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 piloting phase program, after the Bootcamp.
The Bootcamp
The Bootcamp week is a critical part of the success of the program, and this year was held in Dublin and hosted by ESB. During this stage, utilities got to know in detail the potential of having these innovative disruptive solutions applied to their businesses. For Startups, it represents an enormous opportunity, not only to speak directly with 10 global companies but also to collect valuable feedback about their products, features and roadmaps.
Just by attending the Bootcamp startups are able to test their business cases potential on a global platform, enriched by the different expertise from the 10 utilities in their home markets. In just 3 days, startups need to quickly adjust to all the utility requirements, work together with them in creating room for a pilot to be held, and then present a viable pilot case.
The top 30 Bootcamp startups also had the chance to talk with CEOs from Free Electrons ’17 & ’18 winning startups – Sebastian Groh from ME SOLshare and Rui Beon form BeOn Energy – whose testimonials are key examples of the impact the program can have in helping startups scale fast, get funding or close new deals, alongside other alumni, Jungle.ai and Sterblue, who also shared their experience on the program.
The Bootcamp has also allowed for the opportunity to showcase Irish startup ecosystem, with several local companies invited to join the event.
The 15 finalist startups
The overall quality level of the 30 startups that qualified to the Bootcamp was amazing – all of them helped the utilities learn, and had really talented founders, that are already having an impact in the future of the energy sector.
But the 15 startups joining the piloting phase of Free Electrons ‘19 are Akselos SA, Ambi Labs Limited, CARTO, DEXMA, Energyworx, Enging – Make Solutions, envelio, ev.energy, GridBeyond, Heila Technologies Inc., Hygge Power, Save To Compete, Sensewaves, Solandeo and WePower.
These 15 startups will join the utilities on the 1st module, that will take place in Columbus, Ohio (EUA), from May 21st to 24th.
Heptasense, a portuguese startup, was selected to join Data Pitch, an ambitious European project to accelerate startups from the continent, and challenged to solve a series of challenges by working with data. Beta-i, in partnership with the European Commission, ensures coordination of this acceleration program.
Heptasense, whose solution is already being used in Mercedes factories, is an artificial intelligence software that can recognize and predict accidents on the streets to alert operational teams in real-time.
One of the biggest causes of traffic, and consequently high carbon emissions, are accidents. This problem is worse on highways, because it is hard to detect on time, and very difficult to manage afterwards. Heptasense is a software platform that leverages data from surveillance cameras to detect accidents and alert the operational teams in real-time. Although this solves part of the problem, the goal is also to mitigate such risks. That’s why the platform is also merging data from weather, GPS and historical accidents data to predict when and where accidents may occur so that operational teams can be ready to act.
Heptasense is one of 29 new Data Pitch startups that were this week introduced at a celebratory reception held at the Google Campus in London. This new cohort brings the total number of Data Pitch companies to 47, each receiving up to €100K equity free funding, expert mentoring, investment opportunities, and access to data from established businesses and the public sector.
The project is coordinated by Beta-i, in partnership with the University of Southampton, the Open Data Institute and french data platform Dawex. The initiative, which kicked off officially today, will be financed by the research and innovation program Horizon 2020, the European Union, and each startup will be in the program for six months.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to build a platform for collaboration between startups and companies covering all of Europe. Startups will have the opportunity to access huge data blocks from some of the largest European companies in order to try to resolve previously identified challenges, using the development of new products and services. This European accelerator brings together a wide and diverse batch of industries, working in an engaging and collaborative way, and we see this opportunity as a chance to use our experience, as we expand our know-how and methodologies. “
Ricardo Marvão, co-founder and Head of Education of the Beta-i
The ambition is to create an entire ecosystem of innovation for Europe, a space where big companies can work closely with agile startups so they can innovate and learn from each other, using the data as a basis to solve the problems.
Lisbon Challenge by Beta-i, our flagship accelerator program, will be kicking off its 11th edition – the Spring Edition of 2019 – next Monday, April 8th.
Having a startup is probably the toughest business there is. Lisbon Challenge was built to help founders grow 1 year in just 3 months. The program’s methodologies are focused not only on growing the business but also in preparing founders to transform difficulties into learnings and to see problems as opportunities.
The founders joining the program will be challenged in their assumptions and challenged to gain a better understanding of the problem they’re solving, their clients and the solution they’re building, to bring them closer to a product market fit.
