Best Sustainability Tech Companies in South Africa
The 123 best Sustainability Tech companies in South Africa in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: H2O Securities.
Tracking the best Sustainability Tech companies in South Africa by disclosed equity funding, this directory covers 123 ventures with a combined $173M raised — a snapshot of how seriously the continent's green economy is being taken right now. H2O Securities alone accounts for $150M of that total, which tells you something about how funding concentrates at the top. Matinas BioPharma follows at $16M, with earlier-stage players like Alien Fuel Group ($2M) and Open Access Energy ($750K rounding out the active tier. Investors like Techstars, 4Di Capital and 100+ Accelerator are the names showing up repeatedly.
The global tailwind is real. The sustainability tech market sat at roughly $16.2B in 2022 and is forecast to hit $122.7B by 2032, a 23.8% CAGR driven by smart grid adoption and the hard pivot toward low-carbon infrastructure. South Africa's regulatory picture is messier — the lack of formal green tech frameworks is a genuine friction point, even as EV battery technology and next-generation powertrain themes heat up globally. I'd watch how local companies respond to that gap. Seed rounds flowing into climate-focused startups elsewhere signal the capital appetite is there. The question is whether South Africa's ecosystem catches that wave before the window tightens.
- MarketsandMarkets
Our analysis of 293 Sustainability Tech companies
$38.4b in tracked funding; 83% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Sustainability Tech companies in South Africa
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | H2O Securities Blockchain-based platform for deployment of water infrastructure | $150M | 47 mo ago | Series D | Julius Steyn Chief Executive Officer | 2021 | — | — |
| 2 | Matinas BioPharma Developer of therapeutic solutions for the treatment of serious & life-threatening infections | $16M | 16 mo ago | Public | Jerry Jabbour Chief Executive Officer | 2011 | Vue.jsApache HTTP ServerjQuery+12 | — |
| 3 | Alien Fuel Group Production of bio oil | $2M | 30 mo ago | Series A | Bruce Johnson Founder & CEO | 2015 | — | — |
| 4 | SEF Microcredit for underprivileged South African women | $2M | 127 mo ago | Late Stage | John De Wit Co-Founder & MD | 1992 | WordPressMySQLPHP+17 | — |
| 5 | Open Access Energy Renewable energy management software | $750K | 12 mo ago | Seed | Christoff Albertyn Co-Founder & CTO | 2021 | — | 2 partnerships |
| 6 | BlueNova Manufacturer of energy storage solutions, batteries, and supporting electronic components | $648K | 32 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | 2015 | WordPressZohoMySQL+31 | 1 launch |
| 7 | Athena Provider of medical payments management software for healthcare | $250K | 28 mo ago | Seed | Jabulani Nyembe Founder | 2022 | — | 3 partnerships |
| 8 | CyanoLakes Provider of satellite imagery analysis for cyanobacteria bloom monitoring and management | $161K | 115 mo ago | Funding Raised | Mark Matthews Founder & CEO | 2015 | — | 1 launch |
| 9 | Plentify Provider of SaaS-driven and AI grid optimisers for building management | $150K | 7 mo ago | Series A | Kailas Nair Co-Founder | 2008 | Cart FunctionalityWooCommerceWordPress+36 | 1 partnership |
| 10 | LetMeIn SaaS-driven visitor management software for offices and apartments | $143K | 66 mo ago | Seed | Jarrad Van Zuydam Co-Founder | 2020 | — | — |
Top 12 Sustainability Tech companies in South Africa
#1
Public · Springs, Gauteng · founded 2011 · 34 employees$16.4Mraised▾
Developer of therapeutic solutions for the treatment of serious & life-threatening infections. The company's lead drug candidate is MAT2203, an orally-administered, encochleated formulation of amphotericin B. It has developed MAT2501, which is an orally-administered, encochleated formulation of amikacin that is a broad-spectrum aminoglycoside antibiotic agent for gram-negative and intracellular bacterial infections. In addition, the Company is exploring development and partnership options for MAT9001, a prescription-only omega-3 fatty acid-based composition under development for hypertriglyceridemia, which has shown superiority versus Vascepa in reducing serum triglycerides, Total- and Non-HDL-Cholesterol, apolipoproteins, and PCSK9 levels.
- Feb 2025Post IPO$1.6M
- Nov 2020Grant (prize money)$3.8M
- Jan 2017Post IPO$15.5M
- Sep 2016Post IPO$8M
#2
Seed · Cape Town, Western Cape · founded 2021$750Kraised▾
Renewable energy management software. It is a software platform that streamlines energy transactions from generation to consumption. The platform automates the matching of generation and consumption loads, enabling energy trading and management. It enables municipalities and utilities to access smart meters to collect and interpret data to bill customers.
