CleanTech Open 2021 Cycle Starting Now
For the 16th year, the CleanTech Open is ready to accept applicants for its Accelerator program, leading to the competition in the fall. Early-bird applications are due Feb. 28 with a hefty discount ($30 vs $75 thereafter). If accepted, a further fee of $1350 ($975 for student-teams) is charged if your company is selected to enter the 12-week coaching program. This is a national program and gets companies lots of exposure. Over 70% of participating companies raise money, and in the history of the competition, companies have raised about $1.2 billion. It favors companies that are far along on developing their products, not companies at a conceptual stage.
Since the CTO began, 1600 companies have gone through their process. Local companies that have participated in the CleanTech open recently include RePurpose Energy, Stasis Group, Empow Lighting and ZYD Energy.
If you are interested, check out their applications site here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.
CleanStart Sponsors
Weintraub | Tobin, BlueTech Valley, Revrnt,
Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig, Momentum,
College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State
Software to Help in Solar + Storage Projects
On Friday, January 15 at our Perspectives discussion, the crowd heard from Enact Systems CEO Deep Chakraborty (https://enact-systems.com/) about its software platform to expand sales, design well-performing systems, and manage the installations. Enact is technology- and brand-neutral. The software makes the economics of solar and storage easy for customers to understand. They are now active in 15 countries with sales growing rapidly. Apparently, it is getting very good customer reviews. Their customers are typically solar developers.
Interestingly, they have not taken in any investment from the big venture capital funds, and instead have bootstrapped themselves to profitability. While PV and storage are their current focus, they have plans to expand to be able to handle integrating other renewable sources and microgrids as well. It was a fascinating story and a very interesting platform. The Enact presentation is available below.
Be sure to join us for future Perspectives sessions.
Upcoming Events
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.
CleanStart Sponsors
Weintraub | Tobin, BlueTech Valley, Revrnt,
Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig, Momentum,
College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State
January 2021 Newsletter
Get Ready for the EPIC $10 Million Sustainable, Affordable Housing Challenge
At our January 14 Perspectives discussion, Katrina Leni-Konig of the CEC told us about the new challenge presented to cleantech innovators. The challenge is to design and build mid-rise, mixed-use development that is affordable, equitable, climate-resilient, cost-competitive and emissions-free. To meet this challenge the CEC wants to see 12 integrated teams funded across the state to give it a shot. Three of those teams are to be selected from the Central Valley area, improving the chances that teams in our region will succeed in getting an award. The CEC wants to see entries that use advanced technologies, use advanced construction practices, can result in designs and products that can be used in many markets, have benefits for underserved communities, and provide resilience and safety, among other criteria.
The schedule is tight. A pre-application workshop is set for January 21, just one week away. Then the deadline for the initial concept application is April 9. After that, teams will be selected to apply formally for the $1 million Design Phase. That application is due July 28. After submission of the final design, the application for the Build Phase subsidy of up to $9 million is due in June 2023. So, it is critical that if you are interested, you begin to line up your team now. You can get details here.
We recorded the whole Perspectives event, watch it below.
These challenges do not come along frequently, so make your move if you are interested. It could be a great opportunity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Simon is the Chair of CleanStarts Board. A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.
CleanStart Sponsors
Weintraub | Tobin, EY, BlueTech Valley, Revrnt,
Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz, Greenberg Traurig, Momentum,
College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State