Blue Earth backs ten winners with GBP £1m investment

Blue Earth has selected ten BE100 winners for at least £1 million in combined investment. Each will receive at least £100,000 from BE100 Fund II, which Blue Earth manages with Haatch.

The winners were chosen from 1,414 applicants across ten industries. Together, they are seeking £27.8 million to support growth.

The selected businesses include Oxford-based Odqa, which develops solar heat systems for industry, and Amsterdam-based VNYX, which uses robotics and artificial intelligence to prepare clothing for resale. Another winner, Lir Labs, tracks the microbes involved in wastewater treatment, while Genomate Health helps oncologists identify and rank targeted cancer treatments using a tumour's molecular profile.

Other winners are Capture6, OkHi, Converge, Novi Innovations and Ontra Mobility. The programme expanded from three winners last year to ten this year.

Broader push

The investment scheme is part of Blue Earth's effort to back companies working on industrial heat, water recovery, cancer treatment decisions and financial access. It is intended to help attract further capital from other backers.

The selection process involved 40 judges from venture capital and industry, with at least four reviewing applications in each category. Representatives from Founders Factory, Future Planet Capital and The Mills Fabrica were among those on the panel.

Judges assessed commercial viability, positive impact, innovation, team strength and competitive position through applications, pitch decks and short live presentations. One winner was selected in each of the ten industries.

One of last year's winners, Low Carbon Materials, has moved beyond trials into repeat use, according to Blue Earth. Contractor Kenson Highways returned to the company's carbon-storing aggregate for another road project after an initial trial in 2024.

Founder reaction

Genomate Health said the award could expand access to its cancer care work.

"The most exciting thing about this win is what it could mean for a patient who has never heard of Genomate. We've spent years building technology that helps doctors choose the right targeted therapy for each patient, based on the unique combination of mutations driving their tumor," said Dr Istvan Petak, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Genomate Health.

Blue Earth's leadership said it wants the fund to play a supporting role in larger funding rounds rather than lead them.

"These companies give us a picture of how differently the world could work. We want the businesses solving these problems to become the businesses that lead their industries.

"We're never going to be the biggest cheque in their cap table, but we want to be catalytic. We want our investment to help bring other investors on board, and our network to help these businesses reach customers. The founders are doing the hard work. Our job is to give them the best possible chance of changing their industries," said Guy Hayler, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Blue Earth.

For VNYX, the selection marks an early endorsement for a business that is only a year old.

"For a scale-up that is just a year old, winning at Blue Earth from more than 1,400 applications means the world to us. Blue Earth's investment and network will help us achieve our goal of making resale profitable, faster and at greater scale," said Vincent van der Holst, Co-Founder and CEO at VNYX.