7 stats to understand the impact innovative start-ups can have on the world’s biggest challenges

Innovation doesn't happen in isolation. Certainly not the kind of innovation we need to transform entire industries and shape a sustainable, equitable and thriving global economy. To achieve these goals, we need to create an environment that allows people from multiple sectors to collaborate, and we need a system that supports and enables promising innovation from an early stage.

This is the mission that drives UpLink, a World Economic Forum initiative launched in 2020 in collaboration with Deloitte and Salesforce. In the five years since, it has become a vital catalyst for a rapidly expanding community of early-stage innovators, helping them access funding and partnership opportunities, global visibility, and other resources they need to scale their solutions in areas including climate action, clean water and energy.

UpLink has released its Annual Impact Report 2025, highlighting the business growth of the early-stage entrepreneurs, called Top Innovators, which has enabled them to scale their economic, social, and environmental impact – demonstrating the powerful ripple effects of innovation and collaboration.

Here are seven stats from the report that illustrate the power of innovation and collaboration to tackle some of the world's most urgent challenges.

Investment capital is crucial to allowing start-ups to scale their businesses. In 2024, UpLink Top Innovators – those most promising businesses, selected through Innovation Challenges run by UpLink and its partners – raised $633 million in investment capital from organizations such as Emerald Technology Ventures, Temasek, Rolex, the US Department of Energy, Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, JetBlue Ventures, and others.

Investment capital empowers start-ups to scale their businesses, leading to impressive growth metrics. In 2024, 47% of the innovators who reported their data saw more than 40% growth in their customer count. This growth underscores their strength and sustainability, allowing them to amplify their social and environmental impact through measures such as wastewater filtration, CO2 sequestration and forest land restoration.

The report highlights the social and environmental impact of UpLink’s community of Top Innovators, but these solutions are increasingly creating impact in another key area: the economy.

Top Innovators created over 30,000 jobs in 2023 and 2024. This has a measurable impact on communities, driving greater prosperity and opportunities and supporting livelihoods.

The majority of these jobs are linked to the circular economy, nature and biodiversity, demonstrating social and environmental benefits, as well as economic growth. In this way, these start-ups are supporting jobs for the future and sustainable development for the long-term.

Using digital platforms almost 30 million tonnes of waste were tracked by Top Innovators, the equivalent of two years’ waste generated by New York City. A better understanding of the waste we produce is a key step in establishing a transparent, circular economy and reducing waste. Greenplat Data Management provides a good example of an innovator supporting this systemic change – it uses blockchain-based technology to enable companies to track the transport and final destination of their waste.

In one year, UpLink’s Top Innovators treated enough wastewater – including hazardous wastewater – to meet the annual water needs of around 25,000 households in a developing country. One such initiative is Indra Water, which supports the transition to more sustainable water use with cost-effective, scalable and easily deployable products. Its solutions tackle key challenges in the water treatment industry, such as high capital investment, large space requirements, and the generation of toxic by-products. Indra Water’s energy-efficient system has expanded from treating 350 million litres annually in 2022 to 1.2 billion litres in 2024.

An area equivalent to around a fifth of the Amazon Rainforest was protected through innovation that promoted nature-based solutions. Focusing on ways to maximize nature’s capabilities, entrepreneurs are tackling fundamental challenges such as biodiversity loss, climate change and marine ecosystem degradation. Origens Brasil, for example, promotes a new business model that supports Indigenous People and local communities in the Amazon region. It works by connecting them with companies, and focusing on ethical commercial relationships, transparency and product traceability. Over the year, Origens Brasil was able to support the protection of 61 million hectares in the Brazilian Amazon.

Innovations in clean electricity, sustainable agriculture, manufacturing and other processes helped avoid carbon emissions equivalent to a year’s use of 30,220 cars. Those driving systemic change here include Kenyan startup Agrotechplus, which prevented 212% more CO2 emissions in 2024 compared to 2023 – through sustainable agriculture enabled by clean power and digital technologies.