these holes. Stratum replaces these traditional methods by utilizing deep learning to better predict both where to best drill and how much gold is in between these holes. This technology is not limited to gold and has been demonstrated to work on other metals, including base metals like copper. Based on Stratum's current pilots, our technology is projected to create ~10M in annual value for the average mine.

We’re building a SaaS tool that enables companies in highly polluting industries to track their supply chain carbon emissions so they can mitigate risks from incoming carbon taxes and government penalties.

EARTH AI is a predictive explorer and driller for critical metal deposits. We discovered 5% of the world’s deposits this year, thanks to our AI with 66% vs 0.5% success rate and Low Disturbance Drilling tech which enables 1/4 cheaper and 4X faster site testing.

Maple Materials, Inc. (Richmond, California) develops a low-cost electrolysis process to split carbon dioxide into graphite and oxygen. Due to several unique features of our production process and product, we have potential to produce battery-grade graphite anode material one-third the cost of current graphite anode materials. When powered by renewables, this process has the potential to be carbon negative.

Valo build modular integrated hydrofoil systems for the worlds boatbuilders, allowing them to create fast, clean and quiet flying vessels that consume 15x less energy.

With Wren, anyone can offset their carbon footprint by supporting credible nature, industry, and policy projects. We also show users how they can reduce their carbon footprint. We make it easy for anyone to turn climate confusion into climate action.

We have created a robotic system for wind turbine blade maintenance. It can perform tasks such as lightning conductivity testing, high-resolution inspection, drainage hole cleaning, cleaning, painting and leading-edge repair.

We build engines that have the potential to slash 33% or worldwide CO2 emissions - cost-effectively. First, we help food and mining companies cut both their heat costs *and* CO2 emissions by replacing gas-fired steam boilers with our proprietary high temperature heat pumps. Our heat pumps make up to 3x more heat with the same amount of electricity, even at up to 1000°F. Once the heat pump market is mature, we will address the seasonal energy storage market. Our storage units are based on the exact same proprietary engine we use for our heat pumps. They work with solar and wind, and replace lithium-ion batteries, fossil-fired power plants, CO2 capture and storage, and fuel procurement, with a cheaper, sustainable and more reliable alternative, which can be sited anywhere. The first opportunity is a high-margin market worth 3% of worldwide CO2. The second is a much bigger market worth 30% of worldwide CO2. By the time all cars become electric, it will be even more. Our key is we are building the first Stirling engine to reach 86% of the Carnot efficiency, compared to 64% for the state of the art. We do all that while significantly decreasing costs, and increasing reliability. Please see Airthium's website for more information.

Combining nanotechnology with fundamental chemical engineering principles to accelerate the renewable energy revolution.

Releaf Earth is a climate tech startup pioneering carbon removal and agricultural solutions leveraging biochar (BCR). Expanding from our roots in food processing technology, we now specialize in producing premium biochar from palm kernel shells. Biochar Carbon Removal (BCR) is a powerful tool for carbon sequestration and a key technology for economic development in Africa. African farmers already experience a 150% global mean temperature rise from a climate crisis they didn’t cause. Releaf's mission is to empower rural communities with improved productivity, crop yields, and a role in achieving Net Zero Emissions.

Solar power is the #1 source of new energy in the world. Raptor Maps is a fast-growing, MIT-born startup that builds software to manage the solar lifecycle. We are deployed across 45 countries and 200+ million solar panels. Our software enables the solar industry to scale. We're headquartered at Greentown Labs, the largest cleantech incubator in the US and also support fully remote employees.

SunFarmer provides affordable solar energy for hospitals, schools, businesses, and farms in developing countries. In many parts of the world, electricity is unavailable, unstable, or extremely expensive. Yet reliable electricity is critical for high quality healthcare, modern education, economic development, and improved agricultural productivity. Learn more at sunfarmer.org

Our technology enables li-ion batteries to charge extremely fast while retaining long cycle life using smart control algorithms.

PowerX AI powered sensors create proprietary data to save corporations 30% or more in energy, water and emissions. 

Glow Energy is a mission-driven company dedicated to making the built environment more sustainable. Our software empowers rental property owners to transform their buildings into Virtual Power Plants that drive sustainability and financial benefits for tenants, property owners, and clean energy infrastructure developers.

Pina Earth is building a suite of digital tools for data collection, monitoring, and certification of forest carbon projects. EU forests are at high risk due to climate change. With Pina Earth, forest owners can start high-quality carbon projects on their properties and use the new income stream to prepare their forests for a changing climate. Pina Earth and Tree.ly recently joined forces to create Europe's leading forest carbon platform: https://tech.eu/2025/07/29/pina-earth-and-treely-merge-to-create-europes-largest-forest-carbon-platform/

Intro to Orbillion Bio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAf21WXxnhw (Slush Nov 2024) Orbillion is making cultivated beef at scale using advanced computational models to rapidly optimize the bioprocess and reduce cost. With Orbillion’s proprietary bioware, they can precisely control the microenvironment that the meat cells need. This supercharges cell growth without the need for GMO, serum, or expensive growth factors, enabling a cost of $4 per kg at commercial scale. Orbillion’s technology addresses the industry's two main challenges: cost and scale-up. Its integrated bioprocess platform allows Orbillion to produce at a commercial level anywhere globally within two weeks in an asset-light fashion. Partnerships with two global food companies of combined $280B revenue, and a European partner have fast-tracked commercialization in the $211B ground beef market. Founders Dr. Patricia Bubner and Samet Yildirim are the only industry founders with scale-up experience in mammalian cells from the biopharma industry. Orbillion is backed by The Venture Collective, Y Combinator, At One Ventures, Venture Souq, and Hub71 among others.

Pachama is a leading climate-tech company harnessing cutting-edge technologies such as computer vision and satellites to drive funding to effective reforestation and conservation projects that sequester carbon, enhance biodiversity and enrich local communities around the world. Through a tech-verified marketplace that counts as customer the likes of Amazon, Airbnb, Netflix and Nespresso, the company drives capital to forests in Brazil, Mexico, India, the USA and beyond. The company is backed by top investors such as Bill Gates' BEV, Chis Sacca's LowerCarbon, Amazon Climate Pledge among others. The company is fully remote and driven by a strong sense of purpose.

Today, water supplies are more scarce than ever before, requiring water utilities to operate more efficiently than anyone thought possible. That’s where we come in. Like water, the flow of data from water utilities is both measurable and manageable. Valor helps utilities transform complicated data into simple solutions that can make a big difference. Some call it advanced water utility analytics. We call it all in a day’s work.