6 Awesome Green Startups You Should Know About

Unicorn Hunt
A Field Guide to Unicorns
6 min readMay 20, 2021

When you work at one of these green startups, you and your team can put the health of the planet and its people above profits (and still crush it!).

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The founders and teams behind the most popular green startups all share a common mission: to clean up and protect the environment while helping people lead happier, healthier lives.

And with goals like that, it’s no wonder these green startups have secured the funding and fans to make their dreams a reality.

But they could always use more teammates who believe in their company and want to make their time on the clock matter.

So if you’d rather not work for a faceless, soulless corporation, keep these green startups on your list when looking for startup jobs across the globe.

6 Awesome Green Startups You Should Know About

These six green startups are paving the way for a better today and a brighter future, and making it look easy along the way:

1. Ev.energy

Ev.energy offers a greener, cheaper, and simpler way for people to charge their electric vehicles at home.

Their cloud-based platform optimizes exactly when someone’s vehicle should be charged. By scheduling during this optimal window, homeowners avoid using energy during peak times when it’s not only the most in-demand, but also the most expensive.

Thanks to their solutions, Ev.energy has saved their customers £150 per year in electricity expenses. They’ve even saved over 26 tons of CO2, which is equivalent to what would be spent during a short-haul flight (amazing, right?!).

Ev.energy also provides solutions to minimize load congestion for EV retailers, manufacturers, charge point operators, grid and network distributors, and more. So if you have experience in all things EV, this green startup is for you.

The best news? Ev.energy is a Certified B Corporation, which means they put their environmental and social impact over profits.

2. JustPark

How many times have you been forced to drive around the block on a seemingly endless hunt for a parking space?

JustPark is tackling this annoying frustration with a more sustainable option. Their app connects people to a whopping 150,000 parking spaces that go unused each day.

So rather than spending 10 minutes driving around, wasting time, and unnecessarily burning fuel, you can log into an open parking space by location or schedule a time and place to leave your vehicle while you have fun.

Have a parking spot you’re not using during the day or while you’re on holiday? JustPark lets homeowners earn revenue on their unused parking spaces, so their users have even more options.

It’s a true win-win for everyone and the environment.

3. Unpackaged

Back in 2006, Unpackaged founder Catherine Conway became an early advocate of the Zero Waste Movement.

She pioneered a green startup that would help businesses eliminate unnecessary product packaging, help consumers reuse and refill, and spearhead policy change to make this mission the norm.

Fast-forward to 2021, and the Unpackaged team has successfully reduced packaging materials throughout the supply chain, drastically lowered waste ending up in landfills and incinerators, and helped decrease CO2 emissions.

Unpackaged also teaches consumers how to slash their food waste, learn how to buy more sustainably, and spread their conservation efforts.

Join their team, and you’ll focus on preserving the health of the planet today and for future generations to come.

4. OLIO

Ever buy too many bananas than you can eat before they spoil? Did you catch a too-good-to-be-true sale on your favorite food, but need to leave town unexpectedly?

OLIO has your back.

This super-popular green startup strives to reduce food waste and help save the planet by rescuing your extras.

Their app connects neighbors and communities to facilitate the exchange of food and other household items. With their help, you’ll never have to throw away good food or other perfectly good items ever again!

Since launching, OLIO users have shared over 20,682,411 portions of food and 3,090,192,116 litres of water, according to their website.

The team at OLIO also helps businesses use a zero food waste model, which is allowing them to make an even bigger impact on their mission as a result.

5. Cervest

Some people think data is beautiful. Others believe it should be useful. And the team at Cervest says it can be both.

This green startup created an on-demand climate intelligence tool that helps businesses understand how their assets will be affected by current and future climate events.

Their intelligent, real-time data helps preserve natural resources, prevent overutilization, and shows businesses how to use only what’s needed.

Providing users with this intel early on and often allows businesses to plan ahead instead of wasting resources or cleaning up large messes after the fact. So Cervest-aided companies can then make more informed decisions that limit their climate risk and impact to protect the environment and their assets simultaneously.

6. Innocent Drinks

Innocent Drinks is a line of healthy beverages like smoothies, juices, and dairy-free milk alternatives. The team’s mission is to support local communities, build healthy drink options packed with nature’s goodness, and protect the planet while doing so.

Innocent Drinks is incredibly particular about where they source their ingredients. For example, the company only buys:

  • Strawberries from a farm that saves water
  • Apples from farmers who also build bee hotels
  • Coconuts from small, independent growers hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic

Innocent Drinks donates 10% of its profits to charity. And they have a goal to be carbon neutral by 2030 (if not sooner!). So far, Innocent Drinks has halved the amount of carbon in their bottles and continues to make them with sustainable and locally sourced materials.

But that should be expected from “the world’s most sustainable healthy drink factory.” Based in Rotterdam, the Innocent Drinks factory was strategically built to shave off miles from their production transportation. You’ll find wind turbines, solar panels, and other strategies for reducing their energy needs here too (by reusing heat, for example).

As if this green startup wasn’t doing enough, they’re also part of B Corps, which is the movement we mentioned earlier that holds businesses to more responsible and sustainable standards.

Ready To Apply To the Best Green Startups?

After reading this guide, it’s clear that you can find plenty of great green startups leading the way to a better today and a cleaner, greener future. Feeling inspired to join their cause?

Though we only highlighted a small sample of green startups, there are so many more making incredible leaps and powerful headway on similar missions.

That’s why you should check Unicorn Hunt daily for new startup jobs! You never know when you’ll come across a green startup with a cause you can get behind and feel excited to be part of.

Our hats go off to these green startups, and we hope to see more businesses just like them in the near future!

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