The 3 Most Exciting Startups You Haven’t Heard of

Every day we are bombarded by ever greater promises of a startup revolutionizing this and disrupting that. You are not alone to wonder how on earth you can navigate through the hype and where the value really is. In the world world of Uber, SpaceX, and Libra, for example, we might forget about the startups that are not working on something sexy or their project is not related directly to our daily lives.

I try to do my part and present to you three very interesting startups.  These teams are all working on projects that have the potential to truly change the world away from direct contact with end consumers.


LTSE, The Long-Term Stock Exchange

Long-Term Stock Exchange was founded by Eric Ries, the author of Lean Startup. LTSE is a stock exchange just like Nasdaq for example but unlike the traditional stock exchanges, LTSE encourages long-term investments over the short-term.  How stocks are traded today leads to financial incentives that encourage companies to forget about what will happen in a couple of years as the bonuses and stock prices are tight to the results of the next quarter.

One of the things that I was not able to figure out before learning about Lean Startup and LTSE is that how can it be possible that time after time, in every industry,  even the wealthiest companies are being disrupted by tiny startups. I believe the answer is misaligned incentives in the large established companies and the reason for the misalignment is the short-term thinking stemming from traditional stock trading. If LTSE can fix this problem the impact on the markets will be staggering and it could even spark worldwide economic growth.

LTSE homepage.

TED talk on LTSE.

Avalon Energia

Once seen as the super dangerous monster, nuclear power is again a concrete option for sustainable energy globally.

The mission of Avalon Energia is to raise public support for international nuclear waste repositories in Finland, amend Finnish nuclear energy legislation, identify the repository municipalities and establish relationships with international partners in the nuclear energy sector. After political and public opinion obstacles in Finland are removed, Avalon Energia could take charge of the 1-trillion-euro business of disposing of international High-Level Waste in a network of deep geological repositories in Finland with existing safe methods and technologies (see Olkiluoto Repository). Lastly, Finland and its international partners could reprocess the spent nuclear fuel (which has 97% of its energy content left) to power the entire planet without emissions for the next century.

Finland is already the global leader in the nuclear waste sector and arguably the only country in the world where international nuclear waste repositories are possible due to politics, public opinion, and stable geology. Finland can solve the global High-Level Waste disposal problem. In doing so, the world gets an opportunity to build more carbon-free nuclear power, win over climate change.

Quite a promise, right? The work Avalon has ahead is gigantic and far away from traditional businesses. The problem and the solution Avalon offers are both very unique. Robert Nemlander and his team have exciting times and ahead and they deserve all the attention and support they can get.

Avalon Energy

Introduction video.

Solar Foods

What if I tell you there is a way to make food out of thin air? Well, that’s what Solar Foods is doing! Their fermentation process uses only CO2, electricity, and water to produce high-protein food product. What makes the process even more exciting is that it does not require any arable land and it is not dependent on weather, irrigation or soil. All these factors make Solar Foods an excellent choice for areas in the world struggling for example of droughts. Moreover, the applications of the process are not limited only to this planet. Solar Foods is already working together with ESA to discover options of using Solar Foods’ solution in space flights.

Solar Foods is not alone in this space, but their approach of decentralized production and aiming specifically for human food outputs makes it one of the three most interesting startups out there today.

Solar Foods homepage.

Solar Food explained in 8 minutes.



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