One of the characteristics that make Free Electrons a huge opportunity for startups is that it is truly global: the startups joining the program will get a chance to work with 10 global utilities, with experience and big markets under their belt.
Let’s get to know two of the utilities that are part of the Free Electrons utility alliance.
Electricity Supply Board (ESB)
ESB is Ireland’s leading energy company, operating across the full spectrum of the electricity market: from generation, through transmission and distribution to supply. In addition, ESB extracts further value at certain points along this chain: supplying gas, using their networks to carry fibre for telecommunications, developing electric vehicle public charging infrastructure and an international consultancy arm which has worked in 120 countries globally.
We spoke with John Mckiernan, Head of external collaboration at ESB, who gave an overview of ESB’s participation in Free Electrons: it’s their third edition, and they are still working with the startups they piloted with in the first two editions – working with both towards low-cost, low-carb energy – as their customers expect.
John highlighted the sharing of information between all the utilities as a key factor to the success of Free Electrons:
No utility has a monopoly on wisdom. So, we’re actually comparing and contrasting, shoulder to shoulder, with the other utilities. It’s the proof of the pudding. It’s another facet of Free Electrons that is allowing us to see more and understand more.
As an advice for startups joining open-innovation programs, John advised them to “learn as much as possible about the partner” and their needs to make the matching easier and “keeping it simple”.
Watch the whole interview here:
Energias de Portugal (EDP)
EDP is an energy producer, distributor and retailer with around 12 million customers in Portugal, Spain and Brazil. EDP is also the 4th largest wind power producer in the world. The renewable power business is present in 14 countries including the US, Brazil, Spain and the UK.
We spoke with Luís Manuel, Executive Board Member at EDP Innovation, who told of EDP’s journey at Free Electrons. In the first edition, they were still learning the process, but by the second edition, they had doubled the number of deals made in the program – they amount to over 12 pilots by now.
What he says has been consistent in the editions is the fantastic community spirit that is lived in Free Electrons, that they have embraced fully:
I think, above all, what we try to make sure is that as much opportunities as possible for our business units’ people to interact with the startups. We believe that is key – engaging people is really what makes business happen.
He believes that what is changing in the industry is that is looking towards things that are not usually associated with the energy sector: data management, artificial intelligence and digitization processes. So, EDP is looking for a mix of solutions – between traditional energy fields and this technological revolution.
Watch the whole interview here:
The second module of Free Electrons is arriving – it will happen on the 25th – 28th of June in Hong Kong. In this module the teams will deep dive into the details of each others’ solutions.
We also expect to see a better definition of the scope of potential pilot projects, and a strong connection with the local ecosystem as the module offers an immersion in the world’s leading cleantech innovation ecosystem, connecting startups to the epicenter of the technology world.
Several Portuguese startups and Beta-i open-innovation alumni were highlighted in the event.
The EntrepreneurXXI Awards are an initiative that seeks to identify, recognize and accompany young companies with greater growth potential.
At this year’s event, the spotlight was on portuguese startups Seacliq (invested by LC Ventures) and HUUB, both having created digital platforms to simplify the direct negotiation between providers and buyers in their respective industries (fishing and fashion).
Seacliq is a new electronic platform for the first sale of fish based on blockchain.
Fin&Insur Tech
Predictiva has developed, with technology based on artificial intelligence, a superbot specialized in the analysis and interpretation of spontaneous speech.
Commerce Tech
HUUB is an integrated logistics platform for the fashion industry.
Tourism Tech
Tracer has created a system based on blockchain to avoid the problem of abusive resale of tickets at major music and sports events.
Health Tech
Glycardial Diagnostics is working on the development of an in vitro diagnostic device (IVD) for the early detection of cardiac ischemia and prediction of patient evolution.
Impact Tech
Feltwood has developed an innovative process to transform agricultural vegetal residues into ecological industrial material of multiple applications and with characteristics similar to materials such as plastic or wood.
Lisbon Challenge, Beta-i’s acceleration program, had its Demo Day on the last day of Lisbon Investment Summit, on June 7th.
The Challenge
Lisbon Challenge is an intense 10 week program (see exactly how intense here), designed to question the founders’ assumptions, help them find their product-market fit and prepare them for the road ahead – scaling and investment.
And, boy, were they challenged! In the end, it paid off – the teams learned to turn their pains into gains, and they were ready to take the stage at Lisbon Investment Summit – to an audience on national and international investors and innovators, in an event with over 1500 attendees.
The Pitches
At Lisbon Investment Summit, five Lisbon Challenge teams took to the stage to present their companies, in a truly international cohort: the startups originated from: Portugal, UK, Italy, Ireland and USA.
Presented by António Carlos Torrão, Strategic Marketing Manager at BPI:
OUTBOUND:Providing instant access to your ideal customer with proven interest, through an AI based Sales Platform for B2B Lead Generation, so you can focus on what really matters: closing deals.
Presented by Pedro Falcão, Managing Partner at LC Ventures:
VAIRT: Making real estate investment accessible for all, througha global marketplace for real estate investment and liquidation based on blockchain technology.
Presented by Pedro Bandeira, Founder and CEO at REDangels:
FLOCK: Building engaged cultures through quantified real engagement and increased productivity of the workforce, by plugging into the internal communication channels of the customers.
Presented by Roberto Antunes, Executive Director at NEST Turismo de Portugal
CROWDBOOKS:Empowering any author to sell & publish their books, through a crowdfunding publishing platform.
Presented by Nuno Pimenta, Industry Head Startups at Google:
SKOACH: Maximizing employee life-time value, by helping people love their jobs – through a bot plugged into the internal communications channels of the company.
