Sigma Squared Society

Everest Carbon, co-founded and led by our Sigma Fellow Pascal Michel, just launched with $3M in funding! 🌎 Everest Carbon's team has developed a new sensor to directly measure cumulative carbonate alkalinity efflux in fields, offering a cost-effective and scalable method for assessing carbon dioxide removal (CDR) through enhanced rock weathering (ERW). By improving measurement accuracy, reducing costs, and automating the process, this technology aims to support large-scale implementation of ERW. Devices are already in use by customers, and in the coming months, the team plans to expand its sensors across new geographies worldwide alongside initiatives to support the growth of the ERW industry. Huge congratulations to Everest Carbon's team! 🎉 📚 Read more: https://lnkd.in/eQqFsVb8

We are thrilled to share that Sigma Fellow Sasankh Munukutla and his team at Terradot have raised $58.2M to scale their carbon removal solution through enhanced rock weathering (ERW)! 👏 Founded in 2022 at Stanford, Terradot is transforming the natural process of rock weathering into a global carbon removal solution. The company has assembled a team of scientists, engineers, and operators dedicated to solving key challenges in ERW, including optimizing CO₂ uptake and developing precise measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) tools. Terradot is already running scaled pilot operations in Brazil, one of the world's most optimal locations for ERW due to its tropical soils and strong agricultural sector. In collaboration with Embrapa, Brazil's foremost agricultural research institution, Terradot has spread more than 48,000 tons of rock over 1,800 hectares of agricultural land, yielding promising early results. This funding round includes $4.2M in seed funding and a recently closed $54M Series A round, with backers such as John Doerr, Sheryl Sandberg & Tom Bernthal, George Roberts, Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund, Google, Cisco, Floodgate, Kleiner Perkins, Acre Venture Partners, Gigascale Capital, Valor Capital Group, and Ponderosa Ventures. We are incredibly proud of Sasankh's dedication to addressing climate change through innovative solutions! 🚀 Read more: https://lnkd.in/dfViskZr

What a Crazy First Year for Heizma! 🎉 💚 Here's how it went: 📅 January (4 employees) 👉 First heat pump sold. 👉 First partnerships established. 📅 February (4 employees) 👉 Reached our first €10k in revenue. 👉 Found more installer partners. 📅 March (6 employees) 👉 Officially founded the company. 👉 Expanded our team. 📅 April (11 employees) 👉 Scaling phase began, partnerships expanded across Austria. 👉 Achieved 100% growth in all metrics. 👉 Hit €1M worth of heat pumps sold (via partners). 📅 May (15 employees) 👉 First sale through our first installer subsidiary. 👉 Massive growth in sales with very little cashflow. 👉 Moved into our new office (with free furniture 🥳). 📅 June (19 employees) 👉 Our first cashflow-positive month! 👉 Launched two fully functioning subsidiaries. 👉 Tested our AI phone agent “Haidi.” 📅 July (22 employees) 👉 Built tech tools to improve technician efficiency. 👉 Offered financing solutions to customers for the first time. 📅 August (30 employees) 👉 Doubled installer capacity. 👉 Opened our second office in Graz. 👉 Achieved our first five sales with fully digital visits. 📅 September (40 employees) 👉 Found and signed the Chief Technician for "Heizma Elektro." 👉 Rolled out a new partnership model with first sales. 👉 Held our first all-hands meeting. 📅 October (50 employees) 👉 Record-breaking installations and sales. 👉 Featured on national TV for the first time. 👉 Launched route optimization software, saving enormous time. 📅 November (65 employees) 👉 Launched our third installer subsidiary with its first revenue. 👉 Started our first electrician subsidiary with its first revenue. 👉 Record-high installations and sales (again!). 📅 December (70 employees) 👉 Major initiatives launched for technology. 👉 Finished all installation work for the year. When you bring together the right people, anything is possible. We’re ready for an even greater 2025 – and we’ll need more brilliant minds to #JoinUs. Get ready for exciting opportunities. Heizma goes electric – and so does Austria (and beyond). ⚡ Thank you to everyone who made this year so special.

Scripe closes its pre-seed funding round! 🚀 We’re excited to announce that Sigma Fellows, Carmen Jenny and Eva Johanna Egg, along with co-founder Christoph Meise, have successfully closed their first funding round for their Berlin-based AI startup, Scripe. Scripe is transforming LinkedIn personal branding with its AI-powered solution, offering personalised content creation, tailored strategy consulting, and business photo creation. Since launching in September, the company has quadrupled its user base and achieved an impressive ARR of over €200,000 within just two months. This mid-six-figure funding round will now fuel Scripe’s next growth phase, focusing on scaling marketing efforts and expanding the team. We can’t wait to watch Scripe’s continued success. This is just beginning! 🚀 Read more: https://lnkd.in/djKjqqXB

Celebrating 5 Sigma Squared Fellows on the Forbes Swiss and Forbes Austria List! 🌟 We’re proud to share that five Sigma Squared Fellows have been recognised on the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list for their remarkable contributions to entrepreneurship and innovation. • Julia Watzinger (geb. Schadinger) (REELOQ): Julia founded Reeloq, a company providing secure mobile gear for mountaineers, turning it into a multi-million-dollar business operating in 28 countries. Beyond her entrepreneurial success, she coaches executives in burnout prevention. • Linda Karger (Primogene GmbH): Linda runs Primogene as COO, developing nutrient-rich, mother’s milk-like ingredients for preterm infants while cutting CO₂ emissions by 85%. Under her leadership, the company has secured €1.6M in funding and formed key partnerships. • Carmen Jenny (Scripe): Carmen is the co-founder and CMO of Scripe, an AI-powered platform that simplifies the creation of social media content. Bootstrapped and launched in September 2024, Scripe achieved CHF 200,000 ARR in just one month, redefining how businesses scale content-led growth. • Oliver Meyer (storabble): Oliver’s Storabble addresses the challenge of underutilising small commercial spaces by automating rentals through IoT and a digital marketplace. Backed by major players like Livit and Wincasa, Storabble creates win-win solutions for tenants and property owners. • Michael Hofmannrichter (silana): As the co-founder of Silana, Michael is bringing textile production back to Europe and the U.S. with the world’s first fully automated sewing robot. • Rima Suppan (PEACHIES): Rima's PEACHIES is transforming the diaper industry with premium, chemical-free, subscription-based diapers and a Nappy Concierge service, at the same time reducing environmental impact. Congratulations to all these inspiring Sigma Fellows for their well-deserved recognition! 🚀 Read more: 🇦🇹https://lnkd.in/e4JDUv4Q 🇨🇭https://lnkd.in/ei269eai

We don't do small talk. 🌸 Interactions are about giving, not taking. ✨ To be inspired, is a promise with every interaction. 🏡 Even in a crowd of fellows you haven't met yet, you're at home. That's what Sigma Squared Society is to me and hundreds of other fellows around the world. Last month in beautiful Valencia, 400 founders, leading investors, and industry experts gathered for the magical Sigma Squared Summit. It's been a pleasure to lead Sigma’s Africa region for the past 2 years 🌍 One of my objectives, was to ensure that fellows from Africa attend the Global Summit: to reap all the great benefits; from life-changing connections to the the wealth of opportunities that interactions within Sigma and its partners can have. Because: What if the most influential leaders were friends 20 years ago? To be continued 😎 #sigmasquared #community #entrepreneurs

I'm honoured to be a 2024 Diana Award Recipient! This incredible recognition is a testament to the impactful work we’ve been doing at Lafiya Nigeria, championing access to family planning and reproductive health in underserved communities. The Diana Award, established in memory of Princess Diana, is the most prestigious accolade given to young people creating positive change through social action or humanitarian efforts. To be recognised as part of this global community of changemakers is both inspiring and humbling. I am deeply grateful to everyone who has been part of this journey—the Lafiya Nigeria team, our partners, and the communities we serve. This award is truly a celebration of the collective impact we’ve made together. A special thank you to my mentor, Rod Dowler, for not only nominating me but also for guiding and encouraging me over the years. It’s much easier to embrace your own potential when someone you look up to has already recognised it. #2024DianaAwards

One of our core beliefs is that a brighter future starts today. We’re therefore proud to sponsor Sigma Squared Society, supporting young founders who aim to shape a better world for all. Earlier this month, Sebastian and Marc headed to Valencia for the Sigma Squared Society 2024 Summit, an invite-only gathering of under-26 founders shaping the future across 33 countries. Sigma Squared isn’t just a network. It’s a hub for the most forward-thinking entrepreneurs, where transformative ideas and visionary founders receive the tools and support they need to pioneer disruptive solutions in software and science - from the fields of AI, green energy, biotech, and beyond. 🚀 #empoweringGameChangers - Sebastian is a longstanding collaborator of Sigma Squared and plays a leading role as an executive board member of the organization. We left inspired by this global community and more excited than ever to back the next generation of entrepreneurs! A huge thank you to the entire Sigma Squared community 🙏

Today, we’re excited to officially launch Terradot with $58.2M in funding! We’re transforming Earth’s most powerful natural carbon removal process—silicate rock weathering—into a scalable climate solution through Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW). 🌍 Why we’re excited: $58.2M in funding led by John Doerr, joined by Sheryl Sandberg & Tom Bernthal, George Roberts, Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund, Google, Cisco Foundation, Kleiner Perkins, Floodgate, Acre Venture Partners, Gigascale Capital, Valor Capital Group, Ponderosa Ventures and others. Nearly 300,000 tonnes of carbon removal sold, including a $27M purchase by Stripe's Frontier Climate buyers for 90,000 tonnes and Frontier member Google’s largest-ever single CDR purchase—200,000 tonnes. Starting in Brazil, an optimal location thanks to its tropical climate, agricultural scale, and clean energy grid. We believe ERW has the greatest potential to deliver gigaton-scale, permanent carbon removal this decade. But achieving that potential will be far harder than most realize. That’s why we built Terradot: to advance the hard science and build the technology required to activate the thousands of existing silicate rock quarries worldwide into scalable CDR hubs. Backed by the world’s strongest coalition—spanning industry, academia, and government—we’re taking a bold bet on unlocking ERW’s massive potential. The road ahead won’t be easy: millions of soil samples, snake-filled fields, and no guarantees of success await. The stakes couldn’t be higher. 🚀 This is just the beginning. If you’re a scientist pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, an engineer ready to build, or an operator obsessed with execution—come join us. Let’s work together to stabilize Earth’s climate. 🔗 Join Us: https://lnkd.in/gm-7gCEf 🔗 Google’s Blog Post: https://lnkd.in/grVPg65J 🔗 Frontier’s Blog Post: https://lnkd.in/gG--y6xn 🔗 Bloomberg: https://lnkd.in/gHBMqsb2 🔗 Brazil Coverage: https://lnkd.in/gjBQS6rQ #ClimateTech #CarbonRemoval #EnhancedRockWeathering #Terradot #ClimateSolutions #CDR

Starting a nonprofit in college and running it as my first full-time job has been a 5-year journey that’s felt like a lifetime. Woke up to see Forbes recognize Develop for Good on the 30 Under 30 list. God is so good ❤️ Full list here: https://lnkd.in/eQDyaBzn #forbes30under30