SustainaSeed DB is a database of means to solve sustainable issues worldwide.
Concrete actions are essential to solve sustainability-related issues such as climate change and human resources.
SustainaSeed believes that knowing about and adopting specific solutions and products can help realize a sustainable society.
Sustainability issues have attracted attention worldwide in recent years, and many startup companies are attempting to solve these issues.
Clean energy, renewable energy, agri-tech, new materials that are alternatives to plastics, and many others. To learn more about the companies creating these solutions, you need to visit trade shows, keep staring at search engines, and keep reading the news. It takes an enormous amount of time. Even if a company has a great product, startups have limited resources, such as money and human resources, which limits their means of promotion.
When I visited exhibitions such as City Tech Tokyo and SusHi Tech, I spoke with many great startup founders and managers from all over the world. I was strongly moved by their words and the few opportunities for such great companies to be known.
Until then, Sustaina Seed had just released and tested a crowdfunding platform specialized in the SDGs, hoping to support those working on the SDGs, but for those working on the SDGs, crowdfunding was only a temporary measure and did not provide essential support. We were astonished to find that crowdfunding is only a temporary measure and does not provide essential support for those working on the SDGs. For those in charge of the project, it was a big hassle; conversely, there were situations where it became a burden. Another iLabo company with the technology to convert gasoline-powered vehicles into hydrogen-powered vehicles said, “We would like to participate in Sustina Seed’s crowdfunding campaign to expand awareness, but it is difficult to set up a return.” He commented. Because of the B to B to C nature of crowdfunding, it wasn’t easy to apply it to companies doing B to B business. Furthermore, although overseas companies share the same desire to improve sustainability that we advocate, it is not realistic to use a Japanese-only platform, much less to send returns from overseas. We hit a wall.
We spent 10 months developing the crowdfunding platform and another 6 months testing it, but we decided that we could not achieve the essential improvement in sustainability that we were aiming for. Based on the feedback we received during the testing, we decided to shift to the SustainaSeed DB.
We released the current version as a prototype in a short time, and then we talked to each of the companies that had the means to solve their sustainability issues and asked them if they would like to be listed on the site. Can we publish it? We then talked to each of the companies that had solutions to sustainability issues and asked if they would like to be listed on the site. As we continued our activities and conducted user interviews, we gradually began to see the needs of these companies. By releasing the site primarily in English, we broke down the barriers between us and overseas companies. The number of companies listed on the site increased from 100 to 200, to 300, to 500, and now we have more than 600 sustainable problem-solving companies.
Since many large companies also have to find solutions to transition to sustainability, and this requires basic knowledge of ESG, which is both time-consuming and manpower-consuming, we believe that the SustainAseed DB will surely be useful.
Our next milestone is 1,000 cases. Any company with a product that solves a sustainability issue can be listed for free, so please join us in helping us realize a sustainable society.
