Best Environment Tech Companies in Tennessee, United States
The 37 best Environment Tech companies in Tennessee, United States in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Nth Cycle.
Our analysis of 83 Environment Tech companies
$16.0b in tracked funding; 90% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Environment Tech companies in Tennessee
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Employees | Founder | Tech stack | Web popularity | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nth Cycle Provider of electronics and li-ion battery recycling technology 50Funding top 24%Talent top 28%Growth top 35%Moat top 39% All 9 signals ▾Fundingtop 24% Talenttop 28% Growthtop 35% Moattop 39% Partnerstop 40% Newsbottom 45% Marketbottom 40% Globalbottom 38% Techbottom 35% Funding: Raised $59.7M across 9 rounds · 9 rounds over 7 yrs (1.3/yr) Talent: 3 named leaders on record · 3 C-suite/founder profiles curated rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $60M | 4 mo ago | 37 | Megan O'Connor Co-Founder & CEO | WordPressMySQLPHP+19 | Top 10M | — | — |
| 2 | FirstFuel Energy use intelligence | $44M | 109 mo ago | 94 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Trillium Renewable Chemicals Manufacturer of green acrylonitrile and acetonitrile from biorenewable feedstocks 19Funding top 29%Moat top 48%Talent bottom 49%Global bottom 38% All 6 signals ▾Fundingtop 29% Moattop 48% Talentbottom 49% Globalbottom 38% Newsbottom 33% Marketbottom 23% Funding: Raised $21.9M across 5 rounds · 5 rounds over 5 yrs (1.0/yr) Moat: Editorial + unicorn rating 5/10 · 9 curated direct competitors tracked rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 19/100 | $22M | 4 mo ago | 3 | Corey Tyree Founder & CEO | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | Evermind Plugs for monitoring the elderly | $11M | 130 mo ago | 5 | — | — | — | 5 patents Digital mental‑health therapeutics and passive physiological monitoring systems | — |
| 5 | Enexor Developer of onsite renewable bioenergy systems from organic waste | $10M | 25 mo ago | 33 | Lee Jestings Founder & CEO | WordPressApple iCloud MailGoogle Workspace+19 | Top 50M | — | — |
| 6 | Stone Mountain Technologies Provider of heat pumps | $10M | 23 mo ago | 19 | — | WordPressMySQLPHP+25 | Top 50M | 36 patents Advanced control and integration of sorption and hybrid heat pump heating systems | — |
| 7 | Heartland Provider of sustainable waste-to-resource solutions | $7M | 11 mo ago | — | Mauricio Vargas CEO & President | WordPressMySQLPHP+29 | Top 10M | 46 patents Design and manufacturing of aseptic beverage containers and dispensing packaging. | — |
| 8 | SkyNano Provider of carbon capture solution | $4M | 13 mo ago | — | Cary Pint Co-Founder | — | — | 9 patents Processing and separating carbon allotropes, carbon black production, and CO₂-derived composites. | — |
| 9 | EkWateur Supplier of renewable electricity and natural gas | $4M | 77 mo ago | 127 | — | PrismicApple iCloud MailNode.js+26 | Top 500k | — | — |
| 10 | Shift Thermal Provider of ice thermal energy storage solutions for HVAC systems | $3M | 13 mo ago | 8 | Levon Atoyan Co-Founder | — | — | — | — |
| 11 | Carbon Rivers Provider of renewable recycling and advanced composites manufacturing services | $2M | 75 mo ago | 10 | Jedidiah Long Co-Founder | Wix eCommerceWixSentry+14 | Top 50M | — | — |
| 12 | Electro-Active Technologies Technology solutions provider for converting organic waste to fuel | $2M | 83 mo ago | 10 | Abhijeet P Borole Co-Founder | — | — | — | — |
| 13 | Novastus Provider of waste management solutions | $606K | 19 mo ago | — | Kelly Warbis Co-Founder / CEO | — | — | — | — |
| 14 | SecureWaters Real-time water monitoring system provider | $600K | 136 mo ago | 7 | Ray Slatton CEO | — | — | — | — |
| 15 | Solar Site Design Solar project development platform | $550K | 104 mo ago | 5 | Jason Loyet Founder | — | — | — | — |
| 16 | SecondKeys Online solution to file property maintenance requests | $260K | 39 mo ago | 5 | Marterrious Mcclain Co-Founder & CTO | — | — | — | — |
Top 12 Environment Tech companies in Tennessee
#1
Series B · Knoxville, Tennessee · founded 2017 · 37 employees$59.7Mraised▾
Provider of electronics and li-ion battery recycling technology. The platform provides electro-extraction technology installed onsite to recover critical minerals from separated e-waste, low-grade ore, and mine tailings.
- Apr 2026Series B$5.5M
- Apr 2023Series B$44M
- Feb 2022Series A$12.5M
- Aug 2021Grant (prize money)$250K
#2
Series B · Knoxville, Tennessee · founded 2021 · 3 employees$21.9Mraised▾
Manufacturer of green acrylonitrile and acetonitrile from biorenewable feedstocks. It provides alternatives to oil and gas derived propylene. The company focuses on manufacturing drop-in molecules. It aims to provide a green alternative that reduces carbon emissions and improves safety.
- May 2026Series B$13M
- Jun 2024Series A$9.8M
- Aug 2022Series A$10.6M
- Feb 2021Seed$1.5M
#3
Series A · Murfreesboro, Tennessee · founded 2003$7.1Mraised▾
Provider of sustainable waste-to-resource solutions. It offers technologies and services for treating various waste streams, including PFAS, landfill leachate, biosolids, and industrial wastewater. These solutions focus on resource recovery, energy generation, and environmental compliance. The company utilizes advanced technologies such as zero liquid discharge (ZLD) systems and upcycling processes to transform waste into valuable resources. Project delivery includes build, own, operate (BOO) models for large-scale projects.
