Five for the Future
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Five for the Future

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As an investor, how can you be sure you're backing the firms that have what it takes to turn a vision of the future into a business reality - with returns to match?  


The Sustainable Times Startup Investment Summit will take place on 1st October at London’s Plaisterers’ Hall, bringing together leading voices from the sustainable startup, scaleup, and investment community. The event will feature five scaleups pitching their ventures to an audience of investors, alongside two expert panels, led by specialists from law firm Mishcon de Reya and veteran technology investor Patrick Aisher of Kinled. 



The evening is designed to provide valuable guidance on identifying and investing in high-potential businesses building the solutions that will deliver a sustainable future. 


Below is a closer look at each of the companies pitching. 


O-Hx 


Sector: Industrial cooling, Energy


The O-Hx EnergiVault is a patented high-density thermal battery designed to store and rapidly release cooling power for industrial-scale applications. The technology is already being utilised at three sites including a vertical farming facility in Dundee and a pharmaceutical plant in Cramlington in Northumberland, as well as in discussion with the National Health Service.


Industrial cooling systems are traditionally inefficient, carbon-intensive, expensive to operate, and limited by their reliance on the grid, with little ability to load-shift or integrate renewable energy, which drives up both emissions and costs. 


The EnergiVault, developed by O-Hx, addresses these challenges with a modular, plug-and-play thermal battery that uses binary ice and advanced optimisation software to deliver high-performance, low-carbon, low-cost industrial cooling. Its unique selling points include binary ice technology for ultra-fast, flexible energy discharge, a modular design that can be scaled and adapted to different sites, and integrated charge/discharge analytics with system optimisation through a SaaS platform. This allows operators to maximise efficiency while seamlessly incorporating on-site renewables like solar PV, thereby enhancing sustainability. 


Offering a payback period of under two years and an average annual CO₂ reduction of 117 tonnes per site, the system provides both significant financial returns and environmental benefits. They already have customers in the 


2Curex 


Sector: Biotechnology, Medtech


2Curex was founded in 2006 in Copenhagen and they are committed to bringing new medical technologies to the market. They now operate in 20 countries across Europe. 


They address one of the most critical gaps in oncology, the lack of personalised data to predict which cancer treatment will actually work for each individual patient. Currently, 75% of cancer drugs fail due to ineffective treatment matching. Patients endure side effects, and healthcare systems waste billions. IndiTreat provides actionable, lab-tested, patient-specific data to guide oncologists in choosing the most effective treatment from the start, significantly improving patient outcomes.


The company's CE-marked IndiTreat technology grows 3D replicas of a patient's tumour in the lab, then exposes these mini-tumours to a panel of drugs to test for treatment efficacy. Within 7–10 days, IndiTreat delivers personalised recommendations based on the biological response, helping oncologists select the treatment with the highest likelihood of success. Therefore, bypassing guesswork and reducing reliance on bioinformatics.



Sector: Energy storage, Clean Technology


Levistor began in 2021 after decades of research into energy storage. They have developed an energy storage solution which offers high power and high cycling, without degradation or safety risks. 


Modern power applications such as AI data centres, ultra-rapid EV charging, and rail traction systems generate sudden, multi-megawatt spikes on the grid multiple times per day. Current solutions, grid upgrades or battery storage, are costly, inefficient, slow to implement, and unsustainable. These spikes risk grid destabilisation, failures, and outages.


Levistor's patented CycloCell is a compact flywheel energy storage system, offering 2–4 MW per 20-foot container. Unlike lithium-ion batteries, it delivers over one million charge cycles with no degradation, a 20-year lifespan, and full recyclability. Its shatterproof steel design enhances safety, while fire resistance and temperature tolerance ensure reliability. Optimised for high-cycling applications, CycloCell provides a cost-effective, sustainable alternative to batteries, with AC/DC output and patent-protected designs for scalable deployment.



Sector: Beauty, natural cosmetics


Le Rouge Francais is a Paris-based beauty startup, pioneering sustainable pigments for cosmetics. Founded in 2020 by Elodie Carpenties and Salem Ghezaili, it was born of a desire to maximise use of organic ingredients whilst meeting premium market standards. Their unique IP portfolio (12 patents, 6 granted, 6 pending) and proprietary know-how in plant extraction processes provide strong differentiation against petrochemical dyes. The company is expanding through international distribution partnerships, premium retail, and D2C channels, while preparing for B2B licensing opportunities with major global corporations. 


Beyond its consumer growth, early B2B corporate interest provides additional growth options. Backed by an experienced team with expertise in both cosmetics and biotech scaling, Le Rouge Français is well-positioned to deliver sustainable growth and value for investors.



Sector: Alternative Farming, Insect Protein


Entocycle is a UK-based insect technology company that develops systems to turn food waste into sustainable protein. Founded in 2016 by Kieran Whitaker, the company focuses on farming black soldier fly larvae, which can transform organic byproducts such as brewer’s grains, coffee grounds, and vegetable waste into high-value protein and oils for use in animal feed and pet food, as well as organic fertiliser. 


What sets Entocycle apart is its emphasis on automation and precision agri-tech. Its hardware and software solutions, such as the ‘Entosight Neo’, monitor, count, and optimise insect populations, making large-scale insect farming more efficient. Beyond technology, Entocycle offers end-to-end farm design and build services, covering permitting, breeding, nursery, and production infrastructure. By creating a circular system that reduces reliance on unsustainable protein sources like soy and fishmeal, the company addresses both food waste and the urgent need for alternative proteins. Backed by investors through a Series A round, Entocycle is positioning itself as a leader in scaling insect agriculture to meet growing global demand for sustainable food systems.


Investors can click on the link for the few remaining tickets. 








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