It’s going to be an intense 3 months! So, without further ado, we present you the 8 startups joining the Spring Edition of Lisbon Challenge by Beta-i (click the names to learn about each startup):
ARANMI
Africa’s foremost SME friendly on-demand supply chain marketplace.
Country: Nigeria Founders: Michael Iyanro and Gideon Olanrewaju Website: http://www.aranmi.com
git//scale
Breakthrough platform for open source projects serving enterprise clients.
Country: Portugal Founders: Diogo Lemos Pereira e Nuno Barrocas Website: http://www.gitscale.io
Hirefreehands Inc.
Freelancer hiring marketplace for entrepreneurs, startups & SMEs.
Country: Nigeria Founders: Sunkanmi Ola, Abel Agoi, Jime Akpusugh and Gabriel Esu Website: http://www.hirefreehands.tech
OutboundSales.io
SaaS B2B Sales Platform for Enterprise Sales Teams.
Digital transformation is taking over a large spectrum of industries, with the integration of digital technology into all areas of business, fundamentally changing how companies operate and deliver value to customers.
In the vanguard of this transformation is Free Electrons, the first global energy accelerator. Applications results reinforce Free Electrons positioning as the world-leading innovation platform for energy-related startups, the current edition had 481 applications, with 90% new entries.
Manuel Tânger, Co-founder and Head of Open-Innovation at Beta-i
We spoke with Manuel Tânger, Head of Open-Innovation at Beta-i, about how Free Electrons incorporates innovation methodologies to bring innovation to the sector.
What are the main innovation methodologies Beta-i is bringing to Free Electrons’ innovation framework?
Free Electrons is a program focused on creating the best conditions for the most innovative utilities to work with startups in order to innovate. This sounds easy, but it’s quite hard. To facilitate this, we focus very heavily on making pilots happening as a way to test profusely and ultimately get to the coveted deals between utilities and startups. Experimentation is, I would say, the core methodological concept of Free Electrons. But to do this, these pilots need to be thought up, designed, implemented and followed-up on. We, as Beta-i, have to create the moments and the mindset needed for both utilities and startups to think creatively on how they may work together and maybe do something that no one has ever done before. In particular, we use a “pilot canvas” that helps startups map out possible pilots to then be analyzed, discussed and fine-tuned with the utilities.
How do you build a framework that adds value to both startups and utilities?
When interests are fully aligned, then naturally what is good for startups is good for utilities. Utilities want to innovate and bring to market the best and newest offer possible, which generally involves new technology and business models. On the other hand, startups want a large audience to their niche product/service to be able to scale and improve their high performing product even more. Free Electrons makes this possible by design.
What are the key elements/moments in it?
It’s a long process from the partners’ needs assessment to the demo day, but one of the critical moments is the Bootcamp – which is happening right now in Dublin. It’s where startups and partners’ meet for the first time and try to look at the future together – and then pilot a solution for this future. It all happens in one intense week, and it has to work from then onwards.
By putting into contact these startups and quickening the speed of their scaling through collaboration with large global utilities, Free Electrons is, without question, accelerating this transformation with great benefit to all!
How do you think Free Electrons is helping re-shaping the energy sector worldwide?
The energy sector is going through a massive transformation with the consolidation and application of new technology. It is now cheaper to produce energy by solar than any other mean. Batteries are almost at a price point to make it competitive to store in the production luls at scale. Micro-production is now turning users into producers and contributors to the network. Electric vehicles are huge now and upcoming energy consumer but also batteries to be used as network balancing. Smart meters are gathering very fine-tuned user data that is propelling the appearance of new business models due to the data. This same data helps utilities and users maximize energy usage while minimizing the cost and also allows utilities to reach out to new spaces that go beyond energy and into services. These are a few of the highlights of the tectonic shift happening right now in the energy market. And startups are working on all of them! With the focus and zeal characteristic of modern tech entrepreneurs. By putting into contact these startups and quickening the speed of their scaling through collaboration with large global utilities, Free Electrons is, without question, accelerating this transformation with great benefit to all! To us, normal energy consumers, to startups that scale to grown-ups and utilities that capitalize on being first to embrace this change.
The Payment Services Directive 2 – PSD2 – is set to be fully implemented until the end of 2019, as banks must comply with all the regulations of the directive by September.
