First-ever Climate Cup Winner:
Climate Cup Winner
Congratulations to the first-ever Climate Cup Grand Prize Winner!
Solstice Energy Solutions took home $25,00US, presented live onstage at the Global Climate Action Summit on Friday, September 14. Two runners-up, Wheeli and EVMatch, won $5,000US each.
All three Climate Cup finalists will receive additional exposure at the flagship VERGE 18 conference and expo, Oct. 16-18 in Oakland, including free booth space and curated investor networking opportunities in the Startup Showcase, to demo in the Carbon Tech and Advanced Materials Showcases.
Congratulations to all our finalists.
Climate Cup Category Finalists
These winning innovators joined LACI and California Clean Energy Fund at the Global Climate Summit in San Francisco to pitch before an international audience, with the winner announced on Friday September 14.
Climate Cup Finalists will receive additional exposure at the flagship VERGE 18 conference and expo, Oct. 16-18 in Oakland, including free booth space and curated investor networking opportunities in the Startup Showcase to demo in the Carbon Tech and Advanced Materials Showcases.
Ugwen Eneyo,
founder of Solstice Energy Solutions, won the Digital Solutions for Sustainable Cities category. Solstice Energy Solutions develops IoT and software to intelligently manage distributed energy resources.
Jean-Pierre Adéchi,
founder of Wheeli prevailed in the Zero Emission Mobility and Goods Movement category, sponsored by Itron Idea Labs. Wheeli is the carpooling app for college students, like an Airbnb for empty car seats on the road.
Heather Hochrein,
founder of EVMatch, won the Energy-Transportation Nexus category, sponsored by Edison International. EVmatch is a peer-to-peer network for electric vehicle (EV) charging that harnesses the power of sharing to immediately create more reliable charging options.
Meet the California Climate Cup Finalists:
The California Climate Cup is a competition seeking cleantech innovators from around the world, focused on finding transformative climate solutions for megacities & regions in zero emissions transportation, the energy/transportation nexus, & digital tools for sustainability.
MEET OUR 2018 CATEGORY FINALISTS
Mobility & Goods Movement
Finalists
Zero Emissions Mobility and Goods Movement
AMPAIRE
Los Angeles, CA
Ampaire is designing and developing electric aircraft for the regional air travel market to meet demand for short-haul flights and solving two of the biggest problems in aviation – high operating costs and aviation’s impact on environment. At Ampaire our vision is to create something that’s always been perceived as impossible – zero emission, high performance, low cost aircraft – and make it a reality. We are building them today – and will be flying in 2018. By starting with retrofitting existing aircraft, we are taking a more efficient and effective approach than other companies in the space. This will get us to market sooner and will position us better as the market grows. This will also speed the approval of our new design jet – a 9-passenger, 350 mile, regional aircraft which we expect to demonstrate within 5 years.
Evee
Sydney, Australia
Evee is a peer-to-peer electric vehicle (EV) sharing platform. It allows to offset the cost of owning an EV by renting it out. The purchase of an electric car therefore becomes a more sensible decision compared to a gas counterpart. Renters can hire those privately owned and conveniently located EVs at an affordable price wherever they travel. Our goal is to make electric vehicles affordable and accessible to all.
Wheeli
New York, NY
Wheeli is the carpooling app for college students. We’re building a national transportation network, and the initial nodes are college campuses. Think of Wheeli as the Airbnb for the empty car seats on the road.
Energy / Transportation Nexus
Finalists
Energy / Transportation Nexus
Sponsored by Edison International
EnZinc Inc.
San Anselmo, CA
EnZinc is an engineering technology company focused on developing advanced high performance green batteries based on zinc to power the twenty first century. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company applies aerospace and automotive engineering practices to energy storage development.
EP Tender
Paris, France
EP Tender is developing Batteries as a Service: a disruptive new paradigm with a modular approach and pay per use business model. A Tender is powerbank which is mounted on a small trailer, rented on demand and attached to EVs for long distance trips. It’s self-mating with the car, self-steering when backing, and carries 60 kWh energy. It’s powered by a battery, a Fuel Cell or a gasoline range extender, depending on technology and infrastructure progress.
