ARCA Wins Startup of the Year in Foresight’s BC Cleantech Awards

We’re proud to celebrate ARCA, an alumni venture from entrepreneurship@UBC’s HATCH Venture Builder, Climate Venture Studio, and Social Venture Studio who have won this year’s Startup of the Year in Foresight’s BC Cleantech Awards. This award is a huge testament to the incredible work that the whole ARCA team has put into supporting cleantech and BC’s green economy. This prestigious award comes right after ARCA was awarded as being 1 of Canada's 50 Most Investible Cleantech Ventures by Foresight Canada in late 2023.

ARCA is working to stop - and reverse - climate change by capturing carbon dioxide from the air and transforming it into rock. They support the clean energy transition by collecting and storing CO2 permanently, speeding up the natural process of carbon mineralization. They do all this while keeping a light footprint. Working with progressive companies and partnering with mining companies, they’re able to produce the critical metals needed for the clean energy transition. ARCA was co-founded by Professor of Geological Sciences, Greg Dipple, and other geoscientists from UBC.

With a pressing need to spearhead the clean energy transition, Canada is currently in last place among G7 nations in its climate change performance and commitment (Climate Change Performance Index). Foresight Canada aims to aid the critical need for Canada to fast-track its plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions, and cleantech is an important part of the puzzle to achieving this goal.  

Through this program, Foresight helps to facilitate critical investment needs in Canadian cleantech. According to EDC’s latest annual cleantech report, Canada saw a record $1.2 billion invested in cleantech last year, the highest investment since 2018. The report also states that early stage funding is critical to the success of the country’s cleantech sector. 

Foresight spearheads the transition from ideas to solutions by directly connecting innovators with climate-focused investors, customers, and partners to fast-track the cleantech industry — ultimately raising over $1.67B to date from their Foresight 50 ventures.

Entrepreneurship@UBC’s Climate Venture Studio, led by Dr. Shannon Bard, works alongside ventures to identify climate market opportunities, nurture high-potential climate solutions emerging from UBC research and help entrepreneurs build impactful ventures. 

Congratulations to the ARCA team on this much deserved recognition!