Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland and Nova by Saint-Gobain step up their climate tech start-up support in the UK through new partnership with London Greencity
Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland is aiming to transform its support, collaboration and investment in the UK’s most promising climate-tech start-ups by revealing a new strategic partnership as one of the early sponsors of London GreenCity (LGC), the UK’s first development-stage accelerator for climate tech entrepreneurs.
This initiative is co-sponsored by NOVA by Saint-Gobain, the Group’s external venture arm, whose international experience in climate tech ecosystems reinforces the Group’s commitment to innovation.
The aim of this new partnership is to rapidly accelerate the commercial development of new technologies that can aid the transition to a lower carbon economy and speed-up the decarbonisation and sustainability of Saint-Gobain’s operational activity in the UK.
London GreenCity uses its expertise to support seed-or later-stage ventures in a variety of sectors, including the built environment and construction materials, clean power generation, the grid and storage, as well as CO2 efficient industrial processes. Its London-based campus offers early-stage climate tech ventures the facilities and tools for the rapid development of their product offerings, supported by London GreenCity’s memorandums of understanding (MOU) with some of the UK’s leading universities, and an alliance with the Earthshot Prize as an Official Nominator.
LONG-STANDING START-UP INVESTMENT AND COLLABORATION
This new partnership between LGC and Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland builds on Saint-Gobain’s track-record of collaboration with start-up technologies and entrepreneurs which includes more than 600 start-up partnerships and a portfolio of more than 50 early-stage technology investments since 2006. This partnership has been shaped through a close collaboration between Saint-Gobain’s UK & Ireland New Ventures Team and NOVA by Saint-Gobain’ deep expertise in building innovation ecosystems, actively connecting start-ups, academic institutions, and industrial partners across geographies.
Earlier this year Saint-Gobain UK announced a strategic partnership with Manchester based, Vector Labs, to pursue the potential for nano-technologies to transform Saint-Gobain’s construction materials.
Mike Chaldecott, CEO of Saint-Gobain in the UK & Ireland said:
“Innovation and Sustainability are right at the heart of our business model. Working with LGC as one of their earliest partners gives us the chance to use our experience of engaging with start-up incubators to develop exciting new partnerships that could have huge potential to transform the way we do things and take us forward faster in our sustainability journey.”
“I would urge any entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses connected with the construction, built environment, energy transition and decarbonisation agenda to connect with LGC and explore the opportunities for collaboration. The scale of the challenge we face can only be tackled with a mindset shift in collaboration in our sector and we aim to be at the fore of that shift.”
Laith Anezi, Co-Founder and General Partner of London GreenCity, added:
“We are delighted to engage with Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland in this great alliance. Saint-Gobain’s support of LGC enables us to expand our work as the leading development-stage climate tech accelerator in the UK. It is also a clear statement of Saint-Gobain’s commitment and leadership in sustainability and a powerful step towards driving the global clean energy transition. We look forward to working together to make a difference that will resonate for generations to come.”
To get in touch with Saint-Gobain’s lead contact for New-Ventures and Start-up’s in the UK & Ireland, companies you can contact Andrea Davis – via [email protected]