- Sep 2025Series A$7.1M
#4
Funding Raised · Louisville, Tennessee · founded 2017$4Mraised▾
Provider of carbon capture solution. It is a science-based technology that develops a proprietary process to transform CO2 into advanced carbon materials, offering a potential solution to carbon pollution and providing a new source of sustainable materials for various industries.
- Aug 2025Grant (prize money)$1.8M
- Jul 2023Grant (prize money)$1.9M
- Jun 2020Grant (prize money)$200K
- Feb 2019Grant (prize money)$225K
#5
Seed · Oak Ridge, Tennessee · founded 2017 · 8 employees$2.5Mraised▾
Provider of ice thermal energy storage solutions for HVAC systems. It provides an innovative heat exchanger called IHEX, which is used in ice thermal energy storage applications.
- Jul 2025Seed$1M
- Jun 2020Grant (prize money)$1.3M
- Feb 2019Grant (prize money)$224.9K
#6
Series B · Piney Flats, Tennessee · founded 2010 · 19 employees$9.5Mraised▾
Provider of heat pumps. It provides products such as gas heat pump, air handling unit, indirect storage tank, and more. It provides gas absorption heat pumps for residential and light commercial applications.
- Oct 2024Series B$14.5M
- Jul 2010Grant (prize money)$2.7M
#7
Series A · Franklin, Tennessee · founded 2015 · 33 employees$10.1Mraised▾
Developer of onsite renewable bioenergy systems from organic waste. The systems convert organic and plastic waste into clean energy and thermal energy, offering immediate cost savings on waste disposal and energy needs. This technology is modular, easily transportable, and suitable for various applications, including microgrids. It provides a sustainable solution for waste management and energy generation, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. A unique Energy-as-a-Service partnership model minimizes upfront capital investment for clients.
- Jul 2024Grant (prize money)$199.5K
- Aug 2021Series A$10M
- Apr 2021Seed—
- Feb 2021Seed$100K
#8
Funding Raised · Cookeville, Tennessee · founded 2019$606.5Kraised▾
Provider of waste management solutions. It uses NovaDry technology, a non-thermal drying system that removes moisture from any solid waste feedstock and turns it into a carbon-negative fuel for clean power, cement, or sustainable fuels.
- Jan 2025Conventional Debt$400K
- Jul 2024Grant (prize money)$206.5K
#9
Acquired · Lexington, Tennessee · founded 2011 · 94 employees$43.9Mraised▾
FirstFuel Software offers building-wide energy analytics that help utilities and government agencies deliver energy efficiency across commercial building portfolios. Using only electric interval meter data and a building address, FirstFuel produces a remote set of building-specific performance benchmarks and custom recommendations that utilities and government agencies can provide to building operators – without the use of onsite assessments or device installations. Customers include E.ON, Southern California Edison (SCE), the U.S. Gov. and DOD.
- Jul 2017Series D—
- Apr 2015Series C$23M
- Dec 2014Series B$8.5M
- Feb 2012Series A$10M
#10
Deadpooled · Nashville, Tennessee · founded 2012 · 5 employees$10.6Mraised▾
Plugs for monitoring the elderly. It keeps track of activities such as a device being switched on/off and sends text messages or email notifications throughout the day and alerts when variations are noticed. The sensors are simply plugged into any AC outlet and the appliance being used is plugged into it. When appliances are switched on and off, the solution sends information to a dedicated network via the built-in wireless internet.
- Oct 2015Series B$5.1M
- Feb 2015Series A$3.7M
- Aug 2012Seed—
- Series A$1.8M
#11
Series A · Paris, Tennessee · founded 2015 · 127 employees$3.8Mraised▾
Supplier of renewable electricity and natural gas
- Apr 2020Series A$1.6M
- Jan 2017Series A$2.1M
#12
Funding Raised · Knoxville, Tennessee · founded 2017 · 10 employees$2.3Mraised▾
Provider of renewable recycling and advanced composites manufacturing services. Its products portfolio includes advanced graphene composites, glass fiber materials, ballistic armor solutions, and polyelectrolyte graphene composite coatings, which are scratch, ultraviolet radiation, fouling, and weather resistant. It also offers polymer, ceramic, and metal additives.
- 2020Grant (prize money)$1.1M
- Jul 2019Grant (prize money)$1.2M
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Environment Tech coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Environmental Monitoring is moving in the United States
A read on the academic research around Environmental Monitoring — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 3,039 United States-affiliated papers.
- United States Geological Survey157
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies112
- Environmental Protection Agency84
- National Research Council79
- National Park Service76
- Software deployment2→31
- Pollution3→27
- Air quality index1→25
- Water quality10→34
- Air pollution3→25
- Air quality index14→60
- Air pollution8→51
- Pollutant4→32
- Sampling (signal processing)14→42
- Water quality23→48
- Human health1→32
- Pollution4→33
- Air quality index6→31
- Pollutant6→28
- Biodiversity1→22
Where environmental monitoring is researched across United States
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing environmental monitoring patents in the United States
United States environmental monitoring patent filing is accelerating — 450 filings from 343 assignees (2016–2025), led by LEEO, Valencell, United Parcel Service; annual filings 47→49.
- LEEO41
- Valencell25
- United Parcel Service21
- Honeywell INT20
- Apple18
- Venturedyne18
- Pillar TECH17
- IND Scient16
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.