The 2024 Scaleup Program cohort consists of five start-ups from Australia, four from Europe, and one from the US. These start-ups are:

• Accure Battery Intelligence (Germany): utilises cloud computing and advanced analytics to maximise battery safety, performance, and lifetime
• Diagno (Australia): analyses the health of smart energy devices (solar inverters, battery systems, smart meters, etc) and present concise and actionable diagnostic and investment information
• Kraftblock (Germany): offers Innovative energy storage solutions that enable the seamless integration of renewable energy sources into high-temperature industrial processes.
• Reswitch (Australia): a community benefit sharing and communication platform that simplifies the disbursement of benefits and facilitates real-time, two-way communication between residents living near renewable energy infrastructure projects and developers
• Safegrid (Finland): a simplified and scalable fault monitoring solution for electric transmission and distribution grids
• Sentrisense (Sweden): digitises and optimises the grid via real-time incident detection, predictive maintenance, and power grid efficiency optimisation
• SkyFi (USA): a geospatial data marketplace that empowers enterprise and government clients with efficient access to analytics, imagery, and datasets
• SNAPI (Australia): unlocks energy data at scale for analysis and action with its AI-powered IoT digital meter reader
• Techko (Australia): provides flexible, device-agnostic energy management solutions for distributed energy resources (DER)
• VizAR (Australia): a mixed reality infrastructure visualisation platform designed to transform community consultation and stakeholder engagement practices for energy and infrastructure projects by providing location-based, data-driven transparency in planning and consultation

According to EnergyLab, the chosen start-ups represent the best in innovative technologies across the energy sector and they were selected in consultation with energy industry partners.

“We’re supercharging the transition to a brighter energy future in partnership with Australia’s largest climate tech accelerator and innovation network, EnergyLab,” Endeavour Energy’s Chief Customer and Strategy Officer, Leanne Pickering, said. “This is our fourth year partnering with EnergyLab for the Scaleup Program to identify innovative late-stage start-ups to help us deliver new systems and technology for smarter, cleaner energy, today.”

In addition to offering start-ups the opportunity to meet, and collaborate with Australia and New Zealand’s innovative energy companies, the chosen start-ups will have an opportunity to network with some of Australia’s most active climate tech investors, relevant government organisations, and experts from EnergyLab’s 400-strong mentor network.

EnergyLab’s CEO Megan Fisher said that EnergyLab’s Scaleup Program is bridging the gap between global startups and Australian energy companies.

“The Scaleup Program helps to connect startups working on breakthrough energy technologies from anywhere in the world with Aussie energy companies and supports them to explore pilots and partnerships opportunities” Fisher said. “This not only helps startups to unlock their next wave of commercial opportunities, but also helps industry partners explore emerging tech to decarbonise the grid.”

The Energy Scaleup Program will run over the next three months culminating with a virtual public showcase to be held on 7 Oct. Expressions of interest from start-ups for the 2025 cohort are now open on the program website.

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EnergyLab disclosed the information on the occasion of the launch of its inaugural Decarb Debrief, which reviews its impact in 2023.

The findings show a significant interest in climate tech investing, despite a challenging year for much of Australia’s start-up ecosystem, and the critical role played by accelerators such as EnergyLab.

With access to early-stage capital a major challenge for climate tech start-ups, given the complexities involved in testing, research and development, and navigating longer sales cycles, EnergyLabs highlighted that its support and network reach have been crucial in helping start-ups attract funding. As well as connecting start-ups with potential investors, EnergyLab founders James Tilbury and Piers Grove also established Impact Ventures to directly invest, and it participated in several of this year’s raises.

EnergyLab also highlighted its expansion of its programs in the past year, offering seven in total with 67 start-ups participating, up from 21 the previous year. One of its flagship programs is the Women in Climate and Energy Fellowship (WICEF) which commenced in 2019 to help women launch climate tech start-ups and aims to address the funding gap faced by female founders. The program has had 90 previous alumni join the program. In its sixth year, the program saw 16 aspiring founders graduating in 2023, with 112 mentoring introductions.

Since its inception in 2017, EnergyLab has more than doubled its programs, providing support to climate tech founders and start-ups dedicated to decarbonising the planet. The ecosystem now comprises 310 start-up and founder alumni, 380 mentors, and 180 angel investors who play a vital role in nurturing and propelling the growth of climate tech start-ups.

This expansion and the amount of money now being channelled into climate tech marks a pivotal moment for the start-up ecosystem and its potential impact on the global and national decarbonisation agenda.

“Over the last year, we faced a range of local and global challenges in the global decarbonisation race, including hitting temperature records, community engagement issues and a reduction in the investment capital available for innovation efforts,” EnergyLab CEO, Megan Fisher, said. “Despite these headwinds 2023 proved to be a successful year for EnergyLab and many of the start-ups that we support. In 2023, EnergyLab more than doubled our programs supporting climate tech founders and start-ups that are focused on helping to decarbonise the planet.

