Five pitches. One winner. You decide.

Welcome to Climate Tech Startups to Watch, Trellis’s fast-pitch competition featuring the most promising early-stage startups in climate tech this year. 

This virtual pitch will feature five entrepreneurs pitching cutting-edge material innovations — from next-generation battery and energy storage materials to critical mineral recovery, sustainable polymers, and smart building coatings.

Each founder will field questions from leading industry experts, setting the stage for a live conversation about where material innovation is headed and what it takes to scale.

You can help choose the winner. Cast your vote to send one startup to the in-person finals at Trellis Impact 26 on June 24 in San Francisco where it will compete for the title of Trellis’s 2026 Climate Tech Startup of the Year.

Entrepreneurs:

• Next-gen battery materials: Matthew Dawson, Elementium Materials Inc
• Industrial waste to useful chemicals: Bilen Aküzüm, Co-Founder & CTO, Aepnus Technology
• Plastic performance and bio-assimilation: Sumathi Pakki, CSO, Smart Plastic Technologies
• Recovers critical minerals from industrial waste: Alexa Schmitz, Co-Founder & CEO, REEgen
• Smart thermal coatings: Matthew Aguayo, Co-Founder & CEO, EnKoat

Industry Experts:

• Elizabeth Blankenship-Singh, Investor, Overlay Capital
• Lee Larson, Investor, Piva Capital

Moderator:

• Jake Mitchell, Director of Climate Tech Innovation, Trellis Group