- Jun 2025Seed$1.8M
- Aug 2024Seed$750K
#3
Series A · Cape Town, Western Cape · founded 2008 · 42 employees$150Kraised▾
Provider of SaaS-driven and AI grid optimizers for building management. Its device can be attached to home water heaters that use AI to match users' energy needs in the grid. The platform provides solutions for industries that include property companies and body corporates, solar and battery companies, utilities and municipalities, and more.
- Nov 2025Series A—
- Jul 2024Series A—
- Oct 2023Series A—
- May 2023Grant (prize money)—
#4
Series D · Cape Town, Western Cape · founded 2021 · 12 employees$150Mraised▾
Blockchain-based platform for deployment of water infrastructure. The participant buys H2ON tokens using USDT. The plant settlement smart contract uses all the H2ON token purchases of the connected water plant to settle billing of H2O water network participants generated and the balance of the H2ON tokens not used to settle billing is distributed as a staking pool yield.
#5
Series A · Umhlanga, KwaZulu Natal · founded 2015$2.5Mraised▾
Production of bio oil. It converts solid biomass fuel derived from alien invasive tree species and other wood waste into a efficient, low CO2 emission, green energy source.
- Dec 2023Series A$2.4M
#6
Funding Raised · Somerset West, Western Cape · founded 2015 · 54 employees$648.4Kraised▾
Manufacturer of energy storage solutions, batteries, and supporting electronic components. The company provides battery systems centered around lithium iron phosphate battery chemistry. It offers battery management systems and control modules. The company supplies products to qualified professionals in the energy industry.
- Oct 2023Grant (prize money)$648.4K
#7
Seed · Johannesburg, Gauteng · founded 2022$250Kraised▾
Provider of medical payments management software for healthcare. It offers a platform for medical bill management that enables patients to pay for healthcare in monthly instalments for healthcare surgeries and procedures.
- Jan 2024Seed$150K
#8
Late Stage · Tzaneen, Limpopo · founded 1992 · 250 employees$2.1Mraised▾
The Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF) is a not-for-profit, pro-poor microfinance institution working towards the eradication of poverty by creating a supportive environment where credit and savings services foster sustainable income generation, job creation and social empowerment.
#9
Seed · Johannesburg, Gauteng · founded 2020 · 3 employees$143.4Kraised▾
SaaS-driven visitor management software for offices and apartments. It facilitates an API based interface that can be used in any chat app. It also offers a chatbot-based pre-screening risk management dashboard.
- Dec 2020Seed$143.4K
#10
Funding Raised · Cape Town, Western Cape · founded 2015$161.2Kraised▾
Provider of satellite imagery analysis for cyanobacteria bloom monitoring and management. The company offers measurements and forecasts of blue-green algal blooms. It delivers information to water professionals through a web application. The company also provides weather-like information via mobile applications. The technology distinguishes cyanobacteria from other algal blooms using satellite imagery.
- Nov 2016Grant (prize money)$161.2K
#11
Deadpooled · Johannesburg, Gauteng · founded 2018 · 3 employees$20Kraised▾
Software solutions for waste management. Its platform digitizes and automates waste management operations and manage all waste activities and stakeholders such as clients, orders or schedules and drivers in one place.
- Sep 2022Seed$20K
#12
Funding Raised · Cape Town, Western Cape · founded 2015 · 4 employees$52.2Kraised▾
I-Drop Water provides safe and affordable drinking water refills through their Waterpod system, which purifies water at grocery stores in South African regions. The Waterpods offer low-cost, purified water refills to help reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions associated with bottled water.
- Grant (prize money)$52.2K
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Sustainability Tech coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Climate Adaptation is moving in South Africa
A read on the academic research around Climate Adaptation — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 289 South Africa-affiliated papers.
- University of Cape Town36
- University of KwaZulu-Natal30
- University of the Witwatersrand24
- University of Pretoria23
- University of Johannesburg22
- Climate risk4
- Climate change4
- Vulnerability (computing)3
- Psychological resilience3
- Urban resilience3
- Climate change4→21
- Resilience (materials science)5→12
- Environmental resource management1→7
- Sustainability3→7
- Adaptation (eye)1→5
- Climate change25→81
- Psychological resilience8→42
- Resilience (materials science)8→36
- Climate resilience3→24
- Corporate governance1→16
Where climate adaptation is researched across South Africa
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.
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.