“2023 was another record year for the climate crisis,” Fisher added. “There is so much more to do, and we are focused on ensuring we play our part. In 2024, we’re aiming to support even more high-potential founders and start-ups on their journey to launch and scale global climate tech companies. Our ongoing mission is to foster an innovation ecosystem centred on the climate tech revolution and one that prioritises start-up and business success, building economic opportunities and environmental stewardship.”

The post EnergyLab’s start-ups raise record-breaking $124 million in the past year appeared first on Inside Small Business.

The chosen start-ups are:

• Accurassi – offers an industry-leading acquisition toolset for the new net-zero energy market.
• ALD Technical Solutions – provides advanced composite material and solutions.
• Alternative Energy Innovations – provides intelligent behind-the-meter solutions that automate, optimise, and integrate process operations with energy cost dynamics.
• Energy Synapse – an SaaS platform that makes it easy to understand wholesale electricity markets and to find the best spots in the grid for utility-scale renewables and storage.
• Enerza – the world’s provider of a conditional risk assessment tool to electrical utility providers through autonomous on-wire robotic monitoring.
• IND Technology – aims to revolutionise power transmission and distribution network maintenance with cutting-edge proven predictive systems.
• My Solar Manager – AI and IoT-powered management system for solar PV projects, battery systems, VPP and microgrids.
• Plexigrid – enables operators of electricity distribution grids to run their grid more efficiently, solve capacity bottlenecks, integrate more renewables and reduce grid costs for consumers.
• PowerPlay – delivers the benefits of cheap renewable energy in the grid to homes that cannot install solar panels.
• Oaktree Power – partners with global grid operators to enable the ongoing transition towards the fully sustainable electricity system of the future. 

The start-ups will take part in EnergyLab’s Scaleup Program which helps companies develop initiatives to fast-track their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.

The program will provide an opportunity for the chosen start-ups to collaborate with Australia and New Zealand’s most innovative energy companies in developing sustainable solutions, alongside the support they will get from investors and mentors in unlocking their growth.

EnergyLab’s Scaleup Program was launched in 2020 as a collaborative effort between Australian utilities and start-ups. EnergyLab CEO, Megan Fisher, said collaboration was a critical piece of the transition to sustainability. 

“The energy transition needs global collaboration to succeed and with start-ups as far away as Spain, London and San Francisco joining this program, we can’t wait to see the local and global projects that result,” Fisher said. “This program’s secret sauce is the chance for the start-ups to build relationships with each other, with industry partners, with investors and mentors in an intimate and collaborative setting.”

The selected start-ups will deepen their relationships with Endeavour Energy and Amber, as well as other innovative energy companies in Australia and New Zealand.

“As a partner for the third consecutive year in EnergyLab’s Scaleup Program, Endeavour Energy is committed to supporting innovation and embracing new ideas and technology,” Leanne Pickering, Endeavour Energy’s Chief Customer & Strategy Officer, said. “As leaders of the energy transition, this work is critical.

“This dynamic partnership will help challenge us to keep thinking outside the box so we can deliver affordable and reliable energy solutions for our customers,” Pickering added. “This year we’ll be focusing on initiatives to help decarbonise the grid and we can’t wait to see the great ideas generated from this collaboration.”

Amber’s Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, Sarah Russell-Smith, said, “As an alumni of EnergyLab ourselves, Amber is keen to support the program, meet and mentor the emerging disruptors, and explore potential partnerships. We’re excited to see what comes out of this year’s program.”

The post New program to partner start-ups with energy companies to fast-track renewable transition appeared first on Inside Small Business.

The six start-ups are:

• Circle Harvest – creates food more food from fewer resources by harvesting crickets that have the properties of a Superfood.
• Infravision – deploys unmanned aircraft systems for power line construction.
• Hygrid Energy – manages renewable energy and battery storage assets via control technology described as an “engineer in a box”.
• Bloom Impact Investing – a FinTech start-up aiming to make Climate Impact Investing easy and accessible for Australians.
• Carbon Asset Solutions – supplies precision soil-based Carbon Credits to global markets faster and more cost effectively.
• Harvest Thermal – delivers clean heating and hot water for homes by using an ultra-high efficiency heat pump at the time of day when electricity is cheapest combined with thermal storage.

The chosen start-ups will receive a combined investment of nearly half a million dollars and will be provided the support they need in the development of their climate change solutions. That support will include coaching, industry partnerships, and assistance in raising further capital to expedite their growth in Australia and overseas.

Chair of EnergyLab, Piers Grove, said that he is continually impressed by the ingenuity of the founders pursuing climate tech businesses and, with half of the start-up chosen being female-led, there are signs that the start-up ecosystem is attracting more women than in previous years.

“What we’ve seen over the years at EnergyLab is truly inspiring and demonstrates the talent and desire here in Australia for creating world-leading innovations,” Grove said. “This program ensures that start-ups with world-class teams, products and vision get the support they need to take their solutions to a global market.”

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