EnergyLab welcomes 9 new startups to its acceleration program to fast track Australia's transition to a 100% clean energy future.
The startups were selected nationally with ideas spanning from bioenergy, monitoring and trading of electricity, new energy storage solutions, electric vehicles for the tourism industry, and for the first time in EnergyLab's program, a startup in the legal industry, aiming to help the renewable energy sector navigate contractual complexities in an accessible and affordable way.
"Half of this new cohort have come through our Pre-Acceleration Program, which is a great validation that the work we are doing to develop Australia's pipeline of clean energy startups is working." says EnergyLab CEO, James Tilbury
Starting on April 10th, and running for a year in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, the entrepreneurs will receive training, connections to a large network of investors and mentors, key corporate and public partners, and assistance in raising capital.
"The diversity and quality of entrepreneurs entering this industry continues to excite and challenge us. We are delighted by the new cohort and see plenty of potential in each and every business." says EnergyLab Chair, Piers Grove.
A diverse cohort, with a mix of senior professionals and promising young entrepreneurs
This year's cohort of 9 is very diverse not just in the sectors represented but also from a founder's perspective. EnergyLab is welcoming senior professionals, experts in their field such as Brisbane-based David Rochaya, Doctor of philosophy (PhD) in Biomass Combustion working on developing and commercialising a proprietary gasification technology to transform biomass into different energy streams (heat, power, and biofuels). Gerald Arends and Swati Johri, co-directors of Pegasus Legal, have been running a legal practice servicing renewables in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region since 2013. They are now bringing their extensive experience to InfraDocs, a technology platform offering contracts specifically developed for renewable energy. Swati will be joining the Sydney cohort while Gerald and David will be joining the Brisbane antenna of the program, in operation since April 2017 thanks to the support of the Queensland Government.
The Acceleration Program will assist promising young entrepreneurs such as Kimberley Winter, a Blockchain Operations Specialist launching a vehicle sharing aggregation platform to accelerate sustainable transport adoption. With the financial support of the Australian Government, EnergyLab will be able to coach Kimberley and three other Melbourne-based entrepreneurs to develop and grow their business idea.
"We joined EnergyLab to keep up our fast momentum, and we knew that the program will provide the framework for us to do so. Evolte has found some amazing talented experts, equally passionate about energy, sustainable transport, technology, and innovation. We are looking forward to establishing ourselves in the EnergyLab community, and involving them as a key component in our journey." says Evolte founder Kimberley Winter
Original startup ideas, from electric four-wheel-drives to biogas technology
Melbourne based Jaunt, is up-cycling iconic four-wheel-drives to turn them into electric vehicles for unique experiences, aiming to answer an inexorably growing consumer demand for clean transport in the tourism industry.
"The support of EnergyLab and the amazing group of mentors during the Pre-Acceleration Program has been instrumental in the development of our business model and our ability to secure our first revenue through the launch of our crowdfunding campaign."
"As both Marteen and I are new to the energy sector and are trying to build a business with national reach, being part of an accelerator that has a presence across the country, and particularly in regional areas is a perfect fit. We hope that Jaunt can be seen as a wonderful and tangible use of electricity and that our unique electric vehicles bring new understanding and appreciation of energy consumption and sustainable transport. " says Dave Budge, Jaunt co-founder
The Acceleration Program will also back ingenious clean energy generation ideas such as Organic BioPower, who has implemented a biogas plant using a proprietary bioreactor technology in a dairy farm in Victoria. The waste-to-energy startup will be working on scaling its activities to other Australian farms producing organic matter.
The 9 startups in the 2019 EnergyLab 5th intake are:
- Biopower Solutions - Generating energy from waste using proprietary gasification technology.
- Solar Pack Sheds - Standalone backyard solar shed for gardening enthusiasts.
- InfraDocs - Technology platform to provide fast, affordable and legally compliant contracts in the renewable energy industry.
- Jaunt - Up-cycles iconic four-wheel-drive and turns them into electric vehicles for a new kind of car rental.
- Evolte - Aggregation platform that makes it easy and convenient to book a share car, bike, scooter or ride.
- Organic BioPower - Scaleable biogas plants using proprietary bioreactor technology to transform organic waste into energy.
- Rexegy - SaaS company that controls appliances, taking advantage of real-time energy pricing, to save customers money on their power bills.
- GreenGrid Energy - Energy sharing platform enabling people to trade electricity among themselves through grid connected micro-grids.
- Key Energy - Innovative hardware and software storage solution for intermittent renewable energy.
If you would like to connect with one of the startups from the Energylab program, or just want to learn more about how to join our next intake, contact us at [email protected].
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