Start-up Woola has won a €50,000 cash prize for its bubble wrap innovation made from wool. EIT InnoEnergy, an innovation engine for sustainable energy across Europe, crowned Woola the winner of PowerUp competition and gave the company a place on its Highway investment programme. Woola was established at the end of 2019 and produces packaging material from sheep’s wool residues. The Estonian start-up aims to disrupt the e-commerce market by significantly decreasing the production, consumption and landfill waste of environmentally harmful materials like Styrofoam and plastic.
Alongside the cash prize, the winner gains access to a network of connections and business services through EIT InnoEnergy’s global energy ecosystem. Key partners such as Amazon Web Services offered credits to their AWS Activate program and business support. Other partners such as Vestbee and the SpeedUp Group also awarded the winner with services and grants.
Whilst the final was held online for the first time due to COVID-19, a record 360 start-ups from 20 countries entered the competition. In a series of regional rounds, innovators battled it out putting forward their business cases for innovations across sustainable energy, cleantech, mobility, cybersecurity, and smart cities. Anna-Liisa Palatu, Co-Founder of Woola, said: “We are thrilled to have taken part in this competition and to have won support from EIT InnoEnergy, that not only provides financial investment, but also supports us with business development through its network. We are very excited to collaborate with EIT InnoEnergy on our solution and bring more eco-friendly packaging to market to protect the environment.”
Source: Bio Marker Insights
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