Skip to the main content
Menu

ECCI-supported start-up Quoin wins ClimateLaunchpad European final

ECCI-backed start-up Quoin have triumphed in Europe, pitching their way to the 2020 Global Grand Final of ClimateLaunchpad - the world’s biggest green ideas competition.

Quoin will join budding green businesses from 50+ countries worldwide at the Global Grand Final (taking place online from 30 September – 2 October), with a chance to pitch for €10,000 and a place on the renowned EIT Climate-KIC Accelerator.

Quoin are on a mission to end the housing crisis by offering first time buyers a new way to make homeownership both affordable and environmentally sustainable. Quoin's Edinburgh based team are: Federico Moro, co-founder and CMO; Richard Murphy, co-founder and CEO; Supraja Balasundaram, co-founder and CTO; Alexander Koveleski, co-founder and CFO; Alexandra Filimon, co-founder and CCO.

Co-founder Federico Moro said: "Secure housing is a fundamental human need, but people have struggled with decades of stagnation in the housing market, forced to buy houses that are inefficient and increasingly unaffordable.

"Quoin builds carbon neutral homes and offers them to first time buyers through unique financial services."

Quoin were joined in the European final by fellow Scotland hopefuls Lenz & ReturnToNature - joint winners overall from the Scotland heat. Each start-up took part in an online Boot Camp and coaching sessions to prepare them for the finals, where they learned to fast track their idea into a business, overcome challenges and secure funding.

Will Brown, founder of ReturnToNature said: "Participating in ClimateLaunchpad was a fantastic opportunity to get lots of clever brains looking at and helping me improve my business model and pitch – whilst meeting some lovely people I will keep in contact with for the future!

"With all that, I am now in conversation with a variety of landowners to host a pilot of this radically regenerative burial business."

Results

The eight finalists representing Europe at the 2020 Global Grand Final will be Klimate, Quoin, ChargeBnB, Skosh AB, Aquammodate, ShadeMe, MycoFiltro, Synthesea. Prizes included:

  • The Audience Award: Klimate (Denmark)
  • Third prize: Synthesea (England)
  • Second prize: Skosh (Sweden)
  • Overall European winner: Quoin (Scotland)

Quoin co-founder Federico Moro said: “It has been a great achievement winning the Euro final! When our name appeared on the screen we were all speechless but very excited to see several months of hard work had paid off!  

“ECCI and all our advisors have been extremely supportive throughout this journey and we now look forward to presenting our concept at the Global Final!" Quoin co-founder Federico Moro

Impact Award

Quoin won't be the only Scotland-based start-up at the ClimateLaunchpad 2020 Global Grand Final. Former ECCI-backed 2017 ClimateLaunchpad finalist UFraction8 have been awarded the prestigious Impact Award, which rewards top-performing ClimateLaunchpad alumni in areas of revenue, number of FTE, funding, climate & social impact.

Led by CEO Monika Tomecka, UFraction8 will have the opportunity to present their company in front of cleantech investors during a special online ‘Dealstream’ hosted by the Climate-KIC Investor Marketplace at the final.

ClimateLaunchpad at ECCI

ClimateLaunchpad is delivered by ECCI in partnership with EIT Climate-KIC, alongside ECCI’s three-stage programme for low carbon entrepreneurs and start-ups in the UK - the EIT Climate-KIC Accelerator. Since launching in 2017 ECCI's Accelerator businesses have secured more than £2.5m worth of investments and won more than 70 awards.

In 2018 ECCI hosted the Global Grand Final of ClimateLaunchpad in Edinburgh for the first time, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon giving the keynote address. ECCI-supported start-up Crover beat off stiff competition from hundreds of competitors to bag third place, becoming the top performing Scottish team in the competition ever.

Sign up to ECCI's newsletter and follow us on Twitter to find out when applications for ClimateLaunchpad and EIT Climate-KIC Accelerator open again in 2020/21.

Keep up with all the action

Each year the ClimateLaunchpad Global Grand Final presents the world’s crème de la crème of green start-ups. This year the event take place online: accessible to all and unconstrained by time, space, travel or CO2.