EVmatch
Santa Barbara, CA
EVmatch is a peer-to-peer network for electric vehicle (EV) charging that harnesses the power of sharing to immediately create more reliable charging options. Through EVmatch, individuals and business owners rent out their private charging stations, earning money and supporting EV drivers with reservable charging. EV drivers leverage the sharing economy to easily find, reserve, and pay for charging with a few quick clicks using the company’s web or mobile applications.
Digital Solutions for Sustainable Cities
Finalists
Digital Solutions for Sustainable Cities
Sponsored by Itron Idea Labs
Aclima
San Francisco, CA
Aclima delivers hyperlocal air quality data and insights, at block-by-block resolution. We combine leading-edge sensor technology, climate science, enterprise software and machine learning to generate high-resolution maps of emissions across pollutants — from CO2 and methane to particulate matter. Translating real-time data and environmental intelligence, Aclima transforms how we understand and manage our communities, cities, and industries to improve human and planetary health.
Ecomedes
Cape Coral, FL
Ecomedes is the software platform for the real estate, design, and construction industries for simplified product selection and purchasing. We connect buyers and suppliers by featuring the largest collection of curated, high-performance products that save money through reductions in energy, water and maintenance costs. Our platform helps create healthier more productive buildings for occupants and the planet.
LO3 Energy
Brooklyn, NY
LO3 Energy focuses on emerging decentralized business models and innovative technologies related to energy, cleantech. We build tools and develop projects that support and accelerate proliferation of the distributed energy, utilities and computation sharing economy of the future. LO3 has designed a scalable, multi-layered blockchain network to unlock this valuable data and enable these new markets – The Exergy System. LO3 is currently piloting the system projects spanning the US, UK and Europe to enable a range of use cases including peer-to-peer transactions, automated demand response and connecting local microgrids to wholesale markets.
Solstice Energy Solutions
San Francisco, CA
Solstice Energy Solutions develops IoT and software to intelligently manage distributed energy resources. Our initial focus is on cities in emerging markets where unreliable grids have resulted in distributed energy landscapes, primarily diesel generators. Increasing integration of distributed solar and battery technology ultimately requires intelligence, flexibility and control. The Solstice SHYFT is a patent-pending, remote energy management platform that allows homes and businesses to monitor, manage and control all resources (utility, solar, batteries and/or generators) from an app in real-time. Solstice uses the unprecedented access to data to optimize the system to drive savings, reduce emissions and increase reliability.
Meet the California Climate Cup Judges:
Judges
Lucas Scheidler
Sr. Product Manager
Itron Idea Labs
Mr. Scheidler is a clean energy professional with 9 years of experience in public and private sector research and consulting to utilities, cities, government agencies, and other stakeholders. He has extensive experience across a wide range of supply and demand side energy resources including solar PV, solar thermal, wind, combined heat and power, storage, demand response, and energy efficiency. His expertise with these technologies has been leveraged for potential studies, market assessments, cost-effectiveness analysis, program evaluation, policy insight, and utility and corporate strategic planning. Mr. Scheidler works for Itron Idea Labs, a startup business and idea incubator within Itron focused on the utility and smart cities industries. Here he is responsible for soliciting and developing new and innovative business opportunities from our utility partners, the startup community, and our own internal resources. Mr. Scheidler is currently leading Itron’s blockchain technology exploration, which will take full advantage of the Itron OpenWay Riva distributed intelligence platform and networks.
Ian Meikle
Director, Clean Growth and Infrastructure
Innovate UK
Ian is Director of Clean Growth and Infrastructure at Innovate UK. This includes leading Innovate UK’s energy, transport systems and future cities programmes of work. He sits on the board of four Catapults; Energy Systems, Offshore Renewable Energy, Transport Systems and Future Cities.
Ian has been at Innovate UK since 2009 – initially he ran the Low Impact Buildings programme and more recently he was Head of Agriculture and Food – this included setting up the four AgriTech innovation centres funded by the AgriTech Industrial Strategy.
