These two Dutch companies are among the 2024 cleantech firms to watch

By Mauro Mereu

Two Dutch companies are listed in the 2024 Global Cleantech 100, a roster of innovative businesses to watch during the year. Cultivated meat company Mosa Meat and intelligent energy management system Sensorfact made it to the index. 

The Cleantech Group is a research company offering its clients insight into the sector. Among its activities, the consulting firm also publishes rankings and yearly compiles a list of companies active within the cleantech realm, with the Global Cleantech 100 being a barometer of eco-innovation. A jury of experts weighed and assessed the nominees, then compiled the list, which contains companies the market agrees are positioned to make a significant impact in the upcoming five to ten years. 

The research institute divided the list into five categories: agriculture and food, energy and power, materials and chemicals, resources and environment, transportation and logistics. Mosa Meat made it to the first group, and Sensorfact to the second one. What do these companies do,  and what’s so special about them?

The first-ever cultivated burger 

Mark Post and  Peter Verstrate – an expert in tissue engineering and food technician, respectively – made headlines for being the first scientists worldwide to present a cultivated meat proof of concept in 2013. They founded Mosa Meat three years later, which is now at the forefront of cultivated meat developments. 

The Maastricht-based food-tech firm harnesses the same growing processes behind the growth of muscles in cows. By taking samples as big as a sesame seed, it claims that it can produce as many as 80,000 burgers. Once extracted, the cells are nurtured in a lab until they reach full maturity, becoming muscle and fat like inside a cow. 

Soon-to-be-served burgers 

Given the validity of its technology, Mosa Meat attracted several international backers. The first cultured burger was paid for by Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin, who stepped in as an early financier.  Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio also invested money in the Dutch company in 2021. The company completed a $85 million funding round in the same year. Mosa Meat expects to serve the first burgers this year. Last May, the company opened a pilot factory for cultivated burgers on Maastricht’s Brightlands Health Campus, moving faster toward market introduction.

With many authorization processes to undergo, the company expected to serve the first burgers in Singapore by 2024. With European approval expected to take longer, the now 160-people company still aims to serve its products worldwide.

First Mosa Meat cultured hamburgers to be served in a year, in Singapore

With the opening of a new pilot factory for cultured burgers on the edge of the Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus, Mosa Meat is taking an important step toward market introduction.

Reducing energy waste

Hailing from Utrecht, Sensorfact developed a smart platform for industry manufacturers to monitor energy consumption insights, helping them to reduce their environmental footprint. The company offers its customers a solution that includes smart sensors and advanced software to get an overview of real-time power usage, aiming to eliminate industrial energy waste. Leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Sensorfact claims to have saved over 124 GWh of power. 

In addition to electricity, gas, and water management, the company also assists manufacturers in improving their resource efficiency. The platform can now be set to sense humidity and temperature or detect machine wear to implement predictive maintenance. As in the case of energy management, recorded data then goes to the dedicated software, where users can consult it. Furthermore, factory managers can also decide to receive dedicated alerts when a given threshold is exceeded, for instance. 

Founded by former energy consultant Pieter Broekema in 2016, Sensorfact is now present in over forty countries worldwide, employs over two hundred people, and has over 1600 customers. In addition to its Dutch branch, the company has offices in Germany and Spain. In June 2023, the company raised €25 million in funding, targeting global expansion and optimizing the existing technology while expanding its range of services. 

No watt to waste – innovations that help optimize energy use

Not all the energy that we pay for is actually used. There are a few reasons for this – depending on the context – ranging from ill-adapted technologies to mere negligence. Poorly insulated buildings or hot water generated by an industrial process are both examples of wasted energy.

Keep an eye on them

For Mosa Meat, this year is the third appearance in a row in the Global Cleantech 100, marking an established position within its market segment. It is the first time Sensorfact has made it to the list. Both of them will keep working to fulfill their missions to have a tangible impact on the world.