16. bio-bean

Founders: Arthur Kay and Benjamin Harriman
Founded: January 2013
Website: www.bio-bean.com

Up 70 places from its entry into our list last year, bio-bean’s unique proposition has started to gather real pace, garnering a host of award wins, attracting investment and securing a range of big name contracts.                     

Truly a “world-first”, bio-bean collects waste coffee grounds and converts them into advanced biofuels for the heating and transport industries.

Co-founder and architecture graduate Arthur Kay conceived the idea whilst designing a coffee roasting plant and shop, investigating how waste could power a building. Pairing up with co-founder Benjamin Harriman to make the idea a reality, bio-bean now has a team of 20 and the waste is taken to the company’s 20,000 square foot processing facility where it is recycled to be sold as biomass pellets for biomass boilers, and biodiesel for transport fuel.

The firm has contracts with a number of large-scale, big name coffee producers across London, as well as key waste management contractors to deliver grounds to its facility. According to Marketline data, the UK biofuel market is expected to double in size over the next three years, and with £3m backing and no shortage of ground waste in the coffee loving capital, this green energy start-up looks like it could follow suit.