Greentown Labs, a leading Climate Tech incubator, has named Cemvita the Climate Impact Startup of the Year. This recognition, announced during Houston's inaugural Climate & Energy Startup Week, highlights Cemvita's longstanding record in enabling sustainable development and leading with impact.
Greentown Labs cited Cemvita's market readiness, demonstrated innovation, growth, and leadership as factors behind its determination. In accepting the award, Tara Karimi, Cemvita's co-founder and Chief Science Officer, highlighted Houston's growing impact in enabling such climate innovations. "Houston has all of the elements for this moment because it is the hub for the energy industry," she said.
Founded in 2017 by siblings Moji Karimi and Tara Karimi, Ph.D., Cemvita has been at the forefront of utilizing biology for impactful environmental solutions. By utilizing bespoke microbes that naturally convert waste carbons to a palm-like oil alternative, Cemvita is decarbonizing heavy industries. Leveraging strong partnerships with Oxy and United Airlines, Cemvita's sustainable oil will be a drop-in feedstock for producing sustainable aviation fuels, among other mass-market products.
Cemvita is charting along an accelerated timeline as a result of major breakthroughs in the productivity of Cemvita's innovative microbial waste-to-oil process. Cemvita is projecting to produce up to 500 barrels per day of sustainable oil in its first-of-a-kind production facility. Cemvita's achievements are a testament to the potential of biology in creating sustainable and scalable solutions for our planet's most pressing environmental challenges.
Greentown Labs is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that catalyzes climate solutions through entrepreneurship, partnership, and collaboration. Cemvita is a longstanding member of Greentown Labs and an alumnus of its first Carbon to Value Program cohort. The program supports the commercialization of technologies that utilize carbon into valuable end products.