Announcements
FREE ELECTRONS SELECTED THE 15 FINALISTS
Apr 12, 2018
The top 15 startups will now join the Global Energy Program
Lisbon, April 06th, 2018 – Free Electrons, the first global energy startup accelerator program, that connects the world’s most promising energy startups with leading utility companies, just selected the 15 teams that will now join the acceleration program.
The United States, with 3 startups, Portugal and the United Kingdom with 2 each, are the biggest contributors to the final list. Nonetheless, the program will include a very diverse mix of nationalities, such as Bangladesh, China, Greece, Ireland, Norway and Switzerland also represented.
These are the selected finalist startups:
| Name | Country | Area |
|---|---|---|
| Adaptricity | Switzerland | Smart Grids - helps utilities make their power grids smarter and reduce costs. |
| EQuota Energy | China | Smart Grids - all about energy-saving carbon management, based on Big Data |
| Fresh Energy | Germany | Customer Solutions - generates unparalleled insights based on smart meter data |
| Greenbird | Norway | IoT & Digitization - provides Metercloud, the Smart Utility Hub empowering Smart Grid. |
| Gridcure | United States | Smart Grids - provides simple, off the shelf analytics for power utilities |
| GridWatch | Ireland | Smart Grids - provides simple, off the shelf analytics for power utilities |
| Howz | United Kingdom | Business Model Innovation - learns your daily routine and alerts you to anomalies or changes |
| Jungle AI | Portugal | IoT & Digitization - builds predictive intelligence to remove uncertainty. |
| Kisensum, Inc. | United States | Smart Grids - Development and delivery of a software Energy Management storage platform |
| Loqr | Portugal | IoT & Digitization - provides Digital Identity Authentication security solutions. |
| ME SOLshare | Bangladesh | Smart Grids - designed the world’s first and only low-cost direct-current (DC) bi-directional power meter and solar charge controller |
| Orison | United States | Smart Grids - All-in-One, Self-Install Energy Storage |
| Relectrify | Australia | Clean Energy - Making energy storage affordable. |
| Sterblue | France | Energy Efficiency – they automate every drone industrial inspections |
| Verv Energy | United Kingdom | IoT & Digitization - created a peer-to-peer energy trading platform based on AI |
“It was a great week, everything went according to plan, and the vibe was even better than expected. We are very pleased with the overall level of the 30 startups that qualified to the bootcamp, and we can honestly say we learned with all of them. It was not easy to pick and choose from such a strong batch, in fact in the end we had to choose 15, and not the 12 we intended, and I believe that says a lot about the global quality of the program. Another positive was the fact that we got to showcase Lisbon, its booming ecosystem, and the great things we are doing here, so all the participants can take home a taste of Portugal. I’m confident we found innovative solutions, that can be adopted and integrated in our companies in an effort to help shape the future of the energy sector”, says Luis Manuel, Executive Board Member at EDP Innovation, that ‘hosted’ this stage.
In total, the program received 515 applications, from 65 different countries, a testament to the global reach of this initiative. The Free Electrons founders are Ausnet Services (Australia), DEWA (Dubai), EDP (Portugal), ESB (Ireland), Innogy (Germany), Origin Energy(Australia), SP Group (Singapore) and Tokyo Electric Power Company (Japan), with also the participation of American Electric Power(USA). The program is supported by Beta-i (Portugal).
Structure
Three international modules held across the globe are the cornerstone of Free Electrons. During the course of the program participants will work closely with local players, utilities, mentors and other resources in order to accelerate their company’s growth.
After this selection Bootcamp, the 1st Module will take place in Sydney and Melbourne (Australia). The 2nd Module will then move to Silicon Valley (USA), and the final stage, that closes the program, will happen in Berlin (Germany), in October.
The utilities backing Free Electrons are leading innovation in the energy sector. This project is a testimony of their commitment to work together with startups in building the future of the sector with clean, smart and widely accessible energy.
Free Electrons 2017 generated an overall financial value of contracts signed between the 12 startups and the 8 utilities of about 2 million dollars, with a pipeline of ongoing opportunities surpassing 12 million dollars.
About Free Electrons
The Free Electrons Program is the best opportunity for startups in the energy space to grow and develop their businesses. The energy market has seen rapid changes in recent years with the rise of renewables, decentralization of the energy system, regulatory uncertainties and disruptive new technologies. To stay ahead, there is a strong need for utilities to source more innovation externally and consider the ‘beyond utilities’ business models.
