SET Awards spotlight top five energy and climate start-ups of 2025
Representatives of the five SET winners.
The German Energy Agency (dena) has announced the winners of the international Start-Up Energy Transition awards.
The five winning start-ups were unveiled at a gala event in Berlin on the evening of 18 March and the following day got to present an elevator pitch of their projects to the audience at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD).
Each won €10,000 ($10,900) to support their ventures. All have proved their technologies and are now at the ready-to-scale stage.
By category, this year’s SET Award winners are:
Cowa develops compact thermal storage using phase-change materials, five times smaller than water-based systems. Targeting Europe’s growing heat pump market, Cowa enhances renewable energy integration and urban energy efficiency.
- Mobility & Transportation: Nyobolt, United Kingdom
Nyobolt pioneers ultra-fast charging batteries with longer life cycles and reduced reliance on critical materials. Its technology powers high-performance EVs and fuel cells, making electrification more sustainable.
Cyclize converts plastic waste and CO₂ into syngas using a patented plasma reactor, replacing natural gas. This innovative solution reduces plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, promoting a circular and sustainable chemical industry.
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Baerbock hails historic German fiscal package as renewable energy milestone
WEC’s Wilkinson warns Europe to not develop global ‘blind spot’ because of Trump
- Buildings & Construction: Concular, Germany
Concular digitises the reuse of building materials, increasing reuse rates from 1% to 80%. By assessing buildings before demolition, Concular drives circularity in construction, saving costs and reducing waste.
- Quality Energy Access & SDG-7: Koolboks, France
Koolboks provides off-grid, solar-powered refrigerators with ice battery technology, ensuring 24/7 cooling. Its Pay-As-You-Go model makes sustainable refrigeration accessible for African businesses and communities.
Supporting start-ups
SET is a global innovation platform established in 2016 by the dena with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
The initiative identifies leading start-ups in the fields of energy transition and climate protection, connecting them with companies, investors, and fellow start-ups.
The SET platform is built on three main pillars: the SET Award, the SET Tech Festival, and the SET Newsroom. With over 3,900 applications from start-ups in more than 100 countries and a network of over 50 global partners, SET brings together international start-up expertise and continues to grow successfully as an innovation network in the energy sector.
Corinna Enders, Chair of dena’s Management Board, emphasised the importance of the SET Award: “This award not only recognises outstanding innovations but also actively advances the transformation of our energy system.
“By supporting visionary start-ups, we are sending a clear signal about the urgency of the energy transition and encouraging the industry to continue developing sustainable solutions. Congratulations to all the winners for their exceptional contributions.”
Opening the SET Tech Festival, Angela Wilkinson, secretary-general of the World Energy Council, said it was significant just how many of the SET Award finalists “are ready to scale: these are tangible start-ups – they are not hypothetical”.
She said innovation was one of the pillars of the energy transition, a sentiment echoed by Oscar del Castillo of Elia Group: “We need more start-ups because we need more out-of-the-box thinking.”
Originally published on Enlit World.