Although the impact cannot be measured as off now, we can see some of the changes happening already as bigger players are already taking notice of the impact the directive might have on the financial market: global fintech investment has doubled to €43 billion in 2018.
The goals of the directive
The professed goals of the directive include boosting a single market of payments for the UE, the reinforcement of safety, through the use of consumer authentication methods which comply with European standards and the accountability of payment service providers in the event of unauthorized payment transactions, more competition and innovation, by opening up the market to non-banks and innovative fintechs, and a more convenient experience for the customers, as a more consumer-centric view of the market, will be emerging.
The Shift in the Market
There will be several factors reinforcing the directive in creating a unified European Market:
Bigger market: as the market shifts from several autonomous markets into a single bigger one, it will become more attractive to new players and new services.
Scaling up: It will be cheaper for banks and other services to scale and operate in several countries when their legal frameworks are homogeneous which reduces development and compliance costs.
Savvy consumers: As the competition in the European market increases, so will the transparency in financial services and prices offered by European banks, which will lead to better-informed consumers, that will lead to considering foreign banks.
Consumers are increasingly more open to online and international shopping. This behavior can influence consumers’ banking behaviors as well.
In a nutshell, the European financial markets will change from domestic banks (the current status quo) into an open and European market, where European and international banks and non-banks will be able to offer their services.
Read more about the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) here.
Bluetech accelerator aims to connect the most innovative tech and ocean startups with leading players in the industry to create a new blue economy – one that is modern, data-based, technologically advanced and environmentally friendly.
Behind the program are 6 Bluetech pioneers – companies that are leaders in the market and are ready to partner up with startups to pilot groundbreaking solutions.
APDL
The Port of Leixões is the largest port infrastructure in Northern Portugal and one of the most important in the country, equipped with modern facilities and advanced ship management systems.
Why Bluetech?
There’s a focus on improving not only the performance of the physical port but also of the digital port. Bluetech is an opportunity to expand on the concept of port tech clusters, which can contribute to the development of their port and maritime services.
APS
The Port de Sines is the leading national port in volumes of cargo handled and is also the leading container port in the country. They have an history of over 20 years and were pioneers in the Information Systems development in Europe.
Why Bluetech?
APS believes they are in the service of the economy – Bluetech accelerator is an opportunity to develop and implement technology that will help them be more efficient in reaching this goal.
Grupo E.T.E.
Since 1936, ETE Group is the national leader in developing competitive services for the port, maritime and inland water transportation sectors. Very transversal in the sector, ETE group acts in several areas: port operations, maritime and fluvial transportation, logistics, naval engineering, naval construction, and maintenance. They have a experienced path in the field and are present in 3 different continents.
Why Bluetech?
ETE Group has innovation in its DNA. Their longtime success is based on having always believed in innovation, technology and being open to always renewing themselves, investing in new knowledge and new companies in order to become more sustainable, productive and efficient and able to provide the best service to their clients.
Portline Ocean Management
Portline Ocean was created in 2016 to operate in the complex market of shipping high-value cargo. With a deep focus on the international market, Portline Ocean has developed remarkable expertise in the transport of dry bulks and containers, together with all the related shipping activities.
Why Bluetech?
Portline Ocean aims to be in the vanguard to give the best to its clients. They are irreverent in the way approach the market and maritime shipping business, so sharing knowledge and developing solutions with like-minded startups is a not-to-miss opportunity.
Inmarsat
Inmarsat is the pioneer and world leader in mobile satellite communications, powering global connectivity for nearly four decades.
They provide governments, commercial enterprises, and humanitarian organizations with mission-critical voice and high-speed data communications on land, at sea, and in the air.
Why Bluetech?
Because it’s around ports, Bluetech represents the joining of two of Inmarsat’s business units, land and maritime, in the incredibly important hub that is a maritime port. They are ready to join Inmarsat’s capabilities in these two areas, and with their digital incubation team, and program partners, together to innovate and create new solutions to help digitalize the maritime industry.
Tekever
Tekever develops advanced technology and products in areas such as the digital economy, aerial vehicles, and space industries, always with a mindset of Continuous Innovation.
Why Bluetech?
Tekever’s business is intimately linked to the sea, especially where it concerns drones and space. In both cases, they’re building infrastructure that allows for new services in the maritime area – in safety, infrastructure compliance, etc – so it makes sense for them to part of this initiative, and make this structures available for startups innovating with them.
