France, Singapore & Germany, solving unglamorous, physical-world infrastructure.
1️⃣ Materrup (France) makes cement without a kiln.
Founded in 2018 by twin brothers Charles and Mathieu Neuville.
Traditional cement needs calcined limestone. Materrup swapped it for raw, uncalcined clay, cutting the carbon footprint by 40%, at the same price.
Partners: Vinci, Vicat, Bouygues Immobilier. 10,000+ m³ of low-carbon concrete already poured. Not yet profitable, but generating commercial revenue from cement sales.
2️⃣ Augmentus (Singapore) kills the need to “program” robots.
Founded in 2019 by Daryl Lim, Chong Voon Foo, and Leong Yong Shin.
Factories avoid automation because programming a robot for one task can take weeks of specialist time. Augmentus uses 3D scanning + AI to generate that program in minutes.
One deployment cut robot downtime by 93%. Now running in 50+ factories across aerospace, energy, and heavy industry. Revenue-generating, still scaling toward profitability.
3️⃣ Proxima Fusion (Germany) is building Europe’s first commercial fusion plant.
Founded in 2023 by five Max Planck Institute scientists, led by CEO Francesco Sciortino.
Signed with RWE & the Bavarian government to site a demonstration plant on German soil. Pre-revenue by design; fusion doesn’t monetize until the plant runs.
Target: grid power in the 2030s (though many in the industry call that timeline optimistic).
Forget valuations & subscriber counts. Which global startup do you think deserves more attention for solving real problems?
