The Energy Excelerator selected 17 startups from a pool of high quality applicants to transform Hawaii’s energy system. Fifty percent of the new portfolio startups has principal team members with previous exits.
“We are excited to work with a new cohort of startups with a ton of experience in running successful companies,” says Dawn Lippert, Director of the Energy Excelerator. “These are really smart people that have vetted technologies and are eager to partner with our local businesses to help solve some of our most difficult energy challenges.”
The Energy Excelerator’s goal is to strategically address Hawaii’s energy challenges across many different sectors. The 2015 cohort consists of startups with innovative solutions for the State’s energy, transportation, water, and agriculture industries.
“We’re excited to be selected by the Energy Excelerator and help Hawaii utilize the wind and solar on its oversaturated grids,” said Shifted Energy CEO, Olin Lagon. “Working with the Energy Excelerator has helped us build relationships with policy makers, utilities, investors, and customers that are instrumental to strategically scaling out business.”
The Energy Excelerator offers two tracks for startups:
- Demonstration: For companies with strong customer traction, they invest up to $1 M to develop a project in Hawaii or the Asia Pacific; and
- Go-to-market: For startups with strong technologies who are looking to vet go-to-market strategies, they invest $75 K and connect them with mentors, investors, and other strategic customers.
These new companies double the size of the Energy Excelerator portfolio, who have gone one to raise over $55 M of follow-on funding. The Energy Excelerator will invest $5M in the selected startups.
The program is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research, and Hawaiian Electric Industries and operates as a program of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR).
The Energy Excelerator 2015 cohort includes:
- Bandwagon (@hibandwagon) connects passengers to share rides and taxi fares through their mobile app.
- Bidgely (@bidgely) tells homeowners how much energy each appliance uses by extracting energy signatures – without the need for lots of hardware sensors.
- Bright Light Systems (@brightlightsys) combines energy efficient lighting and automation.
- BrightBox Technologies improves HVAC performance and comfort, and lowers operating costs, through optimization software.
Edisun Heliostats develops low cost concentrated solar power with built-in storage using rocks as a storage medium. - Effortless Energy (@goeffortless) offers free home energy upgrades at no cost to customers.
- FreeWire Technologies (@freewiretech) combines robotics and energy storage to create a network of mobile electric vehicle chargers.
- Go Electric delivers the next generation of microgrids for facilities that need to attach or detach to utility power at a moment’s notice.
Infinite Invention supports the integration of solar on the electric grid through plug-and-play solar connection and control. - Kunoa Cattle Company enables large-scale local food production powered by renewables.
- kWh Analytics (@kwhanalytics) reduces financial risk and enables solar financing through analysis of asset performance.
- Prota Culture produces biodiesel and animal feed from organic waste.
- Rebound Technology (@reboundtech) turns supermarket freezers into batteries.
- Ridescout (@ridescout) aggregates public, private, and social transportation options into one mobile app.
- Shifted Energy (@shiftedenergy) creates a virtual power plant of electric water heaters to store excess renewable energy and deliver demand response.
- Spider9 (@spider9inc1) develops smart controllers that make large battery systems more reliable and profitable.
- TransitScreen (@transitscreen) synthesizes all sustainable transportation options in real time into one screen.