The Feedback
Besides the adrenaline rush of pitching on stage for a crowd of investors, entrepreneurs and corporations, the best part of the pitching is the feedback: the crowd has spoken (through a form vote) and over 50% of voters said that they wanted to meet and talk with the founders – which is the core of #LIS!
We at Beta-i are very proud of the founders who gave it all – during the program and on stage at #LIS. In the words of the Lisbon Challenge team:
“We’re really proud of what we saw today. And today is just the beginning for these teams. They are already doing pilots with big corporates – all companies looking for innovative solutions should talk with these startups. They are a group of trusting, capable founders, with impactful solutions and a growth mindset. We’re excited to see the global impact they will bring in the future – we know they are ready to jump into scale.”
Elecctro was part of the second edition of SIBS Payforward, the first fintech accelerator in Portugal. Created in 2014, the portuguese startup is disrupting the vending machine market, by integrating software and electronics, to allow vending machines to communicate with the world around them.
Even though they were not an immediate fit for the open banking challenge, they took on SIBS challenge and showed them how much value they could bring to the fintech area, making it to the pilot development stage of the program.
ReThink spoke with Ricardo Jacinto, co-founder and Head of Finance at Elecctro, about the startups participation in the open-innovation program.
ReThink: What attracted Elecctro to SIBS Payforward?
Ricardo Jacinto: For Elecctro, when we applied to SIBS Pay Forward, we believed it would be a great opportunity to increase our knowledge and expertise on the payments’ value chain, particularly by working with a corporation like SIBS, which is one of the main players in the industry in Portugal. At the time, we are already discussing new ways of cooperation with SIBS, but we applied to find an approach to fit the Open Banking API to our needs of developing a global and scalable payment solution.
RT: How did the program helped you grow? What were your main learnings during the program?
RJ: Although the requirements of Open Banking API were not suited to the vending industry, the program went very well because SIBS saw on Elecctro an opportunity to tackle a huge market where banks, processors and acquirers are getting zero. We were able to get SIBS’ attention to the vending industry and it was done on SIBS Pay Forward.
RT: How did your partnership with SIBS helped your business?
RJ: The opportunity to meet with almost all the managers and directors of the different departments of SIBS allowed us to establish connections and speed up the process of certification for the first payment terminal for vending in Portugal. Still today we keep several contacts that help on different perspectives: technical, commercial, etc.
RT: What advice do you give to startups currently in the program?
RJ: They should understand how exactly they can be interesting to SIBS and how they can help SIBS grow its business and strengthen its position in the market. If SIBS acknowledges the potential in a project and sees how it can benefit from a partnership, I believe they definitely will help that project to succeed.
One of our favorite things at Lisbon Investment Summit is our #LIS Pitch Competition in which 12 up-and-coming startups pitch on stage to a crowd of top-tier international investors.
This year’s award, sponsored by GROW, went to Musiversal – a platform that helps music creators to record sessions in world-class studios with professional musicians.
André Miranda, founded Musiversal as a solo founder and has been growing his team ever since. During its early stage phase, Musiversal was in Beta-i’s acceleration program – Lisbon Challenge – where it was invested by LC Ventures and REDangels.
As Musiversal enters a high-growth phase, building momentum for a successful seed investment round, here is the advice André Mirada had for new startups entering new editions of Lisbon Challenge:
Bluetech Accelerator – Ports and Shipping 4.0 will have its Bootcamp phase between 24th-28th June. Bluetech is an ambitious and innovative program looking to create a new batch of ocean startups and attracted startups from all over the world.
The Bootcamp
The top startups were invited to join the one-week Bootcamp. In this week, they will benefit from learning about business model innovation, startup methodologies and tools, get additional product validation, define the value proposition and a business case to present to the Partners. The best startups will have the opportunity to work together with one or more Partners in developing a pilot.
The New Wave of Ocean Startups
The program received a total of 87 applications, from 29 different countries. Here are the startups joining the Bootcamp (click on the buttons to know more about them):
ECO WAVE POWER
Country: Israel Areas of Interest: Energy & Cleantech, Renewable Energy, Green Technology, Green Energy.
Eco Wave Power is an advanced and innovative international wave power developer headquartered in Israel.
Country: United Kingdom Areas of Interest: Logistics/Supply Chain, Shipping
ARX Maritime mission is to bring cutting-edge solutions and hardware to the forefront of your maritime operations. Our goal is to equip you with cost-effective solutions that give you more efficient operations and a safer and more secure environment to work in.
Country: Portugal Areas of Interest: Transportation, Logistics/Supply Chain, Data & Analytics, Shipping
eShip applies state-of-the-art ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) to the traditional chartering business model, generating significant value added to all market participants
Country: Portugal Areas of Interest: Transportation, Logistics/Supply Chain, Logistics Marketplace
Bizcargo is a Future Cargo Logistics solution, acting as a marketplace, to search and compare transport and logistics services with simple or multimodal door-to-door solutions
Country: Ireland Areas of Interest: Data & Analytics, Sensors, Environmental Compliance
TechWorks Marine is a provider of oceanographic equipment and world-class solutions to monitor the marine environment, working in the private and public sectors both in Ireland and overseas
Country: Estonia Areas of Interest: SaaS, API, Logistics
Shipitwise created a tool which is not only able to digitize any offline, analog world transportation company, but also provide a professional system for logistics firms to share with their business customers.
Country: United States Areas of Interest: Energy & Cleantech, Oil & Gas, Wind Energy
Apellix designs and builds aerial robots (drones) that autonomously perform work on elevated structures that is otherwise dangerous, expensive and time-consuming for humans to perform.
