Four Companies who completed CleanStarts CEO Crash Course applied for and won California Sustainable Energy Entrepreneur Development (CalSEED) Grants. These grants of $150,000 were awarded to 28 companies.  212 companies applied and were put through a rigorous review process.

Four Companies who completed CleanStarts CEO Crash Course won.

Descriptions from CalSEED here.

EV Life, LLC is building the first online platform that gives drivers everything they need to switch from gas to an electric car. They will create an EV climate loan and lending platform that saves most drivers over $200 per month on an electric car loan by incorporating thousands of dollars in EV rebates and incentives into the upfront financing of each car. The platform will have algorithms that analyze applicants’ creditworthiness and their eligibility for EV incentives in order to offer them the most affordable EV auto loan on the market.

Hago Energetics, Inc. aims to help farms become more profitable by converting farm waste to high-value products, such as hydrogen and valuable carbons. They break down organic matter, such as food scraps and animal waste, in conditions with no oxygen to produce a biogas that is later decomposed to hydrogen and carbon; this hydrogen is expected to sell at a lower cost and lower carbon footprint than the current methods.

Tolo Inc. aims to create a new artificial intelligence tool using high-resolution imagery for remote inspection of utility assets. It will allow inspectors to identify risks to electrical infrastructure, including foliage clearance violations and equipment degradations that inspectors could ordinarily miss in the field, reducing the risk of utility-caused wildfires.

Waterhound Futures, Inc. will demonstrate a cloud-based predictive modeling and analytics software that enables companies and municipalities to optimize performance and cost efficiencies of water and wastewater treatment, ultimately reducing the use of energy and freshwater in conventional treatment processes.

Congratulations to them, and we hope more companies see CalSEED and similar grant opportunities as a viable path forward.  If you want help finding grants and partners, check out Empower Innovation and OpenGrants. Make sure to sign up for CleanStarts Newsletter for more opportunities.