Five new companies selected for EnergyLab Acceleration Program

Australian clean energy accelerator, EnergyLab, has announced the second round of start-ups selected to take part in its 12-month “incubator” scheme, including companies specialising in EV support, energy efficiency for homes and businesses, and the efficient roll-out of solar PV.

Launched in April this year, EnergyLab’s Acceleration Program is a collaboration with Origin Energy, University of Technology Sydney, Jobs for NSW and Climate-KIC that focuses entirely on helping Australian start-ups to develop and commercialise innovations considered to be integral to a clean energy future.

As we reported here in February 2016, EnergyLab – which is the brain-child of Nick Lake and Piers Grove – is loosely based on a similar innovation in California, where the Australian co-founder of US solar leasing firm Danny Kennedy created SFun Cube, now known as PowerHouse.

Companies accepted into the Australian program get access to a suite of support services, as well as mentoring – through weekly sessions with a business coach, and from the broader network of mentors made available through Origin and the other sponsor organisations.

Each start-up also gets an investment of at least $50,000 from the Clean Energy Seed Fund, managed by Artesian Venture Partners, as well as support in raising further capital.

The fund, established by Artesian in April to foster the innovation ecosystem in Australia’s Clean Energy sector, received a cornerstone investment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

The five companies joining EnergyLab this month include Everty – developer of a peer-to-peer electric vehicle charging network; Ecologic Apps – developer of a cloud-based platform to assess and increase energy efficiency, solar and batteries; OPTIM Controls – an online support platform for industrial energy efficiency; PV Mate – an online network for PV retailers and installers; and Ryde.Green – a bike-share program for kick scooters.

“Many of the technologies that will shape the future of the Australian energy industry will come from local start-ups, and we are excited to welcome this latest cohort to EnergyLab,” said Origin Energy’s executive manager of future energy and business development, Tony Lucas.

“As Australia is moving towards a cleaner and smarter energy future where customers have greater control and transparency over their energy use, we need to be investing in the brightest and best ideas”

“Origin brings valuable expertise through experienced mentors to our program which will help scale up the speed and reach of the participating energy start-up companies, said EnergyLab executive director, Piers Grove.

“Origin joins UTS, Jobs for NSW, Climate-KIC and others in our strong group of partners which allows EnergyLab to grow its reach. The future looks bright.”

The five new companies to join EnergyLab join the first cohort of four companies, which span solar, electric vehicles, energy efficiency and buildings with low embodied energy.