His working background includes a broad range of sectors; financial services, insurance, manufacturing, consultancy, third-sector, construction, IT and retail.
Ian has an MSc (distinction) in Renewable Energy and the Environment from the University of Reading, and his first degree was in the use of structured methods to deliver effective IT systems.
Katie Fehrenbacher
Senior Writer, GreenBiz, Conference Chair
VERGE Transport
Katie Fehrenbacher has a been a journalist for over 15 years and writes about emerging energy and transportation technology. She’s currently a Senior Writer & Analyst covering transportation for GreenBiz and chair of VERGE Transport. She was formerly with Fortune and Gigaom and her work has also appeared in The Guardian, Greentech Media and The New York Times.
Kojo Ako-Asare
Director, Investments
Emerson Elemental
Kojo is a Director on Emerson Elemental’s investment team. Kojo brings a wealth of experience across a spectrum of finance disciplines including: impact investing, capital raising, corporate, structured and project finance. During his time at Google, Kojo was the Head of Corporate Finance, where he led innovative investments of over $1 billion in large scale renewable energy & affordable housing projects. Kojo also spent a few years at Google[x], leading the Finance and Operations efforts for Makani, a Google startup focused on delivering low-cost energy from flying wind turbines. Kojo is also a Marine veteran who has served our country with distinction. In 2009, he deployed to Afghanistan’s Helmand province as part of NATO’s troop surge. While in Afghanistan, he led a combined team of US Marines and Afghan troops in Helmand’s Khan Neshin district. Prior to Afghanistan, Kojo was a Vice President within Citigroup’s Investment Bank, where he advised Fortune 500 clients on mergers, acquisitions and capital raising matters. Kojo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan. He also holds Master’s degrees in Business Administration and International Affairs, both from Columbia University.
Sergej Mahnovski
Director, Growth and Innovation
Edison International
Sergej Mahnovski is Director of Growth and Innovation at Edison International, where he leads a team focused on the identification, incubation and commercialization of growth opportunities from emerging technologies, new business models and strategic collaborations in four key focus areas of clean energy, transportation electrification, grid edge, and customer choice.
Samantha Huang
Senior Associate
BMW i Ventures
Samantha Huang is a Senior Associate at BMW i Ventures, which is a EUR 500M fund that invests in startups related to the automotive ecosystem. At BMW i Ventures, Samantha focuses on investments across autonomous driving, AI and big data, Industry 4.0, and digital car and automotive cloud. Samantha previously worked at SK Telecom Ventures and Robert Bosch Venture Capital. She also worked as Lead Researcher at the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University for research projects centered on the intersection of entrepreneurship, immigration, and women-in-tech. She holds a J.D. from Berkeley School of Law and an MA in history from Stanford University.
Sponsors
About LACI
The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) is a private non-profit organization creating an inclusive green economy by unlocking innovation (working with startups to accelerate the commercialization of clean technologies), transforming markets (through partnerships in transportation, energy and sustainable cities) and enhancing communities (through workforce development, pilots and programs). Founded as an economic development initiative by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water & Power (LADWP), LACI is recognized as one of the most innovative business incubators in the world by UBI. In the past six years, LACI has helped 73 portfolio companies raise $184M in funding, $220M in revenue, create 1,700 jobs, and deliver more than $379M in long term economic value.
Learn more at laci.org
About California Clean Energy Fund
California Clean Energy Fund (www.calcef.org) works to promote the transition to a clean energy economy by creating institutions and investment vehicles that grow markets for clean energy technologies. California Clean Energy Fund is a non-profit umbrella organization that pursues statewide and national agendas via 1) California Clean Energy Fund Innovations, a 501(c)(3) that leads California Clean Energy Fund’s analysis and product development; and 2) California Clean Energy Fund Ventures, a 501(c)(4) that executes and scales the California Clean Energy Fund investment strategy, and 3) California Clean Energy Fund Catalyst, a 501(c)(6), industry association that engages and coordinates clean energy businesses and stakeholders.
For more information, go to calcef.org
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