Tag: Sustainability

Sustainable investments – good for the climate and you.

Sustainable investments – good for the climate and you.

At MEGATREND INVEST sustainability is essential in all of our investments. We only make sustainable investments, and there are several reasons for this. For example, a sustainable index from MSCI (Select Reduced Fossil Fuels) has had a 30% better return since 2012 compared to the corresponding non-sustainable index. Also, sustainable investments support a better climate and a better future for all of us. You thus help both the environment and your investment portfolio.

Heyfunding have talked to Steen and Mathias from MEGA about problems, startups, investors, etc. in the context of sustainable investment. Below you will find an excerpt from the interview.

The problem with sustainable investments.

“The problem when you start talking about sustainable investment is the question – what is sustainability? It differs from person to person and culture to culture. The term is often used and sometimes misused. A funny example, an acquaintance once saw at a trade fair in Asia, was a company that had produced a mug in clay, which they advertised as sustainable. When asked why it was sustainable, they replied, “yes, it’s because you can wash it up and use it again”, says Steen.

“For us, sustainability is about making a positive impression on the climate, the environment, the globe, people, etc., and that is what we at MEGATREND INVEST mean when we talk about sustainability. Our investments must support the future – in other words: We invest in the companies we do not want the future to miss.”

“But sustainability can be challenging to measure, precisely because the perception of the concept varies. For example. How do you report that we save so much CO2 and compare it to another company that saves so many children? It’s hard to line up the two.

Let me give you a quick example:

  • Sustainable business 1 produces food from insects. They save water because less water is used for 1 kg of protein from insects than for 1 kg of protein from animals.
  • Sustainable company 2 is a medical company. Among other things, they save patients because their product can better cure diseases.

Both companies have been put in the same category – namely “sustainable companies”, but how the hell can we compare and measure them the same? “

How do we solve this?

“So there is a gap in the market for how we measure sustainability. We can easily dive into each case and find some numbers that show that they make a difference on different parameters. Still, as soon as we compare several different sustainable companies and put an amount on their value, we are challenged. Especially because the number of cases we can compare with each other is still relatively low.

Because it is difficult to compare sustainability across different cases, we ensure that sustainability is in focus through other means. At MEGATREND INVEST, we demand companies themselves have relevant KPIs within sustainability. They must have thought of a sustainable life cycle and a sustainable design in their business and products and show relevant KPIs based on this. “

What challenges do most start-ups aim to solve?

What challenges do startups aim to solve?

Society as a driver for change.

The issues that take up society’s interest most is naturally often depicted in startups. Fortunately, we’ve seen an increased interest in alternative investment, specifically sustainable investment, in recent times. The focus on SDG’s is a clear sign of this. At MEGATREND INVEST, we hope this trend will develop into investment in startups as well. This could give people even more influence to shape the (hopefully sustainable) future they want.

Rainmaking.io has made an excellent overview of which SDG’s startups focus on. They have mapped over 2000 startups from across the world in an interactive compass. All the companies address challenges in at least one sustainable development goal (SDG) and are represented as a dot on the compass. The compass offers a unique insight into which challenges and SDG’s the startups choose to solve, in an easily viewable way.

Climate change is a clear inspiration for startups.

SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy – has the highest number of startups with 26% or 562 startups. It’s clear that this issue has a societal will to be solved. Climate change and renewable energy have gotten a renewed focus over the last years, and this is clearly reflected in the number of startups that focus on SDG7. This is further underlined by SDG13 (Climate Action), taking first place in the highest average funding per startup (£90,55M). As sustainability is one of our nine megatrends, we are happy to see work being put into making better, cleaner, and more affordable energy sources. It’s essential for all of our futures.
The most active startup region is the Nordics, with 719 startups, and we think that’s great!

Investment in startups with a sustainable focus.

MEGATREND INVEST makes it accessible to invest in startups. Through our focus on nine megatrends, we offer an alternative and sustainable investment. There is no need to become your own angel investor when you can let us do the hard work.

View the SDG compass here.

Sustainable food of the future

Sustainable food of the future.

Much of the protein we consume comes from meat, fish and poultry, but there is a far more sustainable alternative – insects.

A sustainable alternative

Insects not only have many nutritional benefits. They also have a climate effect similar to that of plants. According to FAO the cost conversion rate for crickets is very high, which means that for the same amount of protein 12 times less feed is needed than for cattle. In addition, there is a much smaller need for water, because around 20,000 liters of water is needed to produce 1 kg of beef, but only 1 liter is needed to produce 1 kg of crickets – and they require very little space.

Superfood

Edible insects are a superfood and an excellent source of quality protein – up to 80%. They also contain a variety of vitamins and minerals such as iron, vitamin B12, zinc and magnesium, which can be difficult to cover through a vegetarian diet. The UN has designated it as the food of the future, and the insect food market is also expected to increase significantly in the coming years.

In our part of the world, many of us have only experienced it indirectly and probably completely without knowing it. There are astonishingly many insects in orange juice, ketchup and coffee, and certain dyes are also based on special insects.

However, eating insects is by no means new. Up to 2 billion people around the world eat insects every day and it is so common that it includes 1900 insect species eaten by 80% of the world’s nations. In many cultures it is seen as a delicacy, and back in time cicadas used to be a bit of a luxury snack. The company Wholi Foods has already introduced insects as snacks here in Denmark.

Burgers based on insects

Wholi Foods` mission is precisely to integrate insects into food because they are both nutritious and sustainable to produce. In addition to initially being a variety of insect snacks, protein bars and crispbreads, they have now also started manufacturing a product based on insect flour that can be used as a meat alternative.

MEGATREND INVEST, which has been financing the start-up of Wholi, recently went into the kitchen and tried out the new meat product Manna to make traditional burgers. Everyone agreed that it was a really good alternative to the well-known beef.

Want to try it, you can read more at www.wholifoods.com

Bringing Safe and Affordable Drinking Water to the World

Alternative investments

SolarSack – Simple yet Impactful Innovation

2.2 billion people don’t have access to safe drinking water. They get their water from unsafe sources such as springs, wells, or water posts and store it in hazardous containers – increasing the risk of contamination.

This results in increased illnesses such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid, which results in increased medical expenses as well as sickness and death.

Today attempts to clean the water are done through boiling on indoor stoves that use coal or wood, causing severe health issues. Further, this also contributes to deforestation.

SolarSack is a household water purification system that is easy to use and can provide safe drinking water for two people for a full year. It kills harmful bacteria and viruses, ensuring that the water is safe to drink.

Fill the sack, put it in the sun, and when the water is ready, an indicative smiley face will tell you when it’s ready to drink. You’ll have 4 liters of clean water in 4 hours. Simple and effective.

Each sack costs 2$ to produce, making it 30 times cheaper than charcoal. Exchanging the charcoal for a SolarSack also saves 500kg of CO2 and two trees.

Water scarcity

Water Scarcity

We may take access to clean water for granted in our part of the world, but water scarcity is a huge
issue in the global community today. Half of the global population is experiencing severe water
scarcity at least one month a year and the problem isn’t getting smaller. Every 2 minutes a child dies
from a water related disease. In MEGATREND INVEST, health is one of our selected megatrends and
health and clean water goes hand in hand. This is the reason why we invested in SolarSack and their
innovative solution to help getting safe drinking water at an affordable price for everyone.