Biotech startup Pikkl wins the Pitch with pledge to generate energy from algae

At a packed The Commons George Street on a sweltering, 80% humidity evening in Sydney last night, the last SmartCompany Pitch event of 2024 saw early-stage algae biotech startup Pikkl walk away with the top prize. 

Five brave businesses pitched live to an expert guest judging panel and a room full of peers and potential funders bang in the centre of Sydney’s financial district, as pre-Black Friday shopping in nearby Pitt Street reached fever pitch.

The judges – including VC luminaries Kirstin Hunter from Techstars, Maja Enander from x15ventures and Raaj Rayat from AirTree plus William Hasko from event partner Dell Technologies – decided sustainable algae biotechnology startup Pikkl was the deserving winner.

“Pikkl has excellent founder dynamics”, said the judges, “and demonstrated the strength of their founder team.”

Pikkl’s student founders Nicolas De Matteis and Jacinta May, both 24, met at a University of NSW pitch competition, and have developed their groundbreaking concept through 2024, including a stint in the UK as part of the prestigious Hult Prize, which challenges young people to solve the world’s most pressing problems through social entrepreneurship.

“We loved their energy and enthusiasm for the technology,” said the judges.

“It builds confidence when you see founders nerd out on their tech. Pikkl provided a great answer [during the Pitch] as to why it hasn’t been done before, and they clearly articulated their strategic points of difference.”

Pikkl aims to help farmers in a pickle

Adopting affordable and clean energy is key to tackling what could be described as the world’s biggest problem/opportunity: the green energy transition. 

Pikkl envisages a future where green fuel is a decentralised resource allowing autonomy over energy generation and use. 

As explained brilliantly by co-founder and CTO Jacinta May, Pikkl aims to empower farmers and remote communities to produce their own biodiesel and fertiliser from algae grown on-site.

“We’re in our pre-MVP phase,” May told Smart Company. “We’re building our pilot sites very soon.”

“We are on the farms,” said co-founder and CEO Nicolas De Matteis, who is studying mechatronics engineering – “a bit of robotics and a little of AI” – at the University of NSW.

“We have five letters of intent, and we’ve been going to the farmers, talking with them, seeing what they want, seeing how our product fits on their farms.”

“We met at a university pitch competition at UNSW, which has a great founders program. We were very lucky to go to the Hult Prize, and get to the semi-finals, to be one of the top teams in the world.”

“We spent a month abroad in a very intensive accelerator in Ashridge House in the UK.”

“It was a very formative experience”, said May, who is studying physics and chemistry for a Bachelor of Advanced Science, and has done six years in research science.

“The Hult Prize was very instructive for our startup,” said May, the Future Scientist Award 2024 winner.

“I’ve always had a love of sustainability, and wanting to do something good for the world.”

“We were looking for ideas based in sustainability”, said De Matteis.

“We were looking at diesel and fuel usage, it’s a massive problem, contributing so much waste to our environment. I thought there had to be a better way to do it. Was there a better way? Decentralised algae supply to the people who need it most: the farmers.”

“Ten years ago they used micro-algae in the US to produce biofuel,” said May. “But the technology wasn’t ready. But now our novel process – our trade secret – means the technology is ready”.

“Once we’ve built a pilot site, early next year, we’ll be able to show farmers, on the land.”

“After we validate with our pilot testing, we’re looking to raise money to roll it out,” said De Matteis.

Refilled takes Peoples’ Choice Award 

Taking out the prestigious audience-voted Peoples’ Choice Award was Refilled.

The three leading plastic polluters worldwide are beverage companies and unfortunately, we are now at a point where we are spewing out an astonishing 481 billion single-use plastic bottles every year. 

Refilled is on a mission to change the way people drink beverages on the go. Its product is designed with a circular economy in mind, encompassing a fleet of smart drink dispensers, QR-enabled drink bottles, and a companion app to gamify and track your positive climate impact. 

Refilled help partners turn the everyday act of drinking water into climate action by attempting to save the planet from plastic, one refill at a time.

By making it possible to refill your existing reusable bottle with hundreds of different flavoured still and sparkling drinks it has already helped companies like Google, Uber and Atlassian prevent over 200,000 bottles from being thrown away since its launch just 15 months ago. 

Not shy of a big challenge, Refilled is trying to save the planet from plastic, one refill at a time.

Founder and CEO Ryan Nelson has big ambitions.

“The Olympics would be pretty amazing. Brisbane 2032. Imagine ‘The Plastic Free Olympics’. 100 of these machines, scattered through southeast Queensland. Everyone encouraged to bring their own reusable bottle, to make the entire Olympics plastic-free. That would be HUGE.”

Why the Pitch matters

The Pitch is SmartCompany‘s early-stage startup competition and a proven pipeline for successful startups.

Previous pitchers Diolog (founded by Amy Benson) and SeenCulture (founded by Nikki Tugano) both completed $1 million raises within a year of participating, and the winner of last November’s the Pitch – Simon Skalicky from AI glaucoma screening startup Eyeonic – met an investor at the event who went on to play a key role in Eyeonic’s recent $2.6 million seed round. 

The most recent winner of the Pitch in Melbourne in September was Housing design startup Oltre, which earned plaudits for its architectural vision and commercial prospects.

The event is also a tremendous networking opportunity for early-stage founders.

“It’s so wonderful to win,” said Pikkl co-founder Jacinta May.

“It’s so exciting to persuade incredible VCs that our business is backable.”

Never miss a story: sign up to SmartCompany’s free daily newsletter and find our best stories on LinkedIn.