Oxford-based industrial heating developer Odqa has been selected as one of ten European businesses to receive a minimum £100,000 investment from impact investor Blue Earth.

The company, which focuses on concentrating sunlight to heat air and storing thermal energy in rock beds for industrial applications, was chosen from 1,414 applicants across Europe for Blue Earth’s BE100 Fund II, managed in partnership with venture capital firm Haatch.

The ten selected startups are collectively seeking £27.8 million in growth funding, with the initial capital injections intended to anchor larger fundraising rounds. The winners were announced at the Blue Earth Summit held at Woolwich Works in London.

Guy Hayler, co-founder and chief commercial officer at Blue Earth, said: “These companies give us a picture of how differently the world could work. We want the businesses solving these problems to become the businesses that lead their industries. We’re never going to be the biggest cheque in their cap table, but we want to be catalytic. We want our investment to help bring other investors on board, and our network to help these businesses reach customers. The founders are doing the hard work. Our job is to give them the best possible chance of changing their industries.”

In an earlier development demonstrating its core technology, Odqa secured £1.3 million in seed funding to build a commercial prototype of its high-temperature receiver, designed to generate process heat reaching up to 1,000 degrees Celsius without relying on fossil fuels. Developing zero-emission thermal storage technology allows Odqa to offer heavy industrial users, such as cement and glass manufacturers, a pathway to decarbonise energy-intensive manufacturing processes.

Image source